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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI the karanapati worked a number of officials called karanikas, 1 whose status must have been that of the judges or magistrates. Two different terms, i.e. the rajakarana2 or rājakulakaranas and the karanasala,' are mentioned to denote the courts. It would not be improbable to assume that while the former denoted the royal court, the latter indicated the other courts in general. Karana is the usual term used for the courts in the literature of the time, and the judges were known as käraạikas. The karanikas have also been called pañcakulikas in the contemporary Jaina texts.
Law-suits and Their Procedure—The legal proceedings were usually termed as vavahara." Regarding its procedure we are informed that after filing an appeal in the court, the plaintiff was made to repeat his case thrice by the karana pati to ascertain the correctness of the case, 8 If the words uttered by the plaintiff were repeated thrice without any faltering or change, then the case was considered to be just and worthy of consideration by the court. According to the ancient authorities the judgement could never be given by a single person and the mention of the word kāramika in plurallo shows the same practice to have been observed during this time. The authorities were to take into account all available evidences before giving their judgement. The witnesses (sākşi)11, sureties
1. NC. 2, pp. 18, 83. 2. HET IS THT pooulant TAFITOI Galert--NC. 4, p. 305. 3. 1755 ciput Safe T TOT TY Top agert fastla-NC. 2, p. 18. 4. QUESTO TITUE TENGGAME at–NC. 3, p. 200. 5. er forget alori-Samarāiccakahā, Vol. 1, p. 86. 6. Ibid., pp. 210-13. 7. NC. 2, p. 18; NC. 3, p. 200. 8. कहिए करणपती भणति-पुणो कहेहि, कहिए पुण ततियवारा कहाविज्जइ, जति तिसु वि
सरिसं तो जाणति--सब्भावो कहिओ, अह विसरिसं तो जाणती करणपती, एस पलिउंचियं
E NG. 4, p. 305. 9. Sukraniti, IV. 5. 5-6. 10. NC. 2, pp. 18, 83; Samarāiccakahā, Vol. 1, p. 86. 11. E F 1 an
T N G. 3, p. 105; also NC. 3, p. 106. According to
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