History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.53
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.53
- Language
- English
v4.c63.53.1
The Sm. C. (II. pp. 27-28), Par. M. (III. pp. 42-45), Sarasvatīvilāsa pp. 73-74, V. P. pp. 36-38, state that, according to Pitāmaha, the king may take cognizance of his own motion without the complaints of private persons of certain matters called *aparādhas*, *padas* and *chalas* and these works set out the lists of ten *aparādhas*, 22 *padas* and 50 *chalas*³³⁹. The king may himself come to know about these or these matters may be brought to his notice by an officer called sūcaka or a private man called *stobhaka*, defined acc. to Kāt. (33-34) as follows:—³⁴⁰ that man is declared to be *sūcaka* who is appointed by the king himself for finding out the wrong-doings of people and who on coming to know of them conveys them to the king; that man is a *stobhaka* who with a sole eye to money and without being urged by the king informs the king first of actions (among the people) that are condemned by the śāstras.' Therefore a stobhaka is a private informant for money. The ten aparādhas, acc. to Nār, are: disobedience of the king's order, murder of a woman, confusion of varṇas, adultery, theft, pregnancy from one not the husband, abuse and defamation, obscenity, assault (daṇḍapāruṣya), abortion³⁴¹. They were called aparādhas because they were met with fine. It will be noticed that some of these come under several vyavahārapadas and some like 'varṇasaṅkara' are included in prakīrṇaka by Nārada (v. 4).
v4.c63.53.2
The king could by his own action investigate these even if no private complaint be lodged. Saṁvarta (quoted by the Sm. C. II. p. 28, Par. M. III. pp. 44-45) gives another list which differs in some respects from the above. In the Nālandā copperplate of Devapāladeva (E. I. vol. XVII p. 310, p. 321) an officer called 'daśāparādhika' is mentioned. In many grants from the 7th century onwards among the taxes remitted to the donees we often meet the expression 'together with the ten aparādhas' (sadaśāparādhaḥ', in Valabhi grant of Dhruvasena III dated saṁvat 334 i. e. 653-4 A.D., E. I. vol. I p. 85, at p. 88, E. I. XVII p. 310 at p. 321, in Gupta Ins. No. 39 p. 179 of 766-767 A. D.), or 'daśāparādhādisamastotpattisahito dattaḥ' (in E. I. vol. VII p. 26, p. 40 of śake 852), or ‘sadaṇḍadaśāparādhaḥ’ (E. I. vol. III p. 53 at p. 56, Torkhede plate of Govinda in śake 735, and E. I. vol. III p. 263, 266, the Rajor inscription of Mathanadeva dated Vikrama saṁvat 1016). It is not correct to hold that the words refer to the right of the donee to be exempt from guilt arising from the commission of some traditional offences or that authority was conferred by the grant on the donee to deal with offenders committing the ten aparādhas and to recover the fines imposed by themselves (as suggested in J B O R S for 1916 p. 53n).
v4.c63.53.3
No king would ever think of exempting donees in pious gifts or the villages in those grants from the results of such grave aparādhas as the murder of a woman, adultery, theft and abortion, nor is it possible to hold that a king authorised a private individual or individuals to exercise judicial power in such crimes as murder when (as we shall see later on) the power of dealing with *sāhasa* was not conferred on śreṇi or gaṇa tribunals. The real meaning appears to be that the fines levied by him for the commission of the aparādhas in the villages granted would be made over to the donees as part of the gift, when recovered by the king. The 22 *vadas* were called *padas* of the king to distinguish them from the vyavahārapadas. According to Pitāmaha³⁴² they are: ripping open an animal's body (with a sharp weapon), destruction of growing crops, incendiarism, rape of a maiden, concealment of treasure trove, making a breach in an embankment or thorny hedge, grazing cattle over the field of another, destruction of a public garden, poisoning, high treason, unauthorised breaking of the royal seal, divulging the secret line of policy of the king, releasing from jail a prisoner, appropriation of the taxes or fines to be levied by the king (these are two), appropriating gifts (made by the king) or the *utseka* (?
v4.c63.53.4
*utsarga*, dedication to the public), preventing the proclamation (of royal orders) by beat of drum from being heard, receiving property from a person who is not the owner, receiving articles that are enjoyed by the king (without his permission), causing destruction (or loss) of any one of the (seven) elements (of the State). The fifty *chalas* were mostly breaches of etiquette before the eyes or in the presence of the king.
v4.c63.53.5
According to Pitāmaha they are: obstructing the road, raising the hand threateningly, leaping over a fort-wall (without permission or reason), destroying a cistern, destroying a temple, filling up a ditch (dug round a fort), divulging the weak points of the king (to the enemy), unauthorized entrance into the harem or royal chamber or the treasury or the royal kitchen (these are four), prying when the king is taking his meals, voiding ordure or urinating or blowing the nose or passing wind in the presence of the king (these are four), to sit before the king on haunches (*paryaṅkāsana*), to occupy the foremost seat in the king's presence, to enter royal presence in a dress more resplendent than the king's or supported by another or by the wrong-doer or at an improper time (these are four), to lie down on the bed or seat of the king or to put on his shoes (these are three), to go near the king (uncalled) when the latter is lying down on his bed, to serve the king's enemies, to occupy a seat that is not offered, to use gold in the dress or ornaments (these are two), to take tāmbūla (from the king's betel box) and chewing it (this is one), to speak loudly without being asked (by the king), to run down the king, to wear only one garment, to appear before the king with oil on the hair, to untie the hair (before him), to cover one's face, to have a body painted with figures, to wear a garland, to shake one's garment, to cover the head, to be bent on finding the weak points of the king, to be thick with evil men (or to touch the king), to have dishevelled hair, pointing out the nose, the ears and the eyes (these are three), to pick the teeth, to cleanse the ear or the nose (these are two).
v4.c63.53.6
As the list of *chalas* is a very long one the verses are not quoted below, but are given in the Appendix (note 342 a). Śukra (IV. 5. 73-88) quotes all the verses from Nārada and Pitāmaha on the *aparādhas*, *padas* and *chalas* and in III. 6 also gives a list of ten sins, which is different from that of the *aparādhas*.