Vinaya Texts

SR No.: 007684
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2523
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 2170

VIII, 88. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW; PROCEDURE. 269
82. He who gives false evidence is firmly bound by Varuna's fetters, helpless during one hundred existences; let (men therefore) give true evidence.
83. 'By truthfulness a witness is purified, through truthfulness his merit grows; truth must, therefore, be spoken by witnesses of all castes (varna).
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84. The Soul itself is the witness of the Soul, and the Soul is the refuge of the Soul; despise not thy own Soul, the supreme witness of men.
85. 'The wicked, indeed, say in their hearts, "Nobody sees us;" but the gods distinctly see them and the male within their own breasts.
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86. The sky, the earth, the waters, (the male in) the heart, the moon, the sun, the fire, Yama and the wind, the night, the two twilights, and justice know the conduct of all corporeal beings.'
87. The (judge), being purified, shall ask in the forenoon the twice-born (witnesses) who (also have been) purified, (and stand) facing the north or the east, to give true evidence in the presence of (images of) the gods and of Brahmanas.
88. Let him examine a Brâhmana (beginning with) 'Speak,' a Kshatriya (beginning with) 'Speak the truth,' a Vaisya (admonishing him) by (mentioning) his kine, grain, and gold, a Sûdra (threatening
82. 'Varuna's fetters,' i. e. 'terrible snake-bonds or dropsy' (Medh., Kull.). Gov. mentions the snake-bonds alone, and Râgh. says that the verse threatens the punishment of hell. Dropsy is a disease specially attributed to Varuna, see Rig-veda VII, 89, 1, and the story of Sunahsepha, Ait. Brâhm. VII, 15. The fetters of Varuna are mentioned as the punishment of liars, Atharva-veda IV, 16, 6.
86. (The male in) the heart,' i. e. ' the male or spirit (purusha) who resides in the human heart, clothed with a rudimentary body' (Medh.), and similarly the other commentators.
88. (Admonishing him) by (mentioning) his kine, grain, or gold,' i. e. 'threatening him with the guilt of all offences committed against
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