Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.54

c9.54

Also the repetition of a crime has been taken into consideration in the same way both in punishments and in penances. Thus according to Āp. 2, 27, 11 ff. in the case of repeated adultery the penance for the adulterer is more and more intensified. Similarly M. 9, 277 in criminal law affirms that the cut-purse when caught for the first time shall have two fingers cut off, the second time a hand and a foot and the third time will lose his life and Vi. 3, 93 declares that the king should not let a twice repeated crime go unpunished. In theft the penances as well as punishments are graded according to the value of the stolen property. Thus also for penances in general it is said, e. g. Y. 3, 294, that in cases of crimes not specially provided for in law the penance is to be fixed on consideration of Deśa, Bala, Vayaḥ, Śakti and Pāpa just as according to Y. 1,367 the king should determine the punishment after consideration of Aparādha, Deśa, Kāla and Bala.