History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.946

v4.c63.946

*Sāhasa* (crimes of violence). Manu VIII. 332, Kauṭ. III. 17, Nār. XVII. 1, Yāj. II. 230, Kāt. (795–796) define sāhasa⁹⁶² as any act which is done with violence in defiance of or in spite of the presence of royal officers or guards or people. The word sāhasa is a derivative from 'sahas' meaning 'force' (Nār. XVII. 1). Sometimes it is distinguished from theft (as in Manu VIII. 332, Kauṭ. III. 17 and Nār. XVII. 12) by saying that theft consists in depriving a person of his wealth stealthily (without force), while in sāhasa there is the use of force or violence⁹⁶³. Nār. XVII. 2 and Bṛ. (S. B. E. vol. 33 p. 359 verse 1) state that sāhasa⁹⁶⁴ is of four kinds viz. manslaughter, theft, violence to the wives of others, and the two kinds of *pāruṣya* (treated as one head). Although these topics can be comprehended under sāhasa, they are generally dealt with separately in the smṛtis and digests as a matter of convenience and in order to provide heavier punishment for crimes of violence⁹⁶⁵, since a man guilty of a crime of violence is a worse sinner than one guilty of abuse, theft or assault (Manu VIII. 345 and Mit. on Yāj. II. 230) and Manu VIII. 244 enjoins upon the king not to tolerate for a moment a man guilty of violence. The V. May. (text p. 2) says that in differentiating *steya* from *sāhasa* the maxim of 'cows' and 'bulls' is applicable⁹⁶⁶.