Chapter 19 - Assault

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Touching, striking, or hurting constitutes assault.^[1]

When a person touches with hand, mud, ashes or dust the body of another person below the navel, he shall be punished with a fine of 3 paṇas;^[2] with same but unclean things, with the leg, or spittle, 6 paṇas; with saliva (chardi), urine, faxes, etc., 12 paṇas. If the same offence is committed above the navel, the fines shall be doubled; and on the head, quadrupled.

If the same offence is committed on persons of superior rank, the fines shall be twice as much: and on persons of lower rank, half of the above fines. If the same offence is committed on the women of others, the fines shall be doubled.

If the offence is due to carelessness, intoxication, or loss of sense, the fines shall be halved.

For catching hold of a man by his legs, clothes, hands, or hair, fines ranging above 6 paṇas shall be imposed. Squeezing, rounding with arms, thrusting, dragging, or sitting over the body of another person shall be punished with the first amercement.^[3]

Running away after making a person fall, shall be punished with half of the above fines.

That limb of a Śūdra with which he strikes a Brāhman shall be cut off.^[4]

(Striking)

For striking compensation is to be paid, and half of the fines levied for touching. This rule shall also apply to Caṇḍālas and other profane persons (committing the same offence). Striking with the hand shall be punished with fines ranging from 3 to 12 paṇas, with the leg twice as much as the above fine;^[5] and striking with an instrument so as to cause swelling shall be punished with the first amercement; and striking so as to endanger life shall be punished with the middlemost amercement.

(Hurting)

Causing a bloodless wound with a stick, mud, a stone, an iron bar, or a rope shall be punished with a fine of 24 paṇas. Causing the blood to gush out, excepting bad or diseased blood, shall be punished with double the fine.

Beating a person almost to death, though without causing blood, breaking the hands, legs, or teeth, tearing off the ear or the nose, or breaking open the flesh of a person except in ulcers or boils, shall be punished with the first amercement.^[6] Causing hurt in the thigh or the neck, wounding the eye, or hurting so as to impede eating, speaking, or any other bodily movements, shall not only be punished with the middlemost amercement, but also be made liable to the payment (to the sufferer) of such compensation as is necessary to cure him.^[7]

If time or place does not permit the immediate arrest of an. offender, he shall be dealt with as described in Book IV, treating of the measures to suppress the wicked.

Each one of a confederacy of persons who have afflicted hurt on another person shall be punished with double the usual fine.^[8]

My preceptor holds that quarrels or assaults of a remote date shall not be complained of.

But Kauṭilya holds that there shall be no acquittal for an offender.

My preceptor thinks that he who is the first to complain of a quarrel wins, inasmuch as it is pain that drives one to law.

But Kauṭilya objects to it; for whether complaint is lodged first or last, it is the evidence of witnesses that must be depended upon. In the obsence of witnesses, the nature of the hurt and other circumstances connected with the quarrel in question shall be evidences. Sentence of punishment shall be passed the very day that a defendant accused of assault fails to answer the charge made against him.

(Robbery in Quarrels)

A person stealing anything under the tumult of a quarrel shall be fined 10 paṇas.^[8] Destruction of articles of small value shall be punished with a fine equal to the value of the articles besides the payment (to the sufferer) of an adequate compensation. Destruction of big things with a compensation equal to the value of the articles and a fine equal to twice the value. In the case of destruction of such things as clothes, gold, gold coins, and vessels Or merchandise, the first amercement together with the value of the articles shall be levied.

Causing damage to a wall of another man’s house by knocking shall be fined 3 paṇas; breaking open or demolishing the same shall be fined 6 paṇas besides the restoration of the wall.

Throwing harmful things inside the house of a man shall be fined 12 paṇas; and throwing such things as endanger the lives of the inmates shall be punished with the first amercement.^[9]

For causing pain with sticks, etc., to minor quadrupeds, one or two paṇas shall be levied; and for causing blood to the same, the fine shall be doubled. In the case of large quadrupeds, not only double the above fines, but also an adequate compensation necessary to cure the beasts shall be levied.

For cutting off the tender sprouts of fruit trees, flower trees or shady trees in the parks near a city, a fine of 6 paṇas shall be imposed; for cutting off the minor branches of the same trees, 12 paṇas; and for cutting off the big branches, 24 paṇas shall be levied. Gutting off the trunks of the same shall be punished with the first amercement; and felling the same shall be punished with the middlemost amercement.

In the case of plants which bear flowers, fruits, or provide shade, half of the above fines shall be levied.

The same fines shall be levied in the case of trees that have grown in places of pilgrimage, forests of hermits, or cremation or burial grounds.

* For similar offences committed in connection with the trees which mark boundaries, or which are worshipped or observed (caityeṣvālakṣiteṣu ca), or trees which are grown in the king’s forests, double the above fines shall be levied.^[10]

[Thus ends Chapter XIX, “Assault,” in Book III, “Concerning Law” of the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya. End of the seventy-sixth chapter from the beginning.]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

N. 15, 4.

[2]:

Y. 2, 213; also Kātyāyana.

[3]:

Y 2, 214, 217.

[4]:

M. 8, 279; This singular passage, dealing with an abnormally high punishment for a minor offence, is evidently an interpolation, as it is inconsistent not only with the author’s principle of gradation in punishments proportional to crimes, but also with his intention to get rid of mutilation of limbs by fines levied in lieu thereof, Chapter X, Book IV. This interpolation is, perhaps, due to the hand who, in a similar context (II, 218) in the Yājñyavalkyasmṛti, has formed a scale of punishments under the baneful influence of caste distinctions and undue partiality to Brahmans, which are assigned no prominence in the Arthaśāstra.

[5]:

Y. 2, 216, 218, 219, 220.

[6]:

Vi. 5, 75; M. 8, 287.

[7]:

Vi. 5, 75; M. 8, 287.

[8]:

Y. 2, 221.

[9]:

Y. 2, 224.

[10]:

Y. 2, 225-27; M. 8, 285-87.