The Social Organisation in North-East India in Buddha's Time c12.20

c12.20

Although, owing to the nature of our text, it is not everywhere possible to venture any general conclusion from any particular passage, one can mention the Kurudhamma Jâtaka (II. 380) as a proof of this, that the "ministers of justice" not only gave judicial decisions, but also advised on matters of law and morality. A prostitute received 1,000 gold pieces from a youth, and as he promised her that he would come back, made a vow that she would not receive the least thing from any other man, even if it was only a grain of paddy. After she had waited in vain for three years for his return without breaking her vow and had become at last poor, she went to the court and asked the vinicchayamahámattas for their advice: "My lords, it is three years since a man gave me money and went away; whether he is dead, I don't know. I have no means of livelihood, what shall I do?" They advised her to return to her former profession.