Verse 8.345

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

वाग्दुष्टात् तस्कराच्चैव दण्डेनैव च हिंसतः ।
साहसस्य नरः कर्ता विज्ञेयः पापकृत्तमः ॥ ३४५ ॥

vāgduṣṭāt taskarāccaiva daṇḍenaiva ca hiṃsataḥ |
sāhasasya naraḥ kartā vijñeyaḥ pāpakṛttamaḥ || 345 ||

He who commits violence is to be regarded as the worst offender, as compared to one who is wicked of speech, to a thief and to one who hurts with a staff.—(310)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This is another declamation eulogising the injunction of punishment.

‘Wicked of speech’;—he who offends with words.

‘Taskara’ is a thief.

‘With a staff’— the ‘staff’ stands here for anything that hurts, any weapon.

In comparison to all these three kinds of offenders, dealt with in the three foregoing sections, the one going to be dealt with now is the worst.—(345)

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.345-347)

Nārada (14-1 et seq.).—‘Whatever act is performed by persons inflamed with strength is called Violence. Manslaughter, robbery, indecent assault on another man’s wife, the two kinds of assault are the four kinds of Violence. Destroying, reviling, disfiguring or otherwise injuring fruits, roots, water and the like, or agricultural implements............ The punishment to be inflicted for Violence shall be proportionate to the heaviness of the crime, but it shall not be less than a hundred.’