History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.631.2

v4.c63.631.2

Trick consists in the creditor borrowing from the debtor some ornament or other article under the pretext of its being required in a festival and not returning it or in retaining what the debtor has handed over to the creditor for being delivered to another; that is compulsion when the debtor is brought to the creditor's house, is then confined or beaten and thus induced to repay the debt; that is *ācarita* where the creditor keeps tied his own wife or son or cattle at the debtor's house or sits down at his door (fasting). All these methods could not be employed in the case of all debtors. Kāt. (477-480) has already been cited (on p. 383) to show how the king is to employ the various methods in the case of brāhmaṇas, traders &c. If the creditor employs any one of the methods (other than vyavahāra) and harasses a debtor when the latter claims judicial investigation and there is a doubt or dispute between the two as to the amount, the rate of interest, the liability to pay, the creditor would lose his claim and would have to pay a fine equal (to the claim)⁷³⁴. Kāt. 589 and Bṛ.⁷³⁵ (S. B. E. vol. 33, p. 331 verses 63-65) lay this down.