History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.859.4

v4.c63.859.4

2-3) prescribe that on failure of witnesses of the adjoining villages, neighbours (sāmanta),⁹⁰² old men, cowherds husbandmen who plough the fields near the one in dispute, hunters, fowlers, fishermen, snake catchers and foresters should settle the disputed boundary in the presence of the king. The Mit. on Yāj.⁹⁰³ II 153 quotes Kāt. (743-745, 51) to show that witnesses were divided into *sāmanta*, *maula*, *vṛddha* and *uddhṛta*, each preceding group being superior to the succeeding. The Mit. further says that the neighbours as witnesses are to be arranged in the form of the layers of the petals of a lotus viz. the nearest ones (*saṁsaktaka*) are those most preferred, (but if this group has faults) then a second but a more removed group and then a third group still more remote may be examined. Śaṅkha-Likhita and Vas.⁹⁰⁴ 16. 13-15 prescribe that in boundary disputes the decision depends on neighbours, in the case of conflict of witnesses on documents and then on the old men in the town or village and the guilds. Yāj. II. 152 and Manu VIII. 258 require that the neighbours who are to settle the boundary should be four, eight or ten (even in number) and inhabitants of the same village (if possible). Bṛ. (S. B. E. 33 p. 352 verse 14) requires that the witnesses⁹⁰⁵ should know the source of title (to the disputed land), the measurement (in *nivartanas*.