Verse 8.399

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

राज्ञः प्रख्यातभाण्डानि प्रतिषिद्धानि यानि च ।
ताणि निर्हरतो लोभात् सर्वहारं हरेन्नृपः ॥ ३९९ ॥

rājñaḥ prakhyātabhāṇḍāni pratiṣiddhāni yāni ca |
tāṇi nirharato lobhāt sarvahāraṃ harennṛpaḥ || 399 ||

Those commodities that have been proclaimed as the ‘king’s monopoly,’ and those that are forbidden,—if any one, through greed, exports these, the king shall confiscate all his property.—(399)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Those commodities that have been ‘proclaimed’ to belong to the king’s monopoly,—e.g. elephants in the eastern countries, saffron, silks and woolens in Kaśmir, horses among the western countries, precious stones, pearls, etc., among the southern countries; in fact such articles as are easily obtainable in the dominions of the king concerned, but rare in other countries. Kings come to a mutual understanding among themselves regarding all such commodities.

‘Forbidden’—i.e., those in regard to which the king has ordered that they should not he exported outside his dominions; e.g. during famines, the exporting of food-grains is prohibited.

‘Through greed,’—if some one exports for sale such commodities to other countries, the king shall confiscate all his property.

This punishment is meant for one who does the exporting with a view to profiteering, if they are carried for being presented to a foreign king, then the punishment shall be severer in the form of imprisonment and other forms of corporeal punishment.—(399)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 300), which adds the following notes:—Those objects that are specially fit for a king’s use—such as large elephants, and so forth—as also those the export of which is prohibited, such as grains and other things difficult to obtain in the country, and hence not to be sold to foreign countries,—if, through greed, merchants should export such articles to foreign countries, they should have all their property confiscated by the king, i.e., he should take away all that the man may have earned over the commodity.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 817); and again on p. 834;—in Vīramitrodaya (Rājanīti, p. 174);—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 954);—and in Vivādacintāmaṇi, (p. 119), which has the following explanation—‘Such elephants, horses and other things as are fit for the king only,—and things of which all buying and selling have been prohibited by the king,—if any one sells these in open defiance of the royal command, all that he obtains by this selling should be confiscated by the king.’

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (5.130).—‘He who sells a commodity on which the King has laid an embargo, shall have it confiscated.’

Yājñavalkya (2.261).—‘If anything is sold of which the sale has been prohibited or which is fit for the King’s own use, shall go to the King.’

Śaṅkha-Likhita (Vivādaratnākara, p. 301).—‘On selling a forbidden commodity, one shall have his limbs cut off.’