History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c43.83

v3.c43.83

As gifts of land were so highly valued, the smṛtis contain numerous rules about them. Yāj. (I. 318–320)²⁰⁸³ prescribes the following rules: 'when a king makes a gift of land or bestows a nibandha he should execute a writing (about the gift) for the information of future good kings. He (the king) should issue a permanent edict bearing his signature and the date on a piece of cloth or on a copper-plate marked at the top with his seal and write down thereon the names of his ancestors and of himself, the extent (or measurements) of what is gifted and set out the passages (from smṛtis) that condemn the resumption of gifts'. Viśvarūpa the oldest extant commentator of Yāj. states that the edict or order should also bear the names or signatures of the royal officers such as ājñā, dūtaka, the name of the place where the king's army is encamped &c. and that the names of women (such as the queen mother or queen) should be mentioned, and that verses stating the result of resuming gifts made by former kings should find place in the edict. Aparārka (pp. 579–580) quotes long extracts from Bṛhaspati and Vyāsa on the same subject. Bṛhaspati says that a royal edict recording a gift of land should be executed on a piece of cloth or on copper-plate, should state the place (of issue) and (the names of) the king's ancestors, that it should be stated to last till the sun and moon endure, that it was not to be resumed or taken back and was to be free from all future taxes and that it was to go on to the sons and grandsons from generation to generation (of the donee), it should state that heaven would be the reward of the donor and those that continued the gift, that the result of the resumption of the gift would be hell for 60,000 years to the resumer and it should bear the king's seal, the year, the month, the fortnight and day and should bear the signature of the superintendents (royal officers). Vyāsa after stating these requisites adds that the edict should be addressed to brāhmaṇas and other respectable people, to the king's officers, to all householders and to all others including medas and cāṇḍalas, that it should state that the gift is made for securing merit for one's parents and one's self.