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194
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JULY, 1882.
tion was to be paid to exercising the troops in all kinds of warlikeoperations, archery, the manage- ment of horses, etc. The strietest discipline was to be exacted and the most implicit obedience. A son disobeying or shewing disrespect to his father, a younger brother to an older one, a wife towards her husband, a man to his father-in- law was to be punished. The soldiers were to be trained to undergo severe hardships, so that they might be like hungry wolves and not effeminate like fat dogs, nor was a man to enter the army till he was 20. No one was to begin to pillage till the commander issaed his orders, after which a simple soldier had the same pri. vilege as an officer, and kept any booty he took on paying the dues to the Khan's officials.
The commander was to be most solicitous about the needs of his men and to see they provided themselves not merely with arms such as bows, arrows and hatchets, swords, helmets and armour, but also all the things necessary for the work of the camp, as sieves, awls, files, and even needles and thread. These were to be given out of the magazines before a war or before the winter hunt, and to be returned again afterwards. While a man was absent on a campaign his wife was to till his fields, to look after his business and to send him the proceeds. The formula for summoning a country to submit or a town to surrender was to be short and to the purpose.--" If you do not submit, who knows what will happen ? God alone knows." The citizens of a town which did not submit bat had to be stormed were to be mercilessly slaughtered. Peace was not to be made with any people till it had completely submitted. When a nation was conquered a tithe of its agricultural produce, cattle and even of its inbabitants, was to be taken as a tax. If a commander had to be punished, however great he might be, the order was to be taken by a single messenger. If he had orders to take his head back with him, all the power of the general could not save him. Mirkhavend contrasts this with the case of other rulers who often found themselves opposed by slaves they had bought, and who although they might not own ten horses needed conciliating before they would obey. When death was not the punishment for an offence it was generally the bastinado, from which even princes were not to be exempt. The number of blows inflicted was generally
one in which the figure seven occurred as 7, 17, 27, 37, and so on to 700. Von Hammer says the number of strokes varied from 3 to 77This cudgelling was generally inflicted for petty thefts, but it might be compounded for by paying nine times the value of the thing stolen. Every man had to do some work for the State. If he did not go to the wars he had to devote a certain number of days annually to public works and one day a week to the immediate service of the Khân. Post stations and relays of horses were to be planted on the various routes for the convenience of envoys, couriers, and those employed on various State commissions and duties, and special enactments were made as to the number of horses to be supplied, etc. etc. Those travelling on public duties were not only to be provided with horses, but also to have their food and other requirements supplied. Hanting was to be deemed a school for war, and it was therefore ordered that in the winter there should be great hunts organized in which the army should take part properly arrayed with its right and left wing and a centre. A vast breadth of country, sometimes an extent of twenty miles, was to be enclosed by the hunters who should draw bearer and nearer one another until they formed & circuit with their arms and knees touching to prevent the game escaping. Those permitting animals to escape were to be punished, as were those who allowed the ranks or circle to be broken. When the circle was thus formed, the Khân was first to enter himself with the princes of the blood, and his intimates. When they had hunted for a while they retired to a hill, whence they watched, first the officers, and lastly the soldiers. Eventually, that there might be a chance of some game in succeeding seasons, at a certain stage, some old men were to go through the performance of soliciting the lives of the remaining animals, which were accordingly spared and allowed to go free.
III. The domestic and household regulations of the Yasa, 80 far as we can recover them, were as follows: a man had to purchase his wife, nor was he permitted to marry any one to whom he was related in the first or second degree, but he might marry two sisters. Polygamy was per. mitted and the free use of female slaves. The children of the latter were deemed legitimate, but were to take precedence after those born
