History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.797

v4.c63.797

Kāt. (725) provides that⁸⁴⁹ if a woman who is not a slave marries a slave she becomes a slave since her husband is her lord and is dependent on his master. If a person buys or sells a brāhmaṇa woman⁸⁵⁰ as a slave the king should annul that transaction and all persons (concerned in it) should be fined by him and the same holds good in the case of a woman of a respectable family who took shelter with a person and was made a slave by him or transferred by him to another as a slave (Kāt. 726-727). The punishment of first amercement is prescribed for a person who has sexual intercourse with the nurse of his child or with another woman who is not a slave and the wife of his attendant as if she were a slave; and a fine of two hundred paṇas is provided in case a master who is not in difficulties and is well-off desires to sell a female slave who is faithful and weeps bitterly (being unwilling to leave him). Nār. VIII. 40 provides that if a slave leaves his master and goes over to another saying 'I am your slave' that would not help the slave, as his former owner would be entitled to claim him back. Uśanas states⁸⁵¹ that a *guru* (elderly person), a *sapiṇḍa*, a brāhmaṇa and persons of the lowest castes (cāṇḍālas &c.) cannot be made slaves, nor can any one (of the higher castes) who is superior in learning be the slave of one of the same caste.