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- ALBRECHT WEZLER
THE WARRIOR TAKING TO FLIGHT IN FEAR
SOME REMARKS ON MANU 7.94 AND 95 (Beiträge zur Kenntnis der indischen Kultur
und Religionsgeschichte IIT)
0. While examining materials on the laws of battle », in the course of a study of the ideas about the right to kill in selfdefence in ancient and mediaeval India, I chanced upon the verses Manu 7.94 and 95 and these have arrested my attention for quite some time now. For they are not only highly interesting in them. selves, but invite closer inspection also because in commentaries on them we find an explicit reference to a philosophical author. A further consideration of no little importance is that these verses involve the problem of « transfer of merit which has been a concern of quite a number of colleagues in recent years.
1. The verses at issue run thus: yas tu bhitah paravettah samgrdme hanyate paraih / bhartur yad duskatam kimcit tat sarvam pratipadyate // 94 // yac casya sukstam kimcid amutrartham uparjitam / bharta tat sarvam adatte parávyttahatasya tu // 95 Il.
These are statements apparently so simple and clear that one should not expect anybody to be in doubt as to their meaning and reject eg. Bühler's rendering?
1. This is the term used by E. W. HOPKINS, The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic, in JAOS, 13 (1889), p. 227 ff., cf. also fn. 9.
2. The Laws of Manu in Sacred Books of the East - XXV, Oxford, 1886 (repr. Delhi-Varanasi-Patna, 1964, etc.), p. 231.
