History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.155

v4.c63.155

(130-131) says that the judge⁴⁰⁰ should have the plaint written down on a board (or on the ground) with a piece of chalk as narrated naturally by the claimant and then on a leaf (palm leaf or bark or paper) when it is corrected (after the defendant appears) and that the plaintiff may delete some matters from the original (draft of) plaint and may fill in gaps and that such amendments may be made in the draft till the plaint is finally settled.⁴⁰¹ It appears from the Vyavahāratattva (p. 205) that the pleadings (the plaint and the reply) could be written down in Sanskrit or in the vernacular of the parties if they were ignorant. The Mṛcchakaṭika (Act IX) shows how the presiding judge asks the śreṣṭhin and kāyastha to write down the words 'not by me' as the complaint of the Śakāra when the latter averred that Vasantasenā was killed by Cārudatta and not by himself. The plaint could be amended till the filing of the reply⁴⁰² (Nār. II. 7). Elaborate rules are laid down about the contents of the plaint by many writers from Kauṭilya (III. 1) downwards. Kauṭ.⁴⁰³ states that in the plaint should be entered the year, season, month, fortnight, day, the documents (to be relied upon), the court (in which the plaint is lodged), the (amount of) debt (or other money due) and the country, village, caste, family, names and occupations of the plaintiff and defendant together with the relationship in which they stood to each other. Kāt. (127-128 q. by Mit. on Yāj. II. 6 and Aparārka p. 608) requires that in suits about immoveable property, ten details should be recorded in the plaint viz. the country, the place (town or village in which the property is situated), situation (boundaries or the figure such as a square &c.), the caste (of both parties), names, the dwelling place (of the parties), the measure (so many *nivartanas &c.*), the name of the field, (names of) the father, grandfather and great-grand-father, mention of the former kings. Kāt. 124-126, Bṛ. (q. in Sm. C. p. 36 and V. M. p. 294) give further details, which are passed over for want of space. All the details enumerated above need not occur in every plaint, but the necessary ones must be stated according to the facts of each case⁴⁰⁴.