Verse 8.52

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

अपह्नवेऽधमर्णस्य देहीत्युक्तस्य संसदि ।
अभियोक्ता दिशेद् देश्यं करणं वाऽन्यदुद्दिशेत् ॥ ५२ ॥

apahnave'dhamarṇasya dehītyuktasya saṃsadi |
abhiyoktā diśed deśyaṃ karaṇaṃ vā'nyaduddiśet || 52 ||

On denial by the debtor, when asked in court to pay the debt, the complainant shall produce a witness, or adduce (other) evidence.—(52)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

When, in a court of justice, the debtor is asked by the King or the judge to repay the debt to (lie creditor,—if this is followed by ‘denial’ or evasion by him,—then the ‘complainant,’—i e., the lender of the money, the creditor—shall ‘produce a witness’ who would prove his case ,—‘or adduce other evidence’—in the shape of a document, etc.

The term ‘deśa’ (lit. place) indicates the man present at the place (where the money was lent); and though the term ‘kāraṇa,’ ‘evidence,’ stands for all forms of evidence, and as such includes the witness also, yet here it should be taken as standing for ‘evidence other than witnesses,’ according to the maxim of ‘the cow and the bull’ (‘Go-balīvarda’ where the term ‘go,’ being applicable to both the cow and the hull, is taken to mean the cow only); so that the phrase ‘shall adduce evidence’ must mean ‘shall adduce other forms of evidence.’

Or, the reading may be ‘abhiyukto diśeddeśam,’ and the meaning of this would be as follows:—The debtor, on being asked to pay, answers the claim by saying ‘it is true that I borrowed the money from him, but I paid it hack’; and when this happens, the man who was the complainant becomes the defendant, and on being thus made the defendant, he should question the debtor regarding the place— at what place did you repay the debt’?—as also regarding the time,—the mention of ‘place’ being only by way of illustration;—‘or he shall adduce other evidence’ ‘(of non-payment)’; i.e., he should say ‘I have got other means of proving my claim’; or it may mean that ‘if he is unable to produce the witness he should show why ho is so unable’; and in this case the particle ‘vā,’ ‘or,’ should be taken to mean ‘ca,’ ‘and.’—(52)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Deśam’—There is no difference in the meaning assigned to the word by Medhātithi and Kullūka,—both taking it in the sense of ‘witness’; the meaning ‘place’, attributed to Medhātithi, is however found in Nandana In his interpretation of Medhātithi, Buhler has been misled by the explanation that Medhātithi has provided by another reading. (See Translation).

This verse is quoted in Kṛtyakalpataru (24b), which adds the following explanation:—When on being questioned in court by the king or the judge, the debtor denies all transaction with the creditor, then the latter who

is the plaintiff, should name the witnesses and cite other proofs in the form of written documents and so forth:—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 29b), which explains ‘deśam’ as ‘witness’, expounding it as ‘diṣati artham yathādṛṣṭam’ and quotes Medhātithi’s explanation on ‘karaṇam’ also, which it explains as ‘other proofs’; it remarks that Medhātithi reads ‘kāraṇam vā samuddishet.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Bṛhaspati (11.62).—(See under 51.)

Kātyāyana (Vivādaratnākara, p. 67).—‘The debtor shall be openly arrested and kept in restraint before the assembly of the people, until he repays the dues, in accordance with the custom of the country.’