History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.53.1

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).