History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.257.5

v5.c71.s1.257.5

15–16 provide ¹⁷³ that a person guilty of slaying a man, of theft and of forcible seizure of land was to be deprived of his wealth by the king and was to be sentenced to death and that if the offender was a brāhmaṇa he was to have a piece of cloth tied over his eyes for the whole of his life (i. e. he was not to be sentenced to death). It appears that in very ancient times as provided by Āp. Dh. S. I 9.25.4 the thief approached the king ¹⁷⁴ with a club (of iron or *khadira* wood) on his shoulder and announced his guilt, when the king struck him with the club; on his being killed he became free from guilt. This was a penance as well as a legal punishment. Manu has a similar rule in his chapter on punishments (VIII. 314–316) providing that the thief should carry a weapon (called *musala*) or a club of *khadira* wood or a double-edged *śakti* or an iron staff and that if the king strikes him once with the club and he is killed or if he is not killed but is allowed to go half dead and lives, the thief is freed from the guilt. The Mit. on Yāj. III. 257 quotes a prose passage from Śaṅkha and a verse from Saṃvarta (122) to the same effect Manu in the chapter on penances (XI. 100-101 = Agnipurāṇa 169. 20-21) provides the same procedure for theft as a penance. Vas 20. 41, Yāj. III. 259, Viṣṇu 52. 1-2 and Parāśara XII. 69-70 provide a somewhat similar penance for the thief of brāhmaṇa's gold. Vasiṣṭha introduces an important change viz.