Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.63

c9.63

The destruction of evildoers, literally “removal of thorns” (kaṇṭakasodhana) appears also in the inscriptions as one of the chief duties of an able ruler, as for instance, in the inscriptions of the 12. and 13. centuries, EI 1, 198, 210, 334. The inscriptions are also familiar with the Daśāparādha or Daśāpacāra (IA 15, 306) and how popular this conception of ten great sins was may be understood from the fact that there was an officer who was actually called ‘Daśāparādhika’ (IA 14, 167; 15, 306).