Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.40

c9.40

§ 39. Relation between spiritual and worldly punishments. Is the secular criminal law in India later than the law of spiritual punishment and has the former been evolved out of the latter? Burnell² has answered both these questions in the positive, but certainly Weber, Barth and Konow are more correct who are of opinion that on the whole the two systems of punishment had developed independently of each other. Even though the theory of religious expiation had been codified as an important feature of the Dharma at an earlier period than the theory of punishment yet however the power of punishment has always been an essential attribute of royalty. Nothing stood in the way to prevent the welding together of spiritual and worldly punishments and the punished criminal moreover performed also the penances prescribed in the Dharmasūtras in order to gain re-admission into his caste³.