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288
LAWS OF MANU.
VIII, 190.
or washed away by water or burned by fire, (the bailee) shall not make it good, unless he took part of: it (for himself).
190. Him who appropriates a deposit and him (who asks for it) without having made it, (the judge) shall try by all (sorts of) means, and by the oaths prescribed in the Veda.
191. He who does not return a deposit and he who demands what he never bailed shall both be punished like thieves, or be compelled to pay a fine equal (to the value of the object retained or claimed).
192. The king should compel him who does not restore an open deposit, and in like manner him who retains a sealed deposit, to pay a fine equal (to its value)
193. That man who by false pretences may possess himself of another's property, shall be publicly punished by various (modes of) corporal (or capital) chastisement, together with his accomplices.
190. By all (sorts of) means,' i.e.' by the four expedients, kindness and so forth' (Gov., Kull., Râgh.), or 'by spies and so forth' (Nár.), or by blows, imprisonment, and so forth' (Medh.). By the oaths prescribed in the Veda,' i. e. by the ordeals, such as carrying fire' (Gov., Kull., Nâr.). Når. quotes a passage of the Veda, in which it is prescribed that the accused shall take hold of a hot axe.
191. Vi. V, 169-171. The former punishment, which consists of mutilation and other corporal punishments (Medh., Nár., Râgh.), or the highest amercement and the like (Gov.), shall be inflicted on others than Brahmanas in particularly bad cases and for a repetition of the offence (Medh., Gov., Kull., Nár., Râgh.).
192. Medh., Gov., and Kull. refer this rule to first offences. Når. takes aviseshena,' in like manner,' to mean without making a distinction on account of the caste of the offender.' Medh. explains upanidhi, 'a sealed deposit,' by an object lent in a friendly manner.
193. 'By false pretences,' i. e. 'by frightening others with the
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