Verse 8.71

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

बालवृद्धातुराणां च साक्ष्येषु वदतां मृषा ।
जानीयादस्थिरां वाचमुत्सिक्तमनसां तथा ॥ ७१ ॥

bālavṛddhāturāṇāṃ ca sākṣyeṣu vadatāṃ mṛṣā |
jānīyādasthirāṃ vācamutsiktamanasāṃ tathā || 71 ||

In the event of minors, aged and diseased persons deposing falsely in their evidence, the Judge should make up his mind regarding the speech being irregular; so also in the case of men with disordered minds.—(71)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The meaning of this is as follows:—

The present verse is not meant to admit such minors and others as are either in absolute bondage or with disordered minds,—and hence entirely inadmissible. If it did so, it would be laying down something wholly new. The persons indicated by this as admissible are, in fact, those who are capable of understanding things, but whose minds are not quite steady. And what is meant is that the words of such persons should be fully examined with the help of reasonings, and they should be admitted as reliable only if it is found that they speak coherently and are not tainted with any suspicious signs of corruption. This is what is meant by the words—In the event of their deposing falsely the judge should make up his mind regarding the speech being irregular. That is to say, the falsity of the deposition should be deduced from its irregularity;—this ‘irregularity’ consisting in the incoherence of the statements and the absence of explicitness and clear utterance.

All this is meant to indicate the condition of the minor and other persons; the meaning being that those who have been reduced, either by age or by disease, to a condition in which desiring to say one thing they utter something quite different, and that also indistinctly, should not be made witnesses. This ground for inadmissibility as witness can always be ascertained by direct perception; the other grounds,—such as the presence of love or hatred or avarice and so forth,—can be found out only by investigation; as has been already declared.

‘So also in the cate of men with disordered minds,’—i.e., those who are inherently of unsound mind.—(71)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Nandana is misrepresented by Hopkins.

This verse is quoted in Smṛticandrikā (Vyavahāra, p. 196), which explains ‘Utsiktamanasām’ as ‘impatient’;—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (32b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.70-72)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.70.