Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.176

c5.176

DAṆḌANĪTI. (The laws of chastisement). Daṇḍanīti is the law of punishment given to the subjects by Kings of ancient India. According to the criminal laws of ancient India, fining a man upto two hundred and fifty paṇas (a coin) was called Prathama Sāhasa daṇḍa (first degree of punishment) and fining up to five hundred paṇas was called Madhyama Sāhasa daṇḍa (medium punishment) and fining upto thousand paṇas was called Uttama Sāhasa daṇḍa (highest degree of punishment). If a man complains to the King that his property is stolen, when actually it is not stolen, the man will be fined the amount that is said to have been stolen. There was another law, that the owner of the stolen property and the thief would have to pay double the amount they admit, if the amount shown in the complaint differed from the actual amount stolen. For appearing as false witness, the three classes of non-Brahmins were punished with fine and if he was a Brahmin he would have to be cast out of the society. The King ordered that if one spent the property entrusted with him for keeping, the owner of the property would have to be paid double the amount. If one says that he has given the property for keeping when actually it is not, the person will have to be punished as if he were a thief. If a man spends an amount without knowing that it was the property of others, the man will have to be acquitted of the charge.