History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c44.73.3

v3.c44.73.3

228 prescribes a fine of 40, 80 or 160 *paṇas* respectively for cutting off the twigs, principal branches of trees or the entire trees themselves that grow on built up platforms or in cemeteries or on boundaries or in holy places or near temples. Yāj. (II. 240 and 295) prescribes the highest ammercement for fabricating a false edict or for tampering with royal edicts by inserting more or less than what is intended to be granted by the king. The Mit. on Yāj. II. 186 says that the king should sedulously safeguard all rules made about the pastures for cows (in a village) or about the preservation of tanks and temples. Manu IX. 280 requires the king to pronounce the death sentence on those who break into a royal storehouse or an armoury or a temple and prescribes that the breaker of an image shall repair the whole damage and also pay a fine of five hundred paṇas. Kauṭ. III. 9 prescribes punishment for encroachment on temples. From the Kauṭilya²¹⁰⁶ we know that kings appointed an officer called ‘devatādhyakṣa’ (Superintendent of temples) and that when the king’s treasury became empty it was part of the duty of that officer to bring together all the wealth of the temples in the forts and other parts of the country and the king could in an emergency use that wealth (and probably used to return it later when financial stringency ceased).