Verse 8.72

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

साहसेषु च सर्वेषु स्तेयसङ्ग्रहणेषु च ।
वाग्दण्डयोश्च पारुष्ये न परीक्षेत साक्षिणः ॥ ७२ ॥

sāhaseṣu ca sarveṣu steyasaṅgrahaṇeṣu ca |
vāgdaṇḍayośca pāruṣye na parīkṣeta sākṣiṇaḥ || 72 ||

In all cases of violence, of theft and adultery, and of assault, verbal and corporeal,—he shall not investigate the character of the witnesses.—(72)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Sāhasa,’ ‘violence’;—‘taha’ means ‘force’; and what is done by force is ‘sāhasa,’ ‘violence’; whenever an improper act is done by a man, either on the strength of his being the king’s favourite, or of his having a large following, or of his own bodily strength, or of the help of some powerful person,—it is called ‘sāhasa,’ ‘violence.’ e.g., the tearing of cloths, the burning by fire, the cutting of the hands, and so forth.

The rest are all well known.

In such oases the character of the witnesses need not be investigated;—this precludes the investigation that has been laid down above, under verse 60, et seq.; that investigation, on the other hand, which bears upon doubt regarding the man’s reliability, on account of the presence of love, hatred, avarice and the like,—that must be done. The placing of this limitation upon what is laid down in the text is justified by the consideration that the present treatise is known to have a visible source, in the person of a personal author; as has been explained before.—(72)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Kṛtyakalpataru (32a);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 50b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.70-72)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.70.