Hindu Administrative Institutions c10.s3.76

c10.s3.76

The different kinds of corporal punishments³ mentioned are whipping, hanging, caning, burning finger-joints, branding, water-tube torture and several others under the general term of *vyavahārikakarma* which is again subdivided into four divisions. It would appear that fresh punishments were employed day after day for a period of time, and this was perhaps in the case of very serious offences like sedition. Even in the award of punishments great discrimination was employed. The standard of punishment to women-folk was only half of what it was to the men. Again pregnant women and those who had not passed a month after delivery were exempted from torturous punishments. Others exempted were persons accused of minor offences (mandāparādha), the young, the aged, the diseased, the intoxicated, the mad, those suffering from hunger, thirst or fatigue due to journey, those who have confessed their guilt (ātmakāśitam) and the physically unfit.¹