Verse 8.176 [Liquidation of Debts]

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

यः साधयन्तं छन्देन वेदयेद् धनिकं नृपे ।
स राज्ञा तत्चतुर्भागं दाप्यस्तस्य च तद् धनम् ॥ १७६ ॥

yaḥ sādhayantaṃ chandena vedayed dhanikaṃ nṛpe |
sa rājñā tatcaturbhāgaṃ dāpyastasya ca tad dhanam || 176 ||

A person who complains to the king against the creditor trying to accomplish his purpose by his own will,—should be made by the king to pay the fourth part, and also the total amount to him—(176)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Will’— wish; and ‘by his own will’ means ‘without filing his suit with the king,’ just as he pleases,—not necessarily by the four sanctioned methods of acquiring property;—if he is complained against, and summoned by the king’s officers,—and then if the debtor, on being questioned, should admit the debt, saying ‘I owe him such and such an amount,’ then the latter should he fined a quarter of that debt, and the total amount due he should be made to pay to the creditor ; e.g., if he owes a hundred, he should he fined twenty-five, and should pay to be creditor a hundred. We should not fall into the mistake that a hundred less twenty-five is to be paid to the king and the balance, i.e., twenty-fire to the creditor; as in this case the punishment would fall upon the creditor and not upon the debtor.—(176)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Kṛtyakalpataru (80b.)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (6.18-19).—‘A creditor recovering the sum lent by any lawful means shall not he reproved by the Xing. If the debtor, so forced to discharge the debt, complains to the King, he shall be fined in an equal sum.’

Yājñavalkya (2.40).—‘If the creditor tries to realise the loan that is admitted, he shall not he reproved by the King. If, on being thus pressed to pay, the debtor approaches the King, he should he fined and made to repay the amount due to the creditor.’

Kātyāyana (Aparārka, p. 645).—‘If the creditor harasses the debtor who is acting lawfully, he shall forfeit the debt, and shall also be fined the same amount.’

Bṛhaspati (11.54).—‘When a debtor has acknowledged a debt, it may he recovered from him by the expedients of friendly expostulation and the rest, by moral suasion, by artful management, by compulsion and by confinement in the house.’

Nārada (1.122, 123).

[122 is same as Manu 8.49].—

‘A creditor who tides to recover his loan from the debtor must not he checked by the King, both for secular and religious reasons.’