Beginning with apada or an aratni, an apartment measuring 3 padas by 4 padas shall be made for locating the fire for worship (agnishtham), or a waterbutt, (udanjaram), or a corn-mill (rochanim), or a mortar (kuttinin).
Violation of this rule shall be punished with a fine of 24 panas.
Between any two houses or between the extended portions of any two houses, the intervening space shall be 4 padas, or 3 padas. The roofs of adjoining houses may either be 4 angulas apart, or one of them may cover the other. The front door (anidvdram) shall Kautilya's Arthashastra measure a kishku; there shall be no impediment inside the house for opening one or the other of the folds of the door. The upper story shall be provided with a small but high window. [If a (neighbouring) house is obstructed by it, the window should be closed.] The owners of houses may construct their houses in any other way they collectively like, but they shall avoid whatever is injurious. With a view to ward off the evil consequences of rain, the top of the roof (vdnalatyaschordhvam) shall be covered over with a broad mat, not blowable by the wind. Neither shall the roof be such as will easily bend or break. Violation of this rule shall be punished with the first amercement. The same punishment shall be meted out for causing annoyance by constructing doors or windows facing those of others houses except when these houses are separated by the king's road or the high road.
If a pit, steps, water-course, ladder, dung-hill, or, any other parts of a house offer or cause annoyance to outsiders, or in any way obstruct the enjoyment of others (bhoganigrahe cha), or cause water to collect and thereby injure the wall of a neighbouring house, the owner shall be punished with a fine of 12 panas. If the annoyance is due to feces and urine, the fine shall be double the above. The water-course or gutter shall offer free passage for water; otherwise the fine shall be 12 panas.
The same fine (12 panas) shall be meted out not only to a tenant who, though asked to evacuate, resides in the house, but also to the owner who forces out a renter who has paid his rent (from his house), unless the renter is involved in such acts as defamation, theft, robbery, abduction, or enjoyment with a false title. He who voluntarily evacuates a house shall pay the balance of the annual rent.
If any one of a party does not take part in the construction of a building which is intended for the common use of all the members of that party or if any one obstructs another member of a party in Kautilya's Arthashastra making use of any part of such a building, he shall be fined 12 panas. Similarly if any one mars another's enjoyment of such a building, he shall be fined double the above.
* With the exception of private rooms and parlours, (angana) all other open parts of houses as well as apartments where fire is ever kindled for worship or a mortar is situated shall be thrown open for common use.
[Thus ends Chapter VIII, "House-building" in the section of "Buildings" in Book III, "Concerning Law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the sixty-fifth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER IX. SALE OF BUILDINGS, BOUNDARY DISPUTES, DETERMINATION OF BOUNDARIES, AND MISCELLANEOUS HINDRANCES.
RICH persons among kinsmen or neighbours shall in succession go for the purchase of land and other holdings. Neighbours of good family, forty in number and different from the purchasers above mentioned, shall congregate in front of the building for sale and announce it as such. Accurate description of the exact boundaries of fields, gardens, buildings of any kind, lakes or tanks shall be declared before the elders of the village or of the neighbourhood. If, on crying aloud thrice 'Who will purchase this at such and such a price'? no opposition is offered, the purchaser may proceed to purchase the holding in question. If at this time the value of the property is increased by bidding even among persons of the same community, the increased amount together with the toll on the value shall be handed over into the king's treasury. The bidder (yikrayapratikroshtd) shall pay the toll. Bidding for a Kautilya's Arthashastra property in the absence of its owner shall be punished with a fine of 24 panas. If the owner does not come forward even on the expiration of seven nights, the bidder may take possession of the property. Sale of building, etc., (vdstu) to other than the bidder shall be punished with a fine of 200 panas; if the property is other than buildings, etc., (vdstu), the fine for the above offence shall be 24 panas. Thus the sale of buildings is dealt with.
(Boundary disputes.)
In all disputes regarding the boundary between any two villages, neighbours or elders of five or ten villages (panchagrdmi dasagrdmi vd) shall investigate the case on the evidence to be furnished from natural or artificial boundary marks.
Elders among cultivators and herdsmen, or outsiders who have had the experience of former possession in the place, or one or many persons (not) personally acquainted with the boundary marks under dispute shall first describe the boundary marks, and then, wearing unusual dress (viparitaveshah), shall lead the people (to the place). If the boundary marks just described are not found, a fine of 1,000 panas shall be imposed (on the misleading or guilty person). If, however, they arrive at the exact spot, the party who have either encroached upon the boundary or have destroyed the boundary marks shall be similarly punished.
The king shall beneficially distribute among others those holdings which have no boundary-marks or which have ceased to be enjoyed by any person.
(Disputes about fields.)
Disputes concerning fields shall be decided by the elders of the neighbourhood or of the village. If they are divided in their opinions, decision shall be sought for from a number of pure and Kautilya's Arthashastra respectable people, or, the disputants may equally divide the disputed holding among themselves. If both of these methods fail, the holding (ydstu) under dispute shall be taken possession of by the king. The same rule shall hold good in the case of a holding for which no claimant is forthcoming; or it may beneficially be distributed among the people. Occupation of a holding (ydstu) by force shall be punished as theft.
If a holding is taken possession of by another on some reasonable grounds, he shall be made to pay to the owner some rent, the amount of which is to be fixed after mature considerations of what is necessary for the subsistence of the cultivator of the holding by him.
Encroachment upon boundaries shall be punished with the first amercement. Destruction of boundaries shall be punished with a fine of 24 panas. The same rules shall hold good in disputes concerning hermitage in forests, pasture lands, high roads, cremation-grounds, temples, sacrificial places, and places of pilgrimage. Thus the determination of boundaries is dealt with.
(Miscellaneous hindrances.)
All kinds of disputes shall depend for their settlement on the evidence to be furnished by neighbours. Of pasture lands, fields (keddra), flower gardens, a threshing-floor (khala), houses, and stables of horses (vdhanakoshtha), hindrance to any one coming first in order shall be removed in preference to the one or more coming later in the series. With the exception of people in forests of Brdhmans and of Soma-plants, temples, and places of sacrifice and pilgrimage, any person causing, while making use of a by-path to go to tanks, rivers, or fields, damage to the seeds sown in the fields of others, shall pay as much compensation to the sufferers as is equivalent to the damage.
Kautilya's Arthashastra If the owner of any one of the following, viz., wet-fields, parks, or any kinds of buildings, causes damage to the rest owned by others, the fine shall be double the value of the damage.
The water of a lower tank shall not submerge the field irrigated by a higher tank.
The natural flow of water from a higher to a lower tank shall not be stopped unless the lower tank has ceased to be useful for three consecutive years. Violation of this rule shall be punished with the first amercement. The same punishment shall be meted out for emptying a tank of its water (tatdkavdmanam cha). Buildings of any kind (setubandha), neglected for five consecutive years shall be forfeited, except in calamities.
(Remission of taxes.)
In the case of construction of new works, such as tanks, lakes, etc., taxes (on the lands below such tanks) shall be remitted for five years (panchavdrshikah parihdrah). For repairing neglected or ruined works of similar nature, taxes shall be remitted for four years. For improving or extending water-works, taxes shall be remitted for three years. In the case of acquiring such newly started works by mortgage or purchase, taxes on the lands below such works shall be remitted for two years. If uncultivated tracts are acquired (for cultivation) by mortgage, purchase or in any other way, remission of taxes shall be for two years. Out of crops grown by irrigation by means of wind power or bullocks (vdtapravartimanandinibandhdyatana) or below tanks, in fields, parks, flower gardens, or in any other way, so much of the produce as would not entail hardship on the cultivators may be given to the Government. Persons who cultivate the lands below tanks, etc., of others at a stipulated price (prakraya), or for annual rent (avakraya), or for certain number of shares of the crops grown Kautilya's Arthashastra (bhdga) or persons who are permitted to enjoy such lands free of rent of any kind, shall keep the tanks, etc., in good repair; otherwise they shall be punished with a fine of double the loss.
* Persons, letting out the water of tanks, etc., at any other place than their sluice gate (apdre), shall pay a fine of 6 panas; and persons who recklessly obstruct the flow of water from the sluice-gate of tanks shall also pay the same fine.
[Thus ends Chapter IX, "Sale of buildings, boundary disputes, determination of boundaries, and miscellaneous hindrances" in the section of "Buildings" in Book III, "Concerning Law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the sixty- sixth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER X. DESTRUCTION OF PASTURE-LANDS, FIELDS AND ROADS, AND NON-PERFORMANCE OF AGREEMENTS.
PERSONS who obstruct, or make any kind of mischief with the flow of water intended for cultivation shall be punished with the first amercement. Construction in the sites belonging to others, of any buildings with a view to attract pilgrims thereto, of abodes of worship (chaitya), or of temples of gods; as also the sale or mortgage, or causing the sale or mortgage, of any long continued charitable building (purvdnuvrittam dharmasetum) shall be punished with the middlemost amercement. Those who are witnesses to such transactions shall be punished with the highest amercement excepting in the case of neglected or ruined buildings. In the absence of claimants to dilapidated religious buildings, villagers (grdmdh), or charitable people (punyasildva) may repair them.
Kautilya's Arthashastra (Blocking the roads.)
Forms of roads and paths have been dealt with in connection with the construction of forts. (First Chapter, Book II).
Obstruction to roads for inferior beasts or men shall be punished with a fine of 12 panas; to roads for superior beasts 24 panas; to roads for elephants or to those leading to fields, 54 panas; to those leading to any buildings or forests (setuvanapatham), 600 panas; to those for burial grounds or villages, 200 panas; to those for dronamukha, a fortress, 500 panas; and those leading to sthdniya, country parts, or pasture grounds, 1,000 panas. The same fines shall be meted out in case of ploughing the several roads too deep (atikarshane chaishdm); and V4th of the same fines for ploughing merely on their surface.
If a cultivator or a neighbour makes encroachment upon a field during the time of sowing seeds, he shall be fined 12 panas, unless the encroachment is due to evils, calamities or intolerable occurrences arising otherwise from the field (anyatra doshopanipatdvishahyebhyah).
(Settling in villages.)
Taxpayers shall sell or mortgage their fields to taxpayers alone; Brdhmans shall sell or mortgage their Brahmadaya or gifted lands only to those who are endowed with such lands; otherwise they shall be punished with the first amercement. The same punishment shall be meted out to a taxpayer who settles in a village not inhabited by taxpayers. If a taxpayer takes the place of another taxpayer, he shall enjoy all the holdings but the house of the latter. Even the house may be given to the new settler. If a person cultivates an inalienable land of another person who does not cultivate it, such a person shall restore the same after five years Kautilya's Arthashastra enjoyment on taking a certain amount of compensation equivalent to the improvement he made on the lands. Persons who are not taxpayers and who sojourn abroad shall retain the right of ownership (bhogam) of their lands.
(The Head-man of the village.)
When the head-man of a village has to travel on account of any business of the whole village, the villagers shall by turns accompany him.
Those who cannot do this shall pay Wi panas for every yojana. If the headman of a village sends out of the village any person except a thief, or an adulterer, he shall be punished with a fine of 24 panas, and the villagers with the first amercement (for doing the same).
Re-entrance into a village for a person previously sent out of it (nirastasya), is explained by 'settlement of persons in villages' (treated of above).
At a distance of 800 angulas around every village, an enclosure with timber posts shall be constructed.
(Trespassing cattle.)
Pasture lands, plains, and forests may be availed of for grazing cattle.
For camels or buffaloes allowed to stray after grazing in pasture grounds, the fine shall be 14th of a pana; for cows, horses, or asses, l/8th of a pana; for inferior quadrupeds l/16th of a pana; and for cattle found lying thereon after grazing, fines shall be double the above; for cattle ever found to live in the vicinity of pasture grounds, the fines shall be four times the above.
Kautilya's Arthashastra Bulls, let out in the name of the village deity (grdmadevavrishah), cows which have not passed ten days inside the enclosure after calving, or bulls or bullocks kept for crossing cows shall not be punished. If crops are eaten away by animals, the owner or owners of them shall, if proved guilty, be made to pay twice as much as the loss. Persons driving their cattle through a field without intimating the owner shall be fined 12 panas. Any person who allows his cattle to stray shall be fined 24 panas; cowherds doing the same with the cattle under their care shall be fined half the above. The same punishment shall be meted out for letting cattle graze in flower gardens. For breaking the fence of fields, the punishment shall be double the above. If cattle are allowed to stray and eat the grains stored in houses, a threshing floor, or a court yard, the owners of the cattle shall pay adequate compensation. If beasts maintained in reserve-forests are found grazing in a field, they shall be brought to the notice of the forest officers and the beasts shall be driven out without being hurt or killed. Stray cattle shall be driven out by the use of ropes or whips. Persons hurting them in any way shall be liable to the punishment for assault or violence. Persons who invite (cattle to graze in the fields of others) or who are caught while committing such offences shall by all means be put down. Thus the destruction of pasture lands, fields, and roads is dealt with.
(Non-performance of agreement.)
The fine levied on a cultivator who arriving at a village for work, does not work shall be taken by the village itself. He shall refund not only double the amount of the wages he received promising to work, but also double the value of food and drink with which he has been provided. If the work is one of sacrificial performance (prahavaneshu), then also he shall pay double the amount of the wages. Any person who does not cooperate in the work of preparation for a public show, shall, together with his Kautilya's Arthashastra family, forfeit his right to enjoy the show (prekshd). If a man who has not cooperated in preparing for a public play or spectacle is found hearing or witnessing it under hiding, or if any one refuses to give his aid in a work beneficial to all, he shall be compelled to pay double the value of the aid due from him. The order of any person attempting to do a work beneficial to all shall be obeyed. Disobedience in such a case shall be punished with a fine of 12 panas. If others unitedly beat or hurt such a person so ordering, each of them shall pay double the amount of the fine usually levied for such offence. If among the above offenders one is a Brahman or a person superior to a Brahman, he shall first be punished. If a Brahman does not take part in the combined performance of any sacrifice of his village, he shall not be violated, but may be persuaded to pay a share.
The above rules shall also apply to non-performance of agreements among countries (desa), castes, families, and assemblies.
* Those who, with their united efforts construct on roads buildings of any kind (setubandha) beneficial to the whole country and who not only adorn their villages, but also keep watch on them shall be shown favourable concessions by the king.
[Thus ends Chapter X "Destruction of pasture lands, fields, and roads," in the section of "Buildings" in Book III, "Concerning Law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya; end of "Buildings"; and of non-performance of agreements.' End of the sixty- seventh chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER XI. RECOVERY OF DEBTS.
Kautilya's Arthashastra AN interest of apana and a quarter per month per cent is just. Five panas per month per cent is commercial interest (vydvahdriki). Ten panas per month per cent prevails among forests. Twenty panas per month per cent prevails among sea- traders (sdmudrdndm). Persons exceeding, or causing to exceed the above rate of interest shall be punished with the first amercement; and hearers of such transactions shall each pay half of the above fine.
The nature of the transactions between creditors and debtors, on which the welfare of the kingdom depends, shall always be scrutinised. Interest in grains in seasons of good harvest shall not exceed more than half when valued in money. Interest on stocks (prakshepa) shall be one-half of the profit and be regularly paid as each year expires. If it is allowed to accumulate owing either to the intention or to the absence abroad (of the receiver or payer), the amount payable shall be equal to twice the share or principal (miilyadvigunah). A person claiming interest when it is not due, or representing as principal the total amount of his original principal and the interest thereon shall pay a fine of four times the amount under dispute (bandhachaturgunah).
A creditor who sues for four times the amount lent by him shall pay a fine of four times the unjust amount.
Of this fine, the creditor shall pay %ths and the debtor 14th. Interest on debts due from persons who are engaged in sacrifices taking a long time (dirghasatra), or who are suffering from disease, or who are detained in the houses of their teachers (for learning), or who are either minors or too poor, shall not accumulate.
A creditor refusing to receive the payment of his debt shall pay a fine of 12 panas. If the refusal is due to some (reasonable) Kautilya's Arthashastra cause, then the amount free from interest (for subsequent time) shall be kept in the safe custody of others. Debts neglected for ten years, except in the case of minors, aged persons, diseased persons, persons involved in calamities, or persons who are sojourning abroad or have fled the country and except in the case of disturbances in the kingdom (rdjyavibhrama), shall not be received back.
Sons of a deceased debtor shall pay the principal with interest (kusidam). (In the absence of sons), kinsmen claiming the share of the dead man or sureties, such as joint partners of the debt, (sahagrdhinah pratibhuvo vd) shall pay the same. No other kind of surety is valid (na prdtibhdvyamanyat); a minor, as surety, is inefficient (bdlaprdtibhavyam asdram = surety of a minor is not strong).
A debt, the payment of which is not limited by time or place or both (asamkhydtadesakdlam), shall be paid by the sons, grandsons or any other heirs of the dead debtor. Any debt, the payment of which is not limited by time or place or both and for which life, marriage, or land is pledged, shall be borne by sons or grandsons.
(Regarding many debts against one.)
Excepting the case of a debtor going abroad, no debtor shall simultaneously be sued for more than one debt by one or two creditors. Even in the case of a debtor going abroad, he shall pay his debts in the order in which he borrowed them or shall first pay his debts due to the king or a learned Brahman.
Debts contracted from each other by either a husband or wife, either a son or a father, or by any one among brothers of undivided interests shall be irrecoverable.
Kautilya's Arthashastra Cultivators or government servants shall not be caught hold of for debts while they are engaged in their duties (or at work).
A wife, though she has (not) heard of the debt (pratisrdvani), shall not be caught hold of for the debt contracted by her husband, excepting in the case of herdsmen and joint cultivators (gopdlakdrdhasitikebhyah). But a husband may be caught for the debt contracted by his wife. If it is admitted that a man fled the country without providing for the debt contracted by his wife, the highest amercement shall be meted out; if not admitted, witnesses shall be depended upon.
(Witnesses.)
(Witnesses.)
It is obligatory to produce three witnesses who are reliable, honest and respected. At least two witnesses acceptable to the parties are necessary; never one witness in the case of debts.
Wife's brothers, copartners, prisoners (dbaddha), creditors, debtors, enemies, maintained persons, or persons once punished by the Government shall not be taken as witnesses. Likewise persons legally unfit to carry on transactions, the king, persons learned in the Vedas, persons depending for their maintenance on villages (grdmabhritaka), lepers, persons suffering from bodily erruptions, outcast persons, persons of mean avocation, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, egotistic persons, females, or government servants shall not be taken as witnesses excepting in the case of transactions in one's own community. In dispute concerning assault, theft, or abduction, persons other than wife's brothers, enemies, and co-partners, can be witnesses. In secret dealings, a single woman or a single man who has stealthily heard or seen them can be a witness, with the exception of the king or an ascetic. On the side of prosecution masters against servants, priests or teachers against their disciples, and parents against their sons can be witnesses Kautilya's Arthashastra (nigrahanasdkshyam kuryuh); Persons other than these may also be witnesses in criminal cases. If the above persons (masters and servants, etc.) sue each other (paraspardbhiyoge), they shall be punished with the highest amercement. Creditors guilty of parokta shall pay a fine of 10 times the amount (dasabandha) but if incapable to pay so much, they shall at least pay five times the amount sued for (panchabandham); thus the section on witnesses is dealt with.
(Taking oaths.)
Witness shall be taken before Brdhmans, vessels of water and fire. A Brahman witness shall be told 'Tell the truth'; a Kshatriya or a Vaisya witness shall be told thus:— 'If thou utterest falsehood, thou, do not attain the fruit of thy sacrificial and charitable deeds; but having broken the array of thy enemies in war, thou, do go a beggar with a skull in thy hand. ' A Sudra witness thus:— 'Whatever thy merits are, in thy former birth or after thy death, shall they go to the king and whatever sins the king may have committed, shall they go to thee, if thou utterest falsehood; fines also shall be levied on thee, for facts as they have been heard or seen will certainly be subsequently revealed.'
If in the course of seven nights, witnesses are found to have unanimously made a false consert among themselves, a fine of 12 panas shall be levied. If they are thus found in the course of three fortnights, they shall pay the amount sued for (abhiyogam dadyuh).
If witnesses differ, judgment may be given in accordance with the statements of a majority of pure and respectable witnesses; or the mean of their statements may be followed; or the amount under dispute may be taken by the king. If witnesses give testimony for a less amount, the plaintiff shall pay a fine proportional to the Kautilya's Arthashastra increased amount; if they attest to a greater amount, the excess shall go to the king. In cases where the plaintiff proves himself stupid, or where bad hearing (on the part of witnesses at the time of the transaction) or bad writing is the cause of difficulty, or where the debtor is dead, the evidence of witnesses alone shall be depended on (sdkshipratyayameva sydt).
"Only," say the followers of Usanas, "in those cases where witnesses prove themselves to have been stupid or senseless and where the investigation of the place, time or nature of the transaction is of no avail, the three amercements shall be levied."
"False witnesses," say the followers of Manu, "shall be fined ten times the amount which, no matter whether it is true or false, they cause to be lost."
"If," say the followers of Brihaspati, "owing to their having been stupid, they render a case suspicious, they shall be tortured to death."
"No" says Kautilya:— It is the truth that witnesses have to hear (when they are called to attest to any transaction); if they have not minded it, they shall be fined 24 panas; if they have attested to a false case (without scrutinising), they shall be fined half of the above fine.
* Parties shall themselves produce witnesses who are not far removed either by time or place; witnesses who are very far removed either by time or place; witnesses who are very far, or who will not, stir out, shall be made to present themselves by the order of the judges.
[Thus ends Chapter XI, "Recovery of debts" in Book III, "Concerning Law" of the Arthasdstra of Kautilya. End of the Kautilya's Arthashastra sixty-eighth chapter from the beginning.]
CHAPTER XII. CONCERNING DEPOSITS.
THE rules concerning debts shall also apply to deposits. Whenever forts or country parts are destroyed by enemies or wild tribes; whenever villages, merchants, or herds of cattle are subjected to the inroads of invaders; whenever the kingdom itself is destroyed; whenever extensive fires or floods bring about entire destruction of villages, or partly destroy immovable properties, movable properties having been rescued before; whenever the spread of fire or rush of floods is so sudden that even movable properties could not be removed; or whenever a ship laden with commodities is either sunk or plundered (by pirates); deposits lost in any of the above ways shall not be reclaimed. The depositary who has made use of the deposit for his own comfort shall not only pay a compensation (bhogavetanam) to be fixed after considering the circumstances of the place and time but also a fine of Ylpanas. Not only shall any loss in the value of the deposit, due to its use, be made good, but a fine of 24 panas also be paid. Deposits damaged or lost in any way shall also be made good. When the depositary is either dead or involved in calamities, the deposit shall not be sued for. If the deposit is either mortgaged or sold or lost, the depositary