Verse 8.130

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

वधेनापि यदा त्वेतान्निग्रहीतुं न शक्नुयात् ।
तदेषु सर्वमप्येतत् प्रयुञ्जीत चतुष्टयम् ॥ १३० ॥

vadhenāpi yadā tvetānnigrahītuṃ na śaknuyāt |
tadeṣu sarvamapyetat prayuñjīta catuṣṭayam || 130 ||

When however he is not able to restrain them even by the ‘death-penalty,’—then he should inflict on them all these four.—(130)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

If actual killing were meant by ‘death-penalty,’ then what would be there that could not be done by it? How too would the penalty not restrain a crime?

On persons not resuming good behaviour after being rebuked, ‘—fine’ and the ‘death-penalty,’ i. e., corporal punishment, should be conjointly inflicted. If, even after corporal punishment, the man does not desist, the king shall not ignore him,—under the impression that he has already inflicted the legal punishment,—but he shall inflict actual ‘death-penalty.’

The present verse has been added with a view to indicate that the matter of fines and death-penalty is going to be taken up again later on.

As regards verbal punishment, it being too gentle, who would mind it? If the man has been punished with a fine, and even then does not desist, the ‘death-penalty’ shall be inflicted in the form of the cutting off of the fingers and so forth, as described below under 9.277.—(130)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 630), which explains vadhena as ‘beating;’—and in Vyavahāra Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 111).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.129-130)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.129.