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Non-Stealing
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of stealing another's property is aroused from covetousness and greed; when these two forces are eradicated the virtue of non-stealing would automatically develop. The emphasis on them by the Upanişadic thinkers show that they have gone deeper into the field of morality. The Jaina sources also reveal the fact by saying that whosoever steals is greedy.1
In the Chandogya Upanişad a mention of five major sins is made, where the first position is occupied by the plunderer of gold who sinks downwards in the scale'.3 Again the Chāndogya Upanişad tells that in case of theft the axe ordeal is applied, apparently under the direction of the king. “But this is the solitary case of an ordeal known in the Vedic literature as a part of criminal procedure. In the sūtras we hear of a king with his own hands striking a confessed thief”. 3
Manu has explicitly included 'non-stealing' among the fundamental principles of morality.4 He regards theft as a very grave crime. “A king when punishing the wicked is comparable to the god Varuņa, who binds a sinner with ropes. If a king does not strike a thief, who approaches him, holding a club in his hands and proclaiming his deeds, the fault falls on the king, the thief whether he be slain or pardo. ned is purified of his guilt, The king should first punish by admonition; afterwards by reproof; third, by a fine and after that by corporal chastisement." Stealing is always condemned in the entire Brāhmaṇical religion as a grave crime which
1. 'sturas pret ta '
-Uttarā. 32.29. 2. स्तेनो हिरण्यस्य सुरा पिबंश्च गुरोस्तल्पमावसन्ब्रह्महा च ।
Chãndo. 5.10.9. 3. Cambridge History of India, vol. I, p. 119. 4. BF THE4Hfiz rafafsufTIE: 1
--Manu. 10.66. 5. E. R. E., vol. 4, p. 284.
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