Vivagsuyam

Author(s): Madhusudan Modi
Publisher: Gurjar Granth Ratna Karyalay

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harlots leads to ruin. Moreover, light is thrown on one other ancient mode of execution. An offender was made to embrace a red-hot iron statue of a woman and he thus met a miserable and cruel death. This custom also appears equally barbarous like that of taking an offender publicly to the gallows as referred to in the second and the third lectures. But it should be remembered that equally barbarous were their customs of eating flesh, eggs, wine etc. This lecture also corroborates the legal information obtained in the second lecture.
The fifth lecture puts forth the evil fruits of offering human beings in sacrifices, a great revolt against which, it should be noted, was raised by Mahāvîra the Establisher of the Jain Religion, and Buddha both of whom were great reformers of the fifth or the sixth century B. c. The evil fruits of being addicted to other persons' wives have also been emphasized.
The sixth lecture points out the bitter fruits of tyrannising over the offenders by a state officer in the position of a jailor. Eventually a lot of amaz. ing and blood-curdling information is given about the implements used for punishing thieves and other offenders in olden days and the treatment given to them by jailors. Utterly cruel and barbarous