History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.257.6

v5.c71.s1.257.6

that the king hands over to the thief a weapon made of udumbara wood (or probably of copper) with which the thief is to kill himself. It appears that gradually the king gave up this unpleasant method of awarding punishment personally Nārada¹⁷⁵ (pariśiṣṭa, verses 46-47) provides that after the thief comes running to the king and announces his guilt, the king was to touch him (with the club, as a symbolic gesture) and then let him off and the thief became freed from sin by his confession of guilt. It has to be remembered, however, that the thief had to restore, even when he underwent penance, stolen property, as stated by Manu VIII. 40, Yāj. II. 36 and 270, Bṛhaspati and by digests¹⁷⁶ like the Pr. Prakāśana If it were impossible to make the thief restore the stolen property the king had to make it good from his own treasury¹⁷⁷ (Gaut X. 47, Śāntiparva 75. 10, Kauṭilya III. 16) or he had to make his officers¹⁷⁸ entrusted with the duty of preventing thefts pay the price of the stolen property (Āp Dh. S. II. 10. 26. 8). Vide for further details H. of Dh vol. III. pp. 166-168. It appears that the actual carrying out of the sentence of death was later on assigned to Cāṇḍālas as stated by Manu X. 56 and Viṣṇu Dh. S. 16. 11 (vadhya-ghātitvaṃ cāṇḍālānām).