Verse 8.202

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

अथ मूलमनाहार्यं प्रकाशक्रयशोधितः ।
अदण्ड्यो मुच्यते राज्ञा नाष्टिको लभते धनम् ॥ २०२ ॥

atha mūlamanāhāryaṃ prakāśakrayaśodhitaḥ |
adaṇḍyo mucyate rājñā nāṣṭiko labhate dhanam || 202 ||

If the source cannot be traced, the person (buyer), whose conduct has been cleared by the fact of the sale being public, is let off without punishment, but the man who lost the property shall receive it back.—(202)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

It has been laid down that purchases shall be made from persons not suspected of dishonesty; hence where the seller is capable of being produced, the rule just quoted becomes applicable; but if the m in having sold the property goes away,—and ‘the source,’—the seller—cannot be produced by the man who bought from him the property that is now recognised by its real owner as his own,—then the purchaser has his character cleared by the fact that he made the purchase in the open market,—in the presence of a large number of men; and on that account he is let off without punishment.

But the property is restored to the rightful owner, ‘the person who had lost it’ and then recognised it as his own.

The term ‘nāṣṭikaḥ’ means he who has lost, derived from the participial noun ‘naṣṭa’ with the possessive affix ‘ṭhan’ and then the reflexive affix ‘aṇ’; or it may be explained as meaning ‘he who is seeking for his lost property.’

The sense in brief is this:—In the case of a public sale, there is to be no punishment, but the loss of the price paid remains.—(202).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 103), which adds the following notes:—‘Mūlam,’ the original seller, who sold the article which did not belong to him;—if he is ‘anāhārya’, incapable of being produced by the purchaser, by reason of his being in a foreign country;—but the purchaser is one who had made his purchase openly,—then this latter is not to be punished;—but the actual owner shall receive back his property which had been fraudulently sold.

It is quoted in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 87), which reading ‘anāhārya’ for ‘anāhāryam’, explains it as ‘not producing;’—the meaning being ‘even though the buyer is unable to produce the original seller, if his purchase is found to be bona fide by reason of its having been done in public.’

It is quoted in Aparārka, (p. 776), which adds the following explanation:—‘Mūlam’ is the original seller;—if he is incapable of being produced by reason of his whereabouts being unknown.

It is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 215), which adds that the rightful owner is to receive his property from the purchaser, only on paying to him one half of the price that had been paid for it;—this opinion being based upon a clear declaration to that effect by Kātyāyana;—in Vivādacintāmaṇi (p. 43), which adds the following explanation:—‘Where the selling has been done openly,—and yet the original owner proves his claim to the property concerned,—and the property concerned is not returnable, by reason of its having been exported to foreign lands, and so forth—then the bona fide purchaser is not to be punished, but he is to be made to refund the price to the real owner—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (86a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(See the texts under verses 198-199 and verse 201.)

Viṣṇu (5.164-165).—‘He who buys unawares in open market the property of a person other than the rightful owner is not to blame; but the owner shall recover his property.’

Yājñavalkya (2.169-170).—(See under 198-199.)

Kātyāyana (Aparārka, p. 176).—‘One should make a purchase and pay its price openly.’