Verse 8.14

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

यत्र धर्मो ह्यधर्मेण सत्यं यत्रानृतेन च ।
हन्यते प्रेक्षमाणानां हतास्तत्र सभासदः ॥ १४ ॥

yatra dharmo hyadharmeṇa satyaṃ yatrānṛtena ca |
hanyate prekṣamāṇānāṃ hatāstatra sabhāsadaḥ || 14 ||

Where justice is destroyed by injustice, or truth by falsehood, while people are looking on,—there the members of the court also are destroyed.—(14)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Justice’ is decision arrived at in strict accordance with the scriptures, reasoning and local customs;—if this is

‘destroyed by Injustice,’—i.e., set aside by the reverse of justice,—by either the plaintiff or the defendant;—similarly where ‘truth is destroyed by falsehood’—by the witnesses;—and all the time the judges and the other people in the Court remain looking on, and do not try to draw out the real facts,—then these men also are ‘destroyed,’—i.e., become as good as dead corpses. This is meant to be a deprecation of the judges, etc.

For these reasons the members of the Court shall not connive at any misrepresentations being made by the parties or by the witnesses.

In as much as the mention of ‘Justice and Injustice’ only, or of ‘Truth and Falsehood’ only, would have been sufficient, the mention of both would have to be regarded as serving the purpose of tilling up the metre; hence it has been explained as referring to two distinct sets of persons (the parties and the witnesses).—(14)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Nārada (3.89).—‘Where justice hit by injustice enters a Court, and the members do not extract the dart from the wounds, they are hit by it themselves. Where justice is slain by injustice, and truth by falsehood, the members of the Court who look on with indifference, become doomed to destruction.’

Kātyāyana (Aparārka, p. 604).—(Same as Nārada.)