Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c7.s6.t5.1

c7.s6.t5.1

Non-execution of the king's order was another offence which was dealt with very severely. Generally the king was an absolute monarch in those days, and as a rule it was absolutely necessary to carry out his orders. It is said that the persons who disobeyed the king's commands were thrown into salt (*kharantaka*) where within a very short time—its duration being calculated by the time that was taken in milking a cow—their bodies were reduced to skeletons.⁴⁴ Four kinds of assemblies (*parisā*) are referred to in the Jain texts, viz., Khallīya, Gāhāvar, Māhana and Isi.⁴⁵ It is said that an offender from the *Khattiya* assembly was punished with cutting off his hands or feet, he was beheaded, impaled, killed by one stroke of the sword and was thrown away. The offender from the *Gāhāvar* assembly was burnt to death on a pile of bark, husk or chaff, the offender from the *Māhana* assembly was taunted in disagreeable terms and was branded with a mark of a pot (*kuṇḍiya*) or a dog (*sunaga*) or was banished;⁴⁶ and the offender from the *Isi* assembly was admonished mildly.⁴⁷