History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c40.145

v3.c40.145

Manu (VII. 47-52) enumerates in the case of kings ten vices springing from love of pleasure and eight vices produced by wrath and then states that among vices due to love of pleasure drinking, dice, women and hunting are the worst and that drinking is the most pernicious of all the vices of kings. Kauṭilya VIII. 3 agrees with this. Gaut. XII. 38 and Yāj. II. 47 declare that though sons and grandsons are bound to repay their ancestors' debt as a pious duty, they are not bound to pay debts incurred for liquors, gambling &c. Among the articles that a brāhmaṇa is forbidden to sell even when he is forced to take to trade as a means of livelihood is liquor (Manu X. 89 and Yāj. III. 37).