Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.175

c8.175

Already the Mahābhāṣya refers to the punishment inflicted by kings for damages to corn caused by cows¹. The field labourer working for half the profit (*addhika* = *ardhika*) is mentioned already in an ancient Pallava inscription ². Even now there are in Behari special expressions for the share of milk and corn given as wages to the cowherd and the farm labourer ³. In the Deccan the cowherd gets the young calf by way of remuneration, such as if he tends a pregnant cow then after two years he receives the calf for it. Hired labourers who leave their work unfinished receive no wages and transporters who delay their cargo may have their remuneration cut down. The building materials of a house which somebody has built on a piece of land not his own and in which he dwells on rent may be taken away by him when evacuating the house. In the case of damage of every kind to property distinction is carefully made between guilt and accident⁴. The washermen (*dhobi* = *dhāvaka*) still receive all linens for washing and in the villages are paid for this by a share of the crop and there are many proverbs about their mishandling the clothes entrusted to them ⁵.