History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.257.2

v5.c71.s1.257.2

The cows were to be made over to the king for bestowal on the family of the murdered person to mollify them and if they refused to receive them the king was not to retain them for himself but was to distribute them among brāhmaṇas. We know that Manu (IX. 243-245) provides that the fine recovered from a man guilty of mortal sins was not to be taken for himself by the king but was to be offered to Varuṇa and thrown into water or was to be distributed among learned brāhmaṇas. Manu IX. 236 provides that for those who were guilty of the four grave sins (brāhmaṇa murder &c.) and did not undergo penance for the same the king should inflict corporal punishment (branding on the forehead) together with fine in accordance with the śāstra. Manu IX. 237 (= Matsya 227 164) and Visnu V. 4–7 say that on the forehead a mark of female private parts with red-hot iron should be branded in the case of incest, the mark of a tavern flag in the case of drinking *surā*, the mark of dog's foot in the case of theft (of brāhmaṇa's gold) and the mark of a headless trunk in the case of a brāhmaṇa-murder. Manu IX. 240 further prescribes that men of all castes guilty of the four mahāpātakas committed unintentionally that perform the proper penance should not be branded on the forehead by the king but should be awarded the highest fine Manu IX.