Verse 8.121

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

कामाद् दशगुणं पूर्वं क्रोधात् तु त्रिगुणं परम् ।
अज्ञानाद् द्वे शते पूर्णे बालिश्यात्शतमेव तु ॥ १२१ ॥

kāmād daśaguṇaṃ pūrvaṃ krodhāt tu triguṇaṃ param |
ajñānād dve śate pūrṇe bāliśyātśatameva tu || 121 ||

If through lust, ten times the first; if through anger, three times the next; if through ignorance, full two hundred; and if through childishness, only a hundred.—(121)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Lust,’— sexual love: when females happen to be parties to the suit, the person who loves one of them, deposes falsely; and such a person should be fined 2,500 Paṇas.

‘If through anger, three times the next;’—the ‘lowest amercement’ having been mentioned before, its ‘next’ is the ‘middling amercement.’ Or, on the basis of ordinary usage, ‘para’ may stand for the ‘highest.’

‘Through ignorance’;—he who, through mistake, should say what is contrary to busts, on the spur of the moment,—and not during his regular examination,—his punishment shall consist of ‘two hundred.’ This is meant to be merely suggestive of some sort of punishment to be inflicted; and hence it is not contrary (to what has been declared regarding the lowest fine to consist of 250).

‘Childishness’— is childish character. The man who has not acquired steadiness of mind is called ‘childish.’ The punishment here laid down is for one who has just passed his minority; one who is still a minor cannot be a witness at all.—(121)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Aparārka (p. 680);—in Mitākṣarā (on 2.81), which adds the following notes:—‘Ajñāna’ is imperfect knowledge,—and ‘bāliśya’, want of experience and knowledge;—in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra p. 82);—in Vivādacintāmaṇi (p. 191), which says—‘If the witness lies through sexual passion for some woman, he should be fined 2,500 paṇas,—if through anger, 2,000 paṇas,—if through ignorance, 200 paṇas’;—and in Kṛtyakalpataru (37b), which says ‘triguṇam param’ means ‘three times the middle amercement’, i.e., 1,500 paṇas,—ajñānāt’, from a wrong idea formed at the time of the transaction in question,—‘bāliśya’ means ‘majority just attained’, a minor not being admissible as a witness.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 8.118-123)

See Comparative notes for Verse 8.118.