VIII. c fihement in -fetters, and by various kinds of corporal

^ punishment;
311. ^' Since, by restraining the bad, and by en- ^ couraging the good, kings are perpetually made pure, ^ as the twice-bom are purified by sacrificing.
312. ^ A KING, who seeks benefit to his own soul, ' must always forgive parties litigant, children, old
' ' meiiy and sick persons, who inveigh against him:
313. ^ He, who forgives persons in pain, when they ' abuse him, shall on that account be exalted in ' heaven; but he, who excuses them not, through the ' pride of dominion, shall for that reason sink into ' hell.
314. ' The stealer of gold from a priest must run ' hastily to the king, with loosened hair, proclaiming ' the theft, and adding: ^' Thus have I sinned; ' punish me.''
315. ^ He must bear on hi* shoulder a pestle of stone, ' or a club of c'Aa ' both ends, or an iron mace :
316. * Whether the king strike him with it, or dis- ^ ^ miss him unhurt, the thief is then absolved from
' the crime ; but the king, if h6 punish him not, shall * incur the guilt of the thief.
317. ' The killer of a priest y or destroyer of an ' embryo, casts his guilt , on the willing eater of his
* provisions;
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PRIVATE AND CRIMINAL. 271
^ provisions; an adulterous wife, oa her negligent chap.
* husband ; a bad scholar and sacrificer, on their ^"^
* ignorant preceptor; and a thief, on the forgiving
* prince:
318. ^ But men, who have committed offences, and ^ have received from kings the punishment due to them, ^ go pure to heaven, and become as clear as those
* who have done well.
319. ^ He, who steals the rope or the water-pot
* from a well, and he, who breaks down a cistern, ^ shall be fined a mdsha of gold; and that, which
* he has taken or injuredy he must restore to its ^ former condition.
320. ' Corporal punishment shall be inflicted on him, ^ who steals more than ten cumbhas of grain (a cum- ^ bha is twenty drdnas, and a dr6na, two hundred
* palas): for less he must be fined eleven times as ' much, and shall pay to the owner the amount of ' his property.
321. ' So shall corporal punishment be inflicted for ^ stealing commodities usually sold by weight, or ^ more than a hundred head of cattle, or gold, or
* silver, or costly apparel:
322. ^ For stealing more than fifty palas y it is enact* ' ed that a hand shall be amputated: for less, the ^ king shall set a fine eleven times as much as the ^ value,
323. ' For
Vv-
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272 ON JUDICATURE; AND ON LAW,
CHAP. 323. ' For stealing men of high birth, and women ^^''' ' above all, and the most precious gems, as diamonds or rubies, the thief deserves capital punishment.
324. ^ For stealing large beasts, weapons, or me- dicines, let the king inflict adequate punishment, considering the time and the act.
325. ^ For taking kine belonging to priests, and boring their nostrils, or for stealing their other cattle, the oflFender shall instantly lose half of one foot.
326. ^ For stealing thread, raw cotton, materials to make spirituous liquor, cow-^dung, molasses, curds, milk, butter-milk, water, or grass,
327. ^ Large canes, baskets of canes, salt of every kind, earthen pots, clay or ashes,
328. * Fish, birds, oil, or clarified butter, flesh-meat, honey, or any thing, as leather^ homy or ivory ^ that came from a beast,
329. ^ Or other things not precious, or spirituous liquors, rice dressed with clarified butter, or other messes of boiled rice, the fine must be twice the value of the commodity stolen.
330. ^ For stealing as much as a man can carry of flowers, green com, shrubs, creepers, small trees, or other vegetables, enclosed by a hedge, the fine shall be five raciichs of gold or silver;
331. ' But for com, pot-herbs, roots, and fruit, un-
^ enclosed
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PRIVATE AND CRIMINAL. 273
* enclosed by a fence, the fine is an liundred panas, chap. ^ if there be no sort of relation between the taker vm.
^ and the owner; or half a hundred, if there be such ^ relaticML
932. * If the taking be violent, and in the sight of ^ the owner, it is robbery; if privately in his absence, ^ it is only theft; and it is cotisidered as theft y when ^ a man, having received any thing, refuses to give
* it back.
333. ^ On him, who steals the before-mentioned ^ things, when they are prepared for use^ let the ^ king set the lowest amercement of the three; and ^ the same on him, who steals only fire fi*om the ^ temple.
334. ^ With whatever limb a thief commits the of- ^ fence by any means in this world, as if he break a ^ wall with his hand or his foot^ even that limb shall ^ the king amputate, for the prevention of a similar
* crime.
335. ^ Neither a father, nor a preceptor, nor a ^ friend, nor a mother, nor a wife, nor a son, nor
^ a domestick priest, must be left unpunished by the ^ king, if they adhere not with firmness to their ' duty.
336. ' Where another man of lower birth would ^ be fined one pana^ the king shall be fined a thou- ^ sand, and he shall give the fine to the priests, or ^ cast it into the river: this is a sacred rule.
2 N 337. ' But
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274 ON JUDICATURE; AND ON LAW,
CHAP. 337. ' But the fine of a Shidra for theft shall be