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362
XXII, 18.
wards, and highwaymen shall be bound and hanged by the neck from a tree.
18. Those who have kidnapped a man shall be burned by the king with a fire kept up with straw; the stealer of a woman (shall be placed) on a bed of hot iron, or burned with a fire kept up with straw.
19. Stealers of grain shall be compelled to give ten times as much (to the owner), and the double amount as a fine; a cow-stealer shall have his nose cut off, and shall be plunged into water, after having been fettered.
BRIHASPATI.
20. When a man takes grass, wood, flowers, or fruit without asking permission to do so, he deserves to have a hand cut off.
21. On him who steals more than ten kumbhas of grain, corporal punishment (or execution) shall be inflicted; (for stealing) less than that, a man shall be fined eleven times the quantity stolen, and shall restore his property to the owner.
22. When a religious man and diligent reader of the Veda has committed theft, he shall be kept in prison for a long time, and shall be caused to perform a penance after having been compelled to restore the stolen goods to the owner.
23. Hear now (the law regarding) theft coupled with violence, which springs from either wrath or avarice.
18. Ratn. p. 317; Viv. p. 166.
19. Ratn. p. 322; Viram. p. 494; May. p. 143.
20. Ratn. p. 329; Viv. p. 174.
21. Viv. p. 169.
22. Ratn. p. 331; Viv. p. 176. Under the version found in the latter work, the punishment does not take place when the Brahman performs a penance.
23. Vîram. p. 503.
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