Verse 8.369

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

कन्यैव कन्यां या कुर्यात् तस्याः स्याद् द्विशतो दमः ।
शुल्कं च द्विगुणं दद्यात्शिफाश्चैवाप्नुयाद् दश ॥ ३६९ ॥

kanyaiva kanyāṃ yā kuryāt tasyāḥ syād dviśato damaḥ |
śulkaṃ ca dviguṇaṃ dadyātśiphāścaivāpnuyād daśa || 369 ||

If a maiden pollutes another maiden, her fine shall be two hundred; she shall also pay the double of her nuptial fee and shall receive ten lashes.—(369)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Either through childishness, or through jealousy for her greater beauty, if a maiden pollutes another maiden, then she should be made to pay two hundred; and also the double of her nuptial fee.

What Is the amount of this fee?

It shall depend upon the beauty of the girl, or upon her fortune and other qualities.

‘Lashes’—strokes of rope or creeper.—(369).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 321);—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 403), which adds that ‘dviguṇam’ means ‘double of 200’;—and ‘śiphā’ stands for ‘strokes of creepers, ropes and such other things’;—in Aparārka (p. 859), which adds the following explanation:—If one maiden happen to penetrate another with her fingers or some such thing, she shall pay a fine of 200 to the king, and that fee or price which the defiled maiden is worth, three times (its reading being ‘triguṇam’ or ‘dviguṇam’) that shall be paid to her by the other girl, who is, in addition, to receive ten stripes—i.e., strokes of rope or creepers.

It is quoted in Mitākṣarā (2.288) to the same effect; where it adds that ‘double the fee’ (dviguṇam śulkam) is to be paid by the offending girl to the father of the defiled girl.

It is quoted in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 1016);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 157a).