Verse 11.57

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

निक्षेपस्यापहरणं नराश्वरजतस्य च ।
भूमिवज्रमणीनां च रुक्मस्तेयसमं स्मृतम् ॥ ५७ ॥

nikṣepasyāpaharaṇaṃ narāśvarajatasya ca |
bhūmivajramaṇīnāṃ ca rukmasteyasamaṃ smṛtam || 57 ||

Stealing of a deposit, or of men, horse, silver, land, diamonds and other oems,—all this has been declared to be equal to the ‘stealing of gold.’—(57)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Deposit’—even such as consists of not very valuable things.

‘Men.’—This term stands for the kind; hence the stealing of women also stands on the same footing. This same sin accrues to him who, after having betrothed his daughter to one man, gives her ultimately to another, even when no defects have been found in the former bridegroom. This is what has been described as the man ‘falling upon a lie.’—(57)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (3.265), as referring to the stealing of property belonging to the Brāhmana;—in Parāśaramādhava (Prāyaścitta p. 421);—in Aparārka (p. 1048);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (p. 177 and 344), which has the following note—‘Deposit’, belonging to the Brāhmaṇa.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Baudhāyana (2.2.3-4).—‘Stealing the property of a Brāhmaṇa or a deposit, giving false evidence regarding land.’

Viṣṇu (36.3).—‘Appropriating to one’s self land belonging to a Brāhmaṇa or a deposit, are crimes equal to theft of gold.’

Yājñavalkya (3.230).—‘Stealing of a horse, of gems, of human females, of land, and of cows, or of deposit, these are equal to gold-stealing.’