Carl Clausewitz - The Strategy of Warfare – Boxed Set

(Co-operation in sacrificial acts.)

Priests cooperating in a sacrifice shall divide their earnings either equally or as agreed upon excepting what is especially due to each or any of them. If a priest employed in such sacrifices as Agnishtoma, etc., dies after the ceremony of consecration, (his claimant) shall get 1/5th of the promised or prescribed present (dakshiná); after the ceremony consecrating the purchase of Soma, ¼th of the present; after the ceremony called Madhyamopasad; or Pravargyodvásana, 1/3rd of the present; and after the ceremony called Maya, ½ of the share. If in the sacrifice called Sutya, the same thing happens after the ceremony called Prátassavana, ¾ths, of the share shall be paid; after the ceremony called Madhyandina, the present shall be paid in full; for by that time the payment of presents shall be over. In every sacrifice except the one called Brihaspatisavana, it is usual to pay presents. The same rule shall apply to the presents payable in Aharganas, sacrifices so called.

The surviving priests carrying the balance of the present or any other relatives of a dead priest shall perform the funeral ceremony of the dead for ten days and nights.

If the sacrificer himself (he who has instituted the sacrifice) dies, then the remaining priests shall complete the sacrifice and carry away the presents. If a sacrificer sends out any priest before completing the sacrifice, he shall be punished with the first amercement. If a sacrificer sending out a priest happens to be a person who has not kept the sacrificial fire, or to be a preceptor or one who has already performed sacrifices, then the fines shall be 100, 1000, and 1000 panas respectively.

As it is certain that sacrificial merits fall in value when performed in company with a drunkard, the husband of a Súdra woman, a murderer of a Bráhman, or one who has violated the chastify of the wife of his preceptor, a receiver of condemnable gifts, or is a thief, or one whose performance of sacrificial acts is condemnable, it is no offence to send out such a priest.

[Thus ends Chapter XIV, “Rules regarding labourers, and Co-operative undertaking” in the section of “Rules regarding slaves and labourers,” in Book III, “Concerning Law” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the seventy-first chapter from the beginning.]

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A merchant refusing to give his merchandise that he has sold shall be punished with a fine of 12 panas, unless the merchandise is naturally bad, or is dangerous, or is intolerable.

That which has inherent defects is termed naturally bad; whatever is liable to be confiscated by the king, or is subject to destruction by thieves, fire, or floods is termed as being dangerous; and whatever is devoid of all good qualities, or is manufactured by the deceased is called intolerable.

Time for rescission of a sale is one night for merchants; 3 nights for cultivators; 5 nights for herdsmen; and with regard to the sale or barter of precious things and articles of mixed qualities (vivrittivikraye), 7 nights.

Merchandise which is likely to perish sooner may, if there is no loss to others, be shown the favour of early disposal by prohibiting the sale elsewhere of similar merchandise which is not likely to perish so soon. Violation of this rule shall be punished with a fine of 24 panas or 1/10th of the value of the merchandise sold against this rule.

A person who attempts to return an article purchased by him shall if the article is other than what is naturally bad, or is dangerous, or is intolerable, be punished with a fine of 12 panas. The same rescission rules that apply to a seller shall apply to the purchaser also.

(Marriage Contracts)

[As regards marriages among the three higher castes, rejection of a bride before the rite of pánigrahana, clasping of hands, is valid; likewise among the Súdras, observing religious rites. Even in the case of a couple that has gone through the rite of pánigrahana,] rejection of a bride whose guilt of having lain with another man has been afterwards detected is valid. But never so in the case of brides and bridegrooms of pure character and high family. Any person who has given a girl in marriage without announcing her guilt of having lain with another shall not only be punished with a fine of 96 panas, but also be made to return the sulka and strídhana. Any person receiving a girl in marriage without announcing the blemishes of the bridegroom shall not only pay double the above fine, but also forfeit the sulka and strídhana (he paid for the bride).

(Sale of bipeds, etc.)

Sale of bipeds and quadrupeds as strong, healthy, and clean though they are either unclean or actually suffering from leprosy and other diseases, shall be punished with a fine of 12 panas. The time of rescission of sale is three fortnights for quadrupeds and one year for men; for it is possible to know by that time their good or bad condition.

An assembly convened for the purpose shall, in the matter of rescending sales or gifts, decide in such a way that neither the giver nor the receiver shall be injured thereby.

[Thus ends Chapter XV, “Rescission of purchase and sale” in Book III, “Concerning Law” of the Arthasástra of Kautilya. End of the seventy-second chapter from the beginning.]

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RULES concerning recovery of debts shall also apply to resumption of gifts. Invalid gifts shall be kept in the safe custody of some persons. Any person who has given as gift not only his whole property, his sons, and his wife, but also his own life shall bring the same for the consideration of rescissors. Gifts or charitable subscriptions to the wicked or for unworthy purposes, monetary help to such persons as are malevolent or cruel, and promise of sexual enjoyment to the unworthy shall be so settled by rescissors that neither the giver nor the receiver shall be injured thereby.

Those who receive any kind of aid from timid persons, threatening them with legal punishment, defamation, or loss of money, shall be liable to the punishment for theft; and the persons who yield such aids shall likewise be punished.

Co-operation in hurting a person, and showing a haughty attitude towards the king shall be punished with the highest amercement. No son, or heir claiming a dead man’s property shall, against his own will, pay the value of the bail borne by the dead man (prátibhávyadanda), the balance of any dowry (sulkasesha), or the stakes of gambling; nor shall he fulfill the promise of gifts made by the dead man under the influence of liquor or love. Thus resumption of gifts is dealt with.

(Sale without ownership.)

As regards sale without ownership:--On the detection of a lost property in the possession of another person, the owner shall cause the offender to be arrested through the judges of a court. If time or place does not permit this action, the owner himself shall catch hold of the offender and bring him before the judges. The judge shall put the question; how the offender came by the property. If he narrates how he got it, but cannot produce the person who sold it to him, he shall be left off, and shall forfeit the property. But the seller, if produced, shall not only pay the value of the property, but also be liable to the punishment for theft.

If a person with a stolen property in his possession runs away or hides himself till the property is wholly consumed, he shall not only pay the value, but also be liable to the punishment for theft.

After proving his claim to a lost property (svakaranam kritva), its owner shall be entitled to take possession of it. On his failure to prove his title to it, he shall be fined 5 times the value of the property, (panchabandhadandah), and the property shall be taken by the king.