(Cruelty to women.)
Women of refractive nature shall be taught manners by using such general expressions as 'Thou, half naked; thou, fully naked; thou, cripple; thou, fatherless; thou, motherless, (nagne vinagne nyange pitrke matrke vinagne ityanirdesena vinayagrahanam). Or three beats either with a bamboo-bark or with a rope or with the palm of the hand may be given on her hips. Violation of the above rules shall be liable to half the punishment levied for defamation and criminal hurt. The same kind of punishment shall be meted out to a woman who, moved with jealousy or hatred, shows cruelty to Kautilya's Arthashastra her husband. Punishments for engaging in sports at the door of, or outside her husband's house shall be as dealt with elsewhere. Thus cruelty to women is dealt with.
(Enmity between husband and wife.)
A woman, who hates her husband, who has passed the period of seven turns of her menses, and who loves another shall immediately return to her husband both the endowment and jewellery she has received from him, and allow him to lie down with another woman. A man, hating his wife, shall allow her to take shelter in the house of a mendicant woman, or of her lawful guardians or of her kinsmen. If a man falsely accuses his wife of adultery with one of her or his kinsmen or with a spy—an accusation which can only be proved by eyewitnesses (drishtilinge)— or falsely accuses her of her intention to deprive him of her company, he shall pay a fine of 12 panas. A woman, hating her husband, can not dissolve her marriage with him against his will. Nor can a man dissolve his marriage with his wife against her will. But from mutual enmity, divorce may be obtained (parasparam dveshdnmokshah). If a man, apprehending danger from his wife desires divorce (mokshamichhet), he shall return to her whatever she was given (on the occasion of her marriage). If a woman, under the apprehension of danger from her husband, desires divorce, she shall forfeit her claim to her property; marriages contracted in accordance with the customs of the first four kinds of marriages cannot be dissolved.
(Transgression.)
If a woman engages herself in amorous sports, or drinking in the face of an order to the contrary, she shall be fined 3 panas. She shall pay a fine of 6 panas for going out at day time to sports or to see a woman or spectacles. She shall pay a fine of 12 panas if she Kautilya's Arthashastra goes out to see another man or for sports. For the same offences committed at night, the fines shall be doubled. If a woman abducts another woman while the latter is asleep or under intoxication (suptamatta-pravrajane), or if she drags her husband as far as the door of the house, she shall be fined 12 panas. If a woman leaves her house at night, she shall pay double the above fine. If a man and a woman make signs to each other with a view to sensual enjoyment, or carry on secret conversation (for the same purpose), the woman shall pay a fine of 24 panas, and the man, double the amount. A woman, holding out her hair, the tie of her dress round her loins, her teeth or her nails, shall pay the first amercement, and a man, doing the same, twice the first amercement.
For holding conversation in suspicious places, whips may be substituted for fines. In the centre of the village, an outcaste person (chanddla) may whip such women five times on each of the sides of their body. She may get rid of being whipped by paying a pana for each whip (panikam vd praharam mokshayet). Thus transgression is dealt with.
(Forbidden transactions.)
With regard to a man and a woman who, though forbidden to carry on any mutual transaction, help each other, the woman shall be fined 12, 24 and 54 panas respectively according as the help consists of (i) small things, of (ii) heavy things and (iii) of gold or gold-coin (hiranyasuvarnayoh); and the man, at double the above rates. With regard to similar transaction between a man and a woman who cannot mix with each other (agamvayoh), half of the above punishment shall be levied. Similar punishment shall be meted out for any forbidden transaction with any men. Thus forbidden transactions are dealt with.
* Treason, transgression and wandering at will shall deprive a Kautilya's Arthashastra woman of her claim not only to (i) stridhana, some form of subsistence of above 2,000 panas and jewellery, (ii) and dhita, compensation she may have obtained for allowing her husband to marry another woman, but also (iii) to sulka, money which her parents may have received from her husband.
[Thus ends Chapter III, "The Duty of a Wife; Maintenance of a Woman; Enmity between Husband and Wife; a Wife's Transgression; and Forbidden Transactions" in the section "Concerning Marriage," in Book III, "Concerning Law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the sixtieth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER IV. VAGRANCY, ELOPEMENT AND SHORT AND LONG SOJOURNMENTS.
IF under any other excuse than danger, a woman gets out of her husband's house, she shall be fined 6 panas. If she gets out against the order (of her husband) to the contrary, she shall be fined 12 panas. If she goes beyond her neighbouring house (prativesagrihatigatdyah), she shall be fined 6 panas. If she allows into her house her neighbour, takes into her house the alms of any mendicant, or the merchandise of any merchant, she shall be fined 12 panas. If she deals as above though expressly forbidden, she shall be punished with the first amercement. If she goes out beyond the surrounding houses (parigrihdtigatdyam), she shall be fined 24 panas. If under any other excuse than danger, she takes into her house the wife of another man, she shall be fined 100 panas. But she will not be guilty if the entrance is effected without her knowledge or against her orders to the contrary.
Kautilya's Arthashastra My teacher says:— With a view to avoid danger, it is no offence for women to go to any male person who is a kinsman of her husband, or is a rich and prosperous gentleman (sukhdvastha), or is the head-man of the village or is one of her guardians (anvddhikula), or who belongs to the family of a mendicant woman, or to any one of her own kinsmen.
But Kautilya questions:— How is it possible for good women (sddhvijana) to know at least this fact that the family of her own kinsmen consisting of a number of males is good? It is no offence for women to go to the houses of kinsmen under the circumstances of death, disease, calamities, and confinement of women. Whoever prevents her going under such circumstances, shall be fined 12 panas. If a woman conceals herself under such circumstances, she shall forfeit her endowment. If her kinsmen conceal her (with a view to exempt her from giving her aid under such circumstances), they shall lose the balance of sulka, money due to them from her husband for giving her in marriage. Thus vagrancy is dealt with.
(Elopement or Criminal Rendezvous.)
If leaving her husband's house, a woman goes to another village, she shall not only pay a fine of 12 panas, but also forfeit her endowment and jewels (sthdpydbharanalopascha). If under any other excuse than receiving her subsistence or pilgrimage (bharmdddnatirthagamandbhydmanyatra), a woman goes to any other place even in company with an as sociable man, she shall not only pay a fine of 24 panas, but also lose all kinds of social privileges (sarvadharmalopascha). But the man who allows such a woman to accompany him in his journey shall be punished with the first amercement. If both of them (man, and woman) have similar ideals in life (tulyasreyasoh) and are of sinful life (pdpiyasoh), each of them shall be punished with the middle-most amercement. If he whom a woman accompanies in her journey is her near Kautilya's Arthashastra relative, he shall not be punished. If a relative allows a woman to accompany him, though he is forbidden, he shall be punished with half the above fine (middlemost amercement). If on a road, or in the middle of a forest, or in any other concealed places a woman falls into the company of any other man, or if, with a view to enjoyment, she accompanies a suspicious or forbidden man, she shall be guilty of elopement (sangrahanam vidydt). It is no offence for women to fall into the company of actors, players, singers, fishermen, hunters, herdsmen, vintners, or persons of any other kind who usually travel with their women. If a man takes a woman with him on his journey, though forbidden to do so, or if a woman accompanies a man though she is forbidden to do so, half of the above fines shall be meted out to them. Thus elopement is dealt with.
(Re-marriage of women.)
Wives who belong to Sudra, Vaisya, Kshatriya or Brahman caste, and who have not given birth to children should wait as long as a year for their husbands who have gone abroad for a short time; but if they are such as have given birth to children, they should wait for their absent husbands for more than a year. If they are provided with maintenance, they should wait for twice the period of time just mentioned. If they are not so provided with, their well-to-do gndtis should maintain them either for four or eight years. Then the gndtis should leave them to marry after taking what had been presented to them on the occasion of their marriages. If the husband is a Brahman, studying abroad, his wife who has no issue should wait for him for ten years; but if she has given birth to children, she should wait for twelve years. If the husband is of Kshatriya caste, his wife should wait for him till her death; but even if she bears children to a savarna husband, (i.e., a second husband belonging to the same gotra as that of the former husband) with a view to avoid the extinction of her race, she shall not be liable to contempt Kautilya's Arthashastra thereof (savarnatascha prajdtd nd pavddam labheta). If the wife of an absent husband lacks maintenance and is deserted by well-to-do gndtis, she may remarry one whom she likes and who is in a position to maintain her and relieve her misery.
A young wife (kumdri) who is wedded in accordance with the customs of the first four kinds of marriage (dharmavivdhdt), and whose husband has gone abroad and is heard of shall wait for him for the period of seven menses (saptatirthdnydkdnksheta), provided she has not publicly announced his name; but she shall wait for him a year in case of her having announced the name of her absent husband who is heard of. In the case of a husband who is gone abroad but who is not heard of, his wife shall wait for the period of five menses, but if the absent husband is not heard of, his wife shall wait for him for the period of ten menses. In the case of a husband who is gone abroad and is not heard of, his wife shall, if she has received only a part of sulka from him, wait for him for the period of three menses; but if he is heard of, she shall wait for him for the period of seven menses. A young wife who has received the whole amount of sulka shall wait for the period of five menses for her absent husband who is not heard of; but if he is heard of, she shall wait for him for the period of ten menses. Then with the permission of judges (dharma-sthairvisrishtd), she may marry one whom she likes; for neglect of intercourse with wife after her monthly ablution is, in the opinion of Kautilya, a violation of one's duty (tirthoparodho hi dharmavadha iti Kautilyah).
In the case of husbands who have long gone abroad (dirgrhapravdsinah), who have become ascetics, or who have been dead, their wives, having no issue, shall wait for them for the period of seven menses; but if they have given birth to children, they shall wait for a year. Then (each of these women) may marry the brother of her husband. If there are a number of brothers to her lost husband, she shall marry such a one of them as is next in age to her former husband, or as is virtuous and is capable of protecting Kautilya's Arthashastra her, or one who is the youngest and unmarried. If there are no brothers to her lost husband, she may marry one who belongs to the same gotra as her husband's or relative. But if there are many such persons as can be selected in marriage, she shall choose one who is a nearer relation of her lost husband.
* If a woman violates the above rule by remarrying one who is not a kinsman (ddydda) of her husband, then the woman and the man who remarry each other, those that have given her in remarriage and those who have given their consent to it shall all be liable to the punishment for elopement.
[Thus ends Chapter IV, "Vagrancy; Elopement; and Short and Long Sojournments," in the section "Concerning Marriage" in Book III, "Concerning Law" of 'the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the Section "Concerning Marriage". End of the sixty- first chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER V. DIVISION OF INHERITANCE.
SONS whose fathers and mothers or ancestors are alive cannot be independent (anisvarah). After their time, division of ancestral property among descendants from the same ancestor shall take place, calculating per sterpes (according to fathers).
Self-acquired property of any of the sons with the exception of that kind of property which is earned by means of parental property is not divisible. Sons or grandsons till the fourth generation from the first parent shall also have prescribed shares (amsabhdjah) in that property which is acquired by means of their undivided ancestral property; for the line (pindah) as far as the fourth generation is uninterrupted (avichchhinnah). But those Kautilya's Arthashastra whose line or genealogy from the first ancestor is interrupted (vichchhinnapinddh, i.e., those who are subsequent to the fourth generation), shall have equal divisions. Those who have been living together shall redivide their property whether they had already divided their ancestral property before or they had received no such property at all. Of sons, he who brings the ancestral property to a prosperous condition shall also have a share of the profit.
If a man has no male issue, his own brothers, or persons who have been living with him, (saha jivino vd), shall take possession of his movable property (dravyam); and his daughters, (born of marriages other than the first four), shall have his immovable property (riktham). If one has sons, they shall have the property; if one has (only) daughters born of such marriage as is contracted in accordance with the customs of any of the first four kinds of marriage, they shall have the property; if there are neither sons nor such daughters, the dead man's father, if living, shall have it; if he, too, is not alive, the dead man's brothers and the sons of his brothers shall have it; if there are many fatherless brothers, all of them shall divide it; and each of the many sons of such brothers shall have one share due to his father (piturekamamsam); if the brothers (sodarya) are the sons of many fathers, they shall divide it calculating from their fathers.
Among a dead man's father, brother, and brother's sons, the succeeding ones shall depend on the preceding ones if living (for their shares); likewise the youngest or the eldest claiming his own share.
A father, distributing his property while he is alive, shall make no distinction in dividing it among his sons. Nor shall a father deprive without sufficient reason any of the sons of his share. Father being dead, the elder sons shall show favour to the Kautilya's Arthashastra younger ones, if the latter are not of bad character.
(Time of dividing inheritance.)
Division of inheritance shall be made when all the inheritors have attained their majority. If it is made before, the minors shall have their shares, free of all debts.
These shares of the minors shall be placed in the safe custody of the relatives of their mothers, or of aged gentlemen of the village, till they attain their majority. The same rule shall hold good in the case of those who have gone abroad. Unmarried brothers shall also be paid as much marriage cost as is equal to that incurred in the marriages of married brothers (sannivishtasamamasannivishtebhyonaivesanikam dadyuh).
Daughters, too, (unmarried) shall be paid adequate dowry (prdddnikam), payable to them on the occasion of their marriages. Both assets and liabilities shall be equally divided.
My teacher says that poor people (nishkinchandh) shall equally distribute among themselves even the mud-vessels (udapdtram).
In the opinion of Kautilya, it is unnecessary to say so (chhalam); for as a rule, division is to be made of all that is in existence, but of nothing that is not in existence. Having declared before witnesses the amount of property common to all (sdmdnya) as well as the property constituting additional shares (amsa) of the brothers (in priority of their birth), division of inheritance shall be carried on. Whatever is badly and unequally divided or is involved in deception, concealment or secret acquisition, shall be redivided.
Property for which no claimant is found (dddyddakam) shall go to the king, except the property of a woman, of a dead man for Kautilya's Arthashastra whom no funeral rites have been performed, or of a niggardly man with the exception of that of a Brahman learned in the Vedas. That (the property of the learned) shall be made over to those who are well- versed in the three Vedas.
Persons fallen from caste, persons born of outcaste men, and eunuchs shall have no share; likewise idiots, lunatics, the blind and lepers. If the idiots, etc., have wives with property, their issues who are not equally idiots, etc., shall share inheritance. All these persons excepting those that are fallen from caste (patitavarjah) shall be entitled to only food and clothing.
* If these persons have been married (before they became fallen, etc.) and if their line is likely to become extinct, their relatives may beget sons for them and give proportional shares of inheritance to those sons.
[Thus ends Chapter V, "Procedure of Portioning Inheritance" in the section of "Division of Inheritance" in Book III, "Concerning law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the sixty-second chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER VI. SPECIAL SHARES IN INHERITANCE.
GOATS shall be the special shares of the eldest of sons, born of the same mother, among, Brdhmans; horses among Kshatriyas; cows among Vaisyas; and sheep among Sudras. The blind of the same animals shall be the special shares to the middle-most sons; species of variegated colour of the same animals shall be the special shares to the youngest of sons. In the absence of quadruped, the eldest shall take an additional share of the whole property Kautilya's Arthashastra excepting precious stones; for by this act alone, he will be bound in his duty to his ancestors.
The above method is in accordance with the rules observed among the followers of Usanas.
The father being dead, his carriage and jewellery shall be the special share to the eldest; his bed, seat, and bronze plate in which he used to take his meals (bhuktakdmsyam), to the middle-most;, and black grains, iron, domestic utensils, cows and cart to the youngest. The rest of the property, or the above things, too, may be equally divided among themselves. Sisters shall have no claim to inheritance; they shall have the bronze plate and jewellery of their mother after her death. An impotent eldest son shall have only l/3rd of the special share usually given to the eldest; if the eldest son follows a condemnable occupation or if he has given up the observance of religious duties, he shall have only lA of the special share; if he is unrestrained in his actions he shall have nothing.
The same rule shall hold good with the middlemost and youngest sons; of these two, one who is endowed with manliness (mdnushopetah), shall have half the special share usually given to the eldest.
With regard to sons of many wives:— Of sons of two wives of whom only one woman has gone through all the necessary religious ceremonials, or both of whom have not, as maidens, observed necessary religious rites, or one of whom has brought forth twins, it is by birth that primogeniture ship is decided.
Shares in inheritance for such sons as Siita, Mdgadha, Vrdtya and Rathakdra shall depend on the abundance of paternal property; the rest, i.e., sons other than Siita, etc., of inferior birth, shall be Kautilya's Arthashastra dependent on the eldest for their subsistence. Dependent sons shall have equal divisions.
Of sons begotten by a Brahman in the four castes, the son of a Brahman woman shall take four shares; the son of a Kshatriya woman three shares; the son of a Vaisya woman two shares, and the son of a Sudra woman one share.
The same rule shall hold good in the case of Kshatriya and Vaisya fathers begetting sons in three or two castes in order.
An Anantara son of a Brahman, i.e. a son begotten by a Brahman on a woman of next lower caste, shall, if endowed with manly or superior qualities (mdnushopetah), take an equal share (with other sons of inferior qualities); similarly Anantara sons of Kshatriya or Vaisya fathers shall if endowed with manly or superior qualities, take half or equal shares (with others). An only son to two mothers of different castes shall take possession of the whole property and maintain the relatives of his father. A Palrasava son begotten by a Brahman on a Sudra woman, shall take l/3rd share; a sapinda, (an agnate) or a kulya (the nearest cognate), of the Brahman shall take the remaining two shares, being thereby obliged to offer funeral libation; in the absence of agnates or cognates, the deceased father's teacher or student shall take the two shares.
* Or on the wife of such a Brahman shall a sagotra, relative bearing the same family name, or a (mdtribandha) relative of his mother, beget a natural son (kshetraja), and this son may take that wealth.
[Thus ends Chapter VI, "Special Shares of Inheritance" in the section of "Division of inheritance" in Book III, "Concerning law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the sixty-third chapter from the beginning.]
Kautilya's Arthashastra CHAPTER VII. DISTINCTION BETWEEN SONS.
MY preceptor says that the seed sown in the field of another shall belong to the owner of that field. Others hold that the mother being only the receptacle for the seed (mdtd bhastrd), the child must belong to him from whose seed it is born. Kautilya says that it must belong to both the living parents.
The son begotten by a man on his wife who has gone through all the required ceremonials is called aurasa, natural son; equal to him is the son of an appointed daughter (putrikdputra); the son begotten on a wife by another man, appointed for the purpose, and of the same gotra as that of the husband; or of a different gotra, is called kshetraja; on the death of the begetter, the kshetraja son will be the son to both the fathers, follow the gotras of both, offer funeral libations to both, and take possession of the immovable property (riktha) of both of them; of the same status as the kshetraja is he who is secretly begotten in the house of relatives and is called giidhaja, secretly born; the son cast off by his natural parents is called apaviddha and will belong to that man who performs necessary religious ceremonials to him; the son born of a maiden (before wedlock) is called kdnina; the son born of a woman married while carrying is called sahodha; the son of a remarried woman (punarbhdtdydh.) is called paunarbhava. A natural son can claim relationship both with his father and his father's relatives; but a son born to another man can have relationship only with his adopter. Of the same status as the latter is he who is given in adoption with water by both the father and mother and is called datta. The son who, either of his own accord or following the intention of his relatives, offers himself to be the son of another, is called upagata. He who is appointed as a son is called kritaka; and he who is purchased is called krita.
Kautilya's Arthashastra On the birth of a natural son, savarna sons shall have l/3rd of inheritance while savarna sons shall have only food and clothing.
Sons begotten by Brdhmans or Kshatriyas on women of next lower caste (anantardputrdh) are called savarnas; but on women of castes lower by two grades are called asavarnas. (Of such asavarna sons), the son begotten by a Brahman on a Vaisya woman is called Ambashtha; on a Siidra woman is called Nishdda or Pdrasava. The son begotten by a Kshatriya on a Sudra woman is known as Ugra; the son begotten by a Vaisya on a Sudra woman is no other than a Sudra. Sons begotten by men of impure life of any of the four castes on women of lower castes next to their own are called Vrdtyas.
The above kinds of sons are called anuloma, sons begotten by men of higher on women of lower castes.
Sons begotten by a Sudra on women of higher castes are Ayogava, Kshatta, and Chanddla; by a Vaisya, Mdgadha, and Vaidehaka; and by a Kshatriya, Suta. But men of the, names, Siita and Mdgadha, celebrated in the Purdnas, are quite different and of greater merit than either Brdhmans or Kshatriyas. The above kinds of sons are pratiloma, sons begotten by men of lower on women of higher castes, and originate on account of kings violating all dharmas.
The son begotten by an Ugra on a Nishdda woman is called kukkuta and the same is called Pulkasa, if begotten in the inverse order. The son begotten by an Ambhashtha on a Vaidehaka woman is named Vaina; the same in the reverse order is called Kusilava. An Ugra begets on a Kshatta woman as vapdka. These and other sons are of mixed castes (Antardlas).
A Vainya becomes a Rathakdra, chariot-maker, by profession. Members of this caste shall marry among themselves.
Kautilya's Arthashastra Both in customs and avocations they shall follow their ancestors. They may either become Sudras or embrace any other lower castes excepting Chanddlas.
The king who guides his subjects in accordance with the above rules will attain to heaven; otherwise he will fall into the hell.
Offsprings of mixed castes (Antardlas) shall have equal divisions of inheritance.
* Partition of inheritance shall be made in accordance with the customs prevalent in the country, caste, guild (sangha), or the village of the inheritors.
[Thus ends Chapter VII "Distinction between Sons" in the section of "Division of Inheritance" in Book III, "Concerning law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of "Division of Inheritance". End of the sixty-fourth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER VIII. BUILDINGS.
DISPUTES concerning Vdstu are dependent for settlement on the evidences to be furnished by people living in the neighbourhood.
Houses, fields, gardens, building of any kind (setubandhah), lakes and tanks are each called Vdstu.
The fastening of the roof of a house to the transverse beam by means of iron bolts is called setu (karna-kilaya-sabandho' Kautilya's Arthashastra nugriham setuh). In conformity to the stability of the setu, houses shall be constructed. Not encroaching upon what belongs to others, new houses may be constructed.
Foundation (pade bandhah) shall be 2 aratnis by 3 padas. Except in the case of temporary structures for the confinement of women for ten days, all permanent houses shall be provided with a dunghill (avaskara), water course (bhrama), and a well (udapdnum). Violation of this rule shall be punished with the first amercement.
The same rule shall hold good regarding the necessity of constructing closets, pits and water courses on festive occasions.
From each house a water course of sufficient slope and 3 padas or 11 aratnis long shall be so constructed that water shall either flow from it in a continuous line or fall from it (into the drain).
Violation of this rule shall be punished with a fine of 54 panas.