History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.992.2

v4.c63.992.2

385 verse 1) refers to this divergence of views: 'Gambling that causes loss of truth, purity and wealth was forbidden by Manu, but others allowed it because it led to the detection of thieves, provided it was carried on in the presence of a master of the gambling hall and provided it yielded revenue to the king'. The person who was in charge of the gambling hall which gamblers made their haunt and who supplied the dice and other instruments of gambling was called *sabhika* and the stake or money agreed to be paid by the defeated gambler to the winning gambler was called *paṇa* or *glaha* (Yāj. II. 199). Nār. XIX. 8 provides an optional method viz. instead⁹⁹⁶ of gambling in a hall presided over by a sabhika, gamblers may give the king his share in the stakes, then indulge in gambling openly and if they do so they incur no punishment. Acc. to Yāj. II. 199 as interpreted by Par. M. III. p. 574 and V. P. p. 565 the sabhika was to receive five per cent or 1/20th part when the stake was 100 paṇas or more and 10 per cent or 1/10th when the stake was less than 100 paṇas. Aparārka (p. 802) explains that the sabhika was to receive as his fee five per cent from the victorious gambler and ten per cent from the losing gambler. Nār. XIX. 2 prescribes a flat rate of ten per cent on the stake as the fee of the sabhika, while Kauṭ.⁹⁹⁷ III.