History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c20.133.1

v2.c20.133.1

(4) ‘The king should exonerate (the brāhmaṇa) in the six matters, viz. (a brāhmaṇa) should not be beaten (whipped), he should not have fetters put on him, he should not be mulcted in fines of money, he should not be driven out (of the village or country), he should not be censured, he should not be abandoned’—Gaut. VIII.³¹⁴ 12-13. The Mit. on Yāj. II. 4 explains that these words are not applicable to every brāhmaṇa, but only to deeply learned brāhmaṇas described in the preceding sūtras (Gaut. VIII. 4-11). Haradatta adds that even a learned brāhmaṇa is treated in this way only if he commits an offence without pre-meditation but only through ignorance or oversight. As to corporal punishment for brāhmaṇa offenders, the matter stands thus. Gaut XII. 43 says that there is no corporal punishment for a brāhmaṇa (even when he being a thief comes to the king confessing his guilt and asking the king to beat him with a heavy club on the head). Vide Manu XI. 99-100 also. Baud. Dh. S. (I. 10. 18-19) first lays down that a brāhmaṇa is to undergo no beating for any offence but allows for a brāhmaṇa guilty of the mortal sins (of brāhmaṇa-murder, incest, drinking liquor, theft of gold) the punishment of branding on the forehead with red-hot iron and banishment from the country. Manu IX. 237 (= Matsyapurāṇa 227. 163-164), Viṣṇu Dh. S. V. 4-7 prescribe the various figures that were to be branded on the forehead of a brāhmaṇa in the case of various offences. Manu (VIII.