"'Speak,' thus let him (the judge) ask a Brāhmana. 'Speak the truth,' thus let him address a Kshatriya. A Vaishya should be admonished by (mentioning) his kine, grain, and gold. A Shūdra by threatening him with the guilt of every crime."
"Saying whatever places of torments are assigned by the sages to the slayer of Brāhmana, to the murderer of women and children, to him who betrayed a friend, and to an ungrateful man, those shall be thy portion if thou speakest falsely" (viii, 88 ff).
Our author does not stop here. He devotes twelve more verses in order to advise Shūdra of his responsibility as a witness, and to picture the graveness of the variety of sins that would fall upon his head in case he spoke a lie. By the way, I may say here that our writer of the dharma writers in general did not make this provision to insult the Shūdra purposely. Shūdras in general were ignorant people and did not understand their responsibility as witnesses as well as the more lettered classes did. The formality of asking the witness to swear is intended to make him more serious on the occasion. It is a common experience that the more educated classes need less formality than the ignorant ones.
Our text also provides : "Let the judge cause a Brāhmana to swear by his veracity, a Kshatriya by his chariot or the animal he rides on or by his weapon, a Vaishya by his kine, grain, and gold, and a Shūdra by (imprecating on his head the guilt of all grievous sins" (vili, 113).[1]
- ↑ Shukranīti, which treats the procedure of the court, is silent on both the points mentioned above.
