Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 1274

I, 155.
WITNESSES.
*151. The witnesses not appointed by (the party) himself have been declared sixfold : viz. the village, a judge, a king,
*152. One acquainted with the affairs of the two parties, and one deputed by the claimant. In family quarrels, members of that family shall be witnesses.
153. They shall be of honourable family, straightforward, and unexceptionable as to their descent, their actions, and their fortune. The witnesses shall not be less than three in number, unimpeachable, honest, and pure-minded.
154. They shall be Brahmans, Vaisyas, or Kshatriyas, or irreproachable Sudras. Each of these shall be (witness) for persons of his own order, or all of them may be (witnesses) for all (orders).
*155. Among companies (of artizans, or guilds of
151, 152. The village or the co-villagers shall be witnesses in a transaction which has taken place within the village. The testimony of the judge shall be heard in regard to a cause tried in a court of justice. The king shall be witness concerning a transaction which has taken place in his presence. These, and one acquainted with the circumstances of both parties, the agent of the claimant, and members of a family in a lawsuit concerning that family, are the six kinds of witnesses not appointed. A.
153. Of honourable family,' belonging to a noble race. Straightforward,' habitually veracious. Less than three,' viz. one or two persons may be witnesses if both parties consent to it. In a dispute regarding landed property, more than three witnesses are required. Honest,' free from avarice. Pureminded,' imbued with the precepts of religion. A. Manu VIII, 62, 63; Vishnu VIII, 8; Apastamba II, 11, 29, 7; Gautama XIII, 2; Yagñavalkya II, 68, 69; Vasishtha XVI, 28.
154. Members of these four castes shall be witnesses for members of their own caste only. Or let members of any caste be witnesses for members of any other caste. A. Manu VIII, 62; Gautama XIII, 3; Yâgñavalkya II, 69; Vasishtha XVI, 29; Baudhayana I, 19, 13. 155. Companies or guilds are of eighteen kinds. Labourers
[33]
Digitized by Google