Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.66

c9.66

Another noticeable point is that in the rules about evidence (Nār. I, 1, 42; Bṛh. 2, 13) and punishment theft appears to be the typical crime. "Like a thief" (cauravat) is to be punished, for instance, he who binds freely roaming cattle or sets free cattle that are bound fast (M. 8, 342), he who drives the cattle to other people's fields (Y. 2, 162), he who uses other peoples' property without obtaining permission for it (Nār. Quot. 7,10), he who misappropriates a treasure trove (Nār. 7, 7), he who kills a man through carelessness (M. 8, 296), etc. For this reason various sorts of crimes have been put in the category of theft. Cheats of every kind, particularly falsifiers of wares, measures, weights or coins, soothsayers, people living on bribe or extortion, quacks, jugglers, treacherous arbitrators, false witnesses—they are considered as "word thieves" (Nār. 1, 228)—unjust judges, gamblers etc. are "open thieves" or robbers (prakāśataskara, M. 9, 256 ff.; Nār. App. 1—3; Bṛh. 22, 2—4). Opinions are however divided as to whether gambling is permissible or is it to be condemned as it appears already from Bṛh. 26. Thus M. 9, 221—228, Gaut. 12, 41, Baudh. 2, 2, 16 etc. also strongly emphasise the sinful character of gambling, while on the other hand Āp. 2, 25, 12 ff. regards gambling to be a lawful amusement of the higher castes and Nār. 17 and Y. 2, 199 ff. raise only the demand that the king should receive his share and that there should be no foul play. Even in the Vedas gambling is frequently mentioned (RV 10, 34; 1, 41, 9; AV 7, 50 etc.), and in the Mah. the gambling scene is the central theme of the whole plot¹. Thieves proper, burglars, highwaymen, cut-purses etc. are considered to be "secret thieves" (*aprakāśataskara*) (Bṛh. 22, 5 etc.). According to Bṛh. 22, 2 varieties of thieves are thousand-fold.