History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.45.3

v4.c62.45.3

Daṇḍa rules over all people, it protects all of them, daṇḍa is awake even when (the guardians of law) have gone to sleep, the wise regard daṇḍa as dharma (Manu VII. 18 = Śānti 15. 2 = Matsya 225. 14–15). The whole world is under the heel of daṇḍa, for it is difficult to find a man who is pure by nature (Manu VII. 22 = Śānti 15. 34). The conception of daṇḍa is therefore this that the State's will and coercive power keep the individual and nation within the bounds of dharma, punish for breaches and effect the good of the whole. The gods, *dānavas*, gandharvas, the rākṣasas and reptiles—these also tend to bring about enjoyment for men because they are pressed down by daṇḍa (Manu VII. 23).²⁵ The Bhagavadgītā (X. 38) identifies daṇḍa with the divine Kṛṣṇa ‘I am daṇḍa in the hands of those who control others, I am *nīti* (i. e. rājanīti) for the conquerors’. For the detailed effects and long eulogies of daṇḍa, vide Manu VII. 14–31, Matsya 225. 4–17, Kāmandaka II. 38–44. These eulogies of daṇḍa presuppose the theory that people obey law and the dictates of the śāstra through the fear of force or punishment. Daṇḍa should be neither too severe nor too mild, but should be appropriate to the fault committed (Kauṭ. I. 4, Kāmandaka II. 37, Manu VII. 16, Śānti 15. 1ff, Śānti 56. 21, 103. 34). Śānti 57.