The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c11.43

c11.43

command.” In other passages, on the other hand, the expression seems to be employed as a *terminus technicus*. A ferryman who has assaulted an ascetic and his pregnant wife is brought before the king and the latter, after he has pronounced the judgment, causes the *râjâṇa* to be executed (III. 232). What the punishment consisted in, is not further mentioned; I suppose that either the capital sentence or some other serious corporal punishment, such as mutilation, is to be understood here. To this points also the introduction to the Vaṭṭaka Jâtaka (I. 438), where the son of a *seṭṭhi* who was suspected of having made short work of a prostitute, is brought for judgment by the *râjâṇa*. The hands are tied behind his body and he is dragged in execution of the *râjâṇa*. The whole town turns out in excitement as the report of the sentence upon the *seṭṭhi*’s son spreads and a large crowd follows him beating the breast and mourning loudly. As the girl, however, in the meantime appears, the *râjâṇa* is not executed, but the circumstances mentioned point to this, that the sentence was one of capital punishment.