Verse 8.285

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

वनस्पतीनां सर्वेषामुपभोगो यथा यथा ।
यथा तथा दमः कार्यो हिंसायामिति धारणा ॥ २८५ ॥

vanaspatīnāṃ sarveṣāmupabhogo yathā yathā |
yathā tathā damaḥ kāryo hiṃsāyāmiti dhāraṇā || 285 ||

In the case of all trees, as their usefulness so should be the punishment inflicted for injuring them; this is the settled rule.—(285)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

The ‘trees’ have been mentioned as representing all immovable things.

When injury is done to a tree which is of great utility, the fine consists of the ‘highest amercement’; when the tree is of ordinary utility, it consists of the ‘middle amercement’; and when it is of small utility, it consists of the ‘lowest amercement.’

Account has also got to be taken of the part of the tree where the injury is done;—whether it is the leaf, the fruit or the branch that has been cut off. In regard to fruits also, their market-value has to be taken into consideration.

Similarly account has to be taken of the position of the tree,—whether it stands on the boundary, on road-crossings or in a hermitage, and so on.—(285)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

“According to Govindarāja the fine for injuring trees which give shade only is to be very small; in the case of flower-bearing trees, middling; and in the case of fruit trees, high.”—Buhler.

This verse is quoted in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 100);—and in Aparārka (p. 819).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Viṣṇu (5.55-59).—‘A feller of trees yielding fruit shall pay the highest amercement; a feller of flower-bearing trees, only the middle amercement; he who cuts creepers, shrubs or climbing plants shall pay a hundred kārṣāpaṇas; he who cuts grass shall pay one kārṣāpaṇa; and all such offenders shall make good to the owners the revenue which they yield.’

Arthaśāstra (pp. 108-109).—‘One who destroys small things shall make good their value and also pay a line equal to it;—on destroying large things, he shall make good their value and pay double that amount as fine.’

Yājñavalkya (2.227-229).—‘For tearing the branches of wide-spreading trees, and of such trees as supply food, the fine shall he 20; for tearing their trunks, 40, and for destroying the entire tree, 80. For such trees as are growing on places of worship, in the cremation-ground, in a sacred place, or in a temple, the fine shall be double. Half of the above-mentioned fine, in the case of destroying thickets, creepers and plants.’

Vaśiṣṭha (Vivādaratnākara, p. 286).—‘For the purpose of making agricultural implements or implements for the household, one may cut even fruit-bearing and flower-bearing trees and thickets.’