Verse 8.194

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

निक्षेपो यः कृतो येन यावांश्च कुलसंनिधौ ।
तावानेव स विज्ञेयो विब्रुवन् दण्डमर्हति ॥ १९४ ॥

nikṣepo yaḥ kṛto yena yāvāṃśca kulasaṃnidhau |
tāvāneva sa vijñeyo vibruvan daṇḍamarhati || 194 ||

As much of a certain deposit has been entrusted in the presence of a number of men—so much should it be decided to be; the party misrepresenting it becomes liable to punishment.—(194)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Certain’ refers to the kind or quality of the substance, and ‘as much’ to its quantity, e.g., one party says—‘I had deposited gold with him and he is giving me back bell-metal; I had deposited a hundred and he is giving me only half of it’;—on being asked—“Did you hand over the deposit in secret or before witnesses?”—if he says ‘in the presence of a number of men’—i.e., witnesses—then what these men, on being questioned, should declare, should be regarded as the truth.

‘Misrepresenting’—i.e., asserting otherwise than this, the party is punished.

If however the complainant says that the deposit was not handed over in the presence of witnesses, there is an occasion for the admitting of other kinds of proof.

This verse also prescribes nothing new.—(194)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 664), which explains ‘vibruvan’ as ‘telling what is not true;’—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 94), which adds the following notes:—‘Vibruvan,’ declaring it to be more when it was less; from a parity of reasoning, it follows that if the depository also declares the deposit to be less where it was really more, he also should be fined;—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (85a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.193-194)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.193.