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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI supposed to be indisputable by the subjects. We observe a king issuing a command to his subjects to take shelter under the fort during the invasion of a non-Aryan king. Most of the persons disobeying the order were killed by the enemy's forces, while the rest were severely punished by the king himself for not obeying his orders.' Cinakya is also mentioned to have ordered the people of a village to be burnt alive for disobeying the commands of their master-the king Candragupta,2 Persons causing slightest doubt in the mind of the king were immediately imprisoned and even executed. Treason against the king or State (raya pakära)3 was not tolerated. It included the offences like entering the king's harem without his permission, stealing royal property or kidnapping the members of the royal family, working against the interests of the State by acting as a spy courier5 or by writing false documents (kudaleha) or making an effort to create dissensions among the members of the royal council? etc. Among the general crimes against the State, non-payment of taxes to the king, 8 using false weights (kū latūla) and false measures (kūdamana), giving false witness in the court (kūdasakkhi)io and transgression of the moral and legal code were the important ones.
Punishments—The nature and severity of punishment was based upon the gravity of the crime and its nature. Various types of punishments like censure or reproach (durvacanakhiṁsaņā), fines and confiscation of property (bhogaharana),
1. TOT TUUTT TURHYTH HH 317 f eftat-NC. 4, p. 229. 2. NO. 4, pp. 10-11. 3. NC. 3, p. 261, also p. 37. 4. NO. 3, pp. 261-62. 5. ATUUT AI Tettat-NC. 3, p. 262. 6.15 EUT AT trifascii-NC. 3, p. 262. 7. NO. 2, p. 233. 8. NO. 4, p. 14. 9. NO. 1, p. 115. 10. NO. 1, pp. 101-2.
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