Verse 11.137

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

क्रव्यादांस्तु मृगान् हत्वा धेनुं दद्यात् पयस्विनीम् ।
अक्रव्यादान् वत्सतरीमुष्ट्रं हत्वा तु कृष्णलम् ॥ १३७ ॥

kravyādāṃstu mṛgān hatvā dhenuṃ dadyāt payasvinīm |
akravyādān vatsatarīmuṣṭraṃ hatvā tu kṛṣṇalam || 137 ||

For killing carnivorous animals, one should give a milch-cow; and a heifer for killing those not carnivorous; and a ‘kṛṣṇala’ of gold for killing a camel.—(137)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Carnivorous animals’—e.g., the hyena, the lion and so forth.

‘Not carnivorous’—e.g., the several species of the deer.

‘Dhenu’—stands for the cow only.

‘Kṛṣṇala’— is a gold-piece of a definite weight. The term has this technical meaning in treatises on Fines; but

elsewhere it is used in the ordinary sense of a particular weight-measure; as in such passages as—‘one desiring longevity should give one hundred kṛṣṇalas of clarified butter.’—(137)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 1132);—in Mitākṣarā (3.272);—in Madanapārijāta (p. 950);—and in Prāyaścittaviveka (pp. 232 and 527), which says that this refers to unintentional killing, and that once only.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (50.29, 40-41).—‘If he has killed a camel, he must give a golden Kṛṣṇala. If he has killed a wild carnivorous animal, he must give a milch cow; if a non-carnivorous wild animal, he must give a heifer.’

Yājñavalkya (3.274-275).—(See under 134.)