History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.53.3

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* (?