Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c9.76

c9.76

§ 42. Other crimes. Besides theft and robbery murder, manslaughter, arson, high treason, real and verbal injuries, rape, adultery and other sexual crimes are included among the chief offences. Often the capital offences, in so far as they are connected with violence, are called by the consummate title "act of violence" (*sāhasa*) which is the secular counterpart of the mortal sins (*mahā-pātaka*) of the spiritual law. Thus according to Nār. 14, 2—6 there are four kinds of Sāhasa, namely man-slaughter, robbery, rape and real or personal injuries; he however distinguishes two lower grades of it consisting only of injury to property. The punishments for Sāhasa are regulated according to the gravity of the crime but caste distinctions exercise a definite influence on them; the Brahmans particularly enjoy the privilege that they cannot be condemned to corporeal punishments or death sentence¹ (Vi. 5, 2 f. etc.).