138 37 4MB
English/Thai Pages [181] Year 1986
The Laws of King Mangrai (Mangrayathammasart) The Wat Chang Kham, Han Manuscript from the Richard Davis Collection
Transcribed in modem Thai by Aroonrut Wichienkeeo Translated and Edited by Aroonrut Wichienkeeo and Gehan Wijeyewardene
A Publication of The Richard Daws Fund and An Occasional Paper of The Department of Anthropology Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian national University Canberra 1986
® The Richard Davis Fund, 1986 This book is copyright Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 as amended, no part maybe reproduced by any process withoutwritten permission. Inquiries may be made to the publisher. national Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry The Laws of King Mangrai = Mangrayathammasart. Bibliography ISBN 0 86784 775 1 ISBN 0 9589029 0 9 I. Customary law — Thailand. I. Wichienkeeo, Aroonrut. II. Wijeyewardene, Qehan, 1932. III. Australian National University. Dept of Anthropology. IV. Richard Davis Fund. V. Title: Flangrayathammasart 349.593
Cover design: ANU Graphic Design/Susan Whigham Printing: Central Printery, ANU, Canberra.
Acknowledgements Wipha Treerat generously collaborated in the typing of the Thai manuscript, and since Aroonrut's return to Thailand has handled all necessary work on the manuscript in Canberra. Judith Wilson, as with all publication in the Department of Anthropology, devoted a great deal of effort towards the editing of the English manuscript and advising on style. Finally, I thank the fellow trustees of the Richard Davis Fund, E.C. Chapman and Anthony Diller, for their support, understanding and co-operation. G.W.
Contents
Section and page correspondences
ix
Introduction: History, Anthropology and Ancient Texts Qehan Wijeyewardene
1
The Laws of King Mangrai translated by Aroonrut Wlchlenkeeo and Qehan Wijeyewardene
21
Preface to Thai version Aroonrut Wlchlenkeeo
83
Mangrayathammasart transliterated into modem Thai by Aroonrut Wlchlenkeeo
87
Glossary (Thai) prepared by Aroonrut Wlchlenkeeo
147
Section and page correspondences
Thai page numbers Thai version
Section numbers English version
1 The story of King Mangrai 2 The Code of King Mangrai 3 Precedence 4 Sexual offences 5 The value of persons and offences against persons 6 Abuse 7 Theft 8 Damage to ritual objects 9 Theft 1 0 Damage 1 1 Marriage and property 1 2 Persons 1 3 Offences involving trespass 14 Theft of clothes 1 5 .Homicide , IS.Theft 1 7 Damages 1 8 -Marriage and property 1 9 Ritual offences 20 Inability 2 1 Poisoning ’ . ; 22 Marriage t 23 Contracts 24 Civic responsibility 25 Marital relations and sexual offences 26 Homicide 27 Theft 28 False accusation 29 Liability 3 0 Liability for corvde 3 1 Use of force by officials 3 2 Livestock 33 Theft 34 Damage of shrines 3 5 Theft 3 6 Negligence 37 Inheritance 3 8 Liability 3 9 Inheritance 4 0 Slaves 4 1 Allocation of fines 42 Slaves
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43 Liability for debt 44 Fratricide 45 Desertion 46 Homicide 47 Marital offences 48 Ritual offences 49 Wife-beating 50 Liability in accidents 51 Precedence and liability 52 Liability for death of another 53 Divorce 54 Conjugal property on death of spouse 55 Marriage and property 56 Desertion 57 Property and adultery 58 Property in polygamous marriages 59 Inheritance 60 Borrowing and lending 61 Liability for slaves 62 Liability for animals 63 False accusation 64 Counterfeiting 65 Theft 66 Slaves 67 Theft 68 Slaves 69 Liability for goods 70 Injury 71 Liability for goods and slaves sold 72 Punishment 73 Judgment 74 Women who may be taken as wife 75 Theft of beehive 76 Concerning officials 77 Sexual offences 78 The story of Queen Marika 79 Sexual offences 80 The woman with two husbands 81 The tale of the millionaire’s daughter 82 The rishi and the tiger 83 The four students of Taxila (1) 84 The four prostitutes 85 The four students of Taxila (2) 86 The story of Khamanican 87 The discussion of the judgment 88 Preamble (to cases) 89 Assessment of evidence 90 The child swallowed by a fish 91 The novice and the Naga king 92-The child in the jar
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9 3 The ex-monk on the tree trunk 94 The stolen cow 9 5 The child and the guardian spirit 96 The three music students 97 Concerning relations between the sexes 98 The dissolution of marriages 99 Children 1 0 0 Punishment 101 The rich men and the precious stones 1 0 2 The two friends who stole from each other 103 Factors in arriving at a judgment 104 The poisoned mango 105 The jar full of silver 106 Envoi
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45 46 46 47 47 52 53 53 54 56 57 57 58 58
Introduction: History, Anthropology and Ancient Texts Qehan Wijeyewardene
The Davis Collection The late Richard Davis conducted research in Nan for his doctoral degree during the late 1960s and early 1970s. His mentor in Nan was the late Nauy Intha Mueangphrom of Amphur Sa, and from him he acquired a keen interest in Northern Thai manuscripts and the system of writing. As early as 1970 this interest became manifest with the publication of A Northern Thai Reader. During his stay in Nan Davis made a comprehensive survey of manuscripts held in monasteries of the province, particularly in the capital. In many monasteries these had been greatly neglected. Davis sorted and catalogued as many collections as he could for die use of the monasteries themselves, but does not appear to have kept a consolidated list. He did however commission the copying of many of the documents that aroused his particular interest. Though the copies were made’ with pen and ink on paper, in other respects the scholarly conventions of the Northern Thai tradition were maintained, which gives added interest to these documents. This collection is now available for consultation at the Department of Anthropolgy, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, and on microfiche at the University's Menzies Library and the National Library of Australia. The manuscript presented here, the Mangrayathammasart, is one of two very similar documents in the collection. The other manuscript is from Wat Maha Phot, Nan, and is titled 'The Law of the World and the Law of Dharma Compared' (Khadii look khadii tham thiam kan ). This contains a section on irrigation law, not present in the document translated, but substantially the same as in other Mangraiyasart . The original of this translated manuscript belongs to the Royal Wat Chang Kham in Amphur Muang, Nan. In 1983 Acham Aroonrut Wichienkeeo spent six 1
months at The Australian National University under the auspices of the Australian Universities International Development Program. She is one of the leading authorities on Northern Thai documents and found the Davis collection of great interest. While in Canberra she transliterated the Mangrayathammasart into modem Thai script and prepared the manuscript for publication. In 1984, and again briefly in 1985, 1 collaborated with her, in Chiangmai, preparing the English translation. These two versions are presented here as a publication of The Richard Davis Fund and the Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific Studies of The Australian National University. The Manuscripts The writing and copying of these manuscripts is a living but vanishing tradition. Northern Thailand had two traditional forms of document - the palm leaf (bai laan ) and the folded paper book (phap nangsaa). The paper is made from the papyrus (Broussonetia papyrifera ). The old writing-paper industry has made way for the production of umbrellas for tourists - though umbrella-making was also a traditional activity. This was apparently a different paper to that used in Central Thailand, which was thicker and more durable. We may note in passing that Jit Phoumisak argued that the absence of Thai language inscriptions in the Chao Phraya valley was because of the use of this more longlasting paper (2526:10 ff.). There is some confusion as to the identity of the palm which provides the leaf used for manuscripts. McFarland identifies it as the sugar palm (Borassus flabellifer) while the Royal Academy Dictionary identifies it as Corypha lecomtei , which it says is ’like the sugar palm'. It is likely that both species are present and used for similar purposes.* The number of manuscripts now reported suggests that in the past the copying of texts was a major enterprise of Fox reports that Borassus and Coiypha species are found on Roti and are used more or less interchangeably (though the uses to which the palms are put are very different from those in north Thailand). He also has more general discussion of these fan-leafed palms (1977: see especially 23 and 199 ff.). 2
monks. It also suggests that the purpose of the enterprise was not strictly pragmatic - the law codes were not primarily copied for the instruction of those making judgments. The contemplation of this fact alone raises a host of questions still unanswered. The state of the manuscript presented here draws attention to the reliability of these texts. There are many sections which are so badly mutilated that they are incomprehensible. That the reconstruction of definitive texts is possible is not at all obvious, nor is the value of such reconstruction. The texts so far transcribed (mainly by scholars of the University of Chiangmai, Chiangmai Teachers College and Phayap College) and those microfilmed through the Toyota Foundation project indicate that they fall into a few well-defined categories. The largest category includes those of a strictly 'religious' nature, versions of canonical texts and commentaries, sermons and chants. There are then the manuals of medical and magical instruction and finally the historical chronicles arid law codes. As Wyatt's discussion of the 'monumental' tamnan demonstrates, these categories are by no means clear cut (1976: 116-18). The availability of these documents outside the circle of the Muang literati must have a long history. The Jinakalamali of Ratanapanna Thera, the 16th century Pali history of Chiangmai is now known orily through a Central Thai script transliteration. The Pali Text Society published an English translation (The Sheaf of Garlands of The Epochs of the Conqueror), probably the first of the Northern Thai documents to appear in English. A few notable translations had appeared i n French, translations of t h e Chamathewiwamsa and Jinakalamali in the BEFEO by Coedbs arid a number of chronicles including the Chiangmai Chronicle and the Suwan Kham Daeng by Notton in his Annales du Siam series. Recently an extract of the Mangraisart has been published by Griswold andPrasert and the Mulasasana by Sommai and Swearer. (See below for other works.) For a more detailed account of some of the more important documents - using the distinction between tamnan and phongsawadarn - see Wyatt 1976. The Manuscripts and History The Thai chronicles and traditional documents are subjects of great interest; their provenance and their use in the last century and up to the present time have a fascination that 3
will I am sure amply repay an extended monographic study. The intention here is to point very briefly to some aspects of the interpretation of the northern manuscripts. The first major work to u s e these manuscripts was P h r a y a Prachakitchakomcakra's Phongsawadarn Yonok . The author was a senior official of the Bangkok government who collated, edited and interpreted a vast number of manuscripts to produce in 1913 a work which is still accepted as the standard history of the Lannathai kingdom. It is of some interest that the original documents had to be read to the author, which accounts for some of the errors that have been identified in that work. More recently there has been increasing scholarly interest and effort devoted to their collection and propagation, and consequently a greater number of interpretations. The three Chiangmai tertiary institutions mentioned above have been the major participants in these projects, backed by the Toyota Foundation and the microfilming project of the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka University. The increasingly worrying question about these interpretative historical works has to do with the reliability of the original documents. Both Thai and Western scholars have, on the whole, treated the history that emerges from these documents at face value. That is, for the most part they accept the succession of rulers, events and dates as more or less an accurate account of the past of Thailand, and in our case more specifically of Northern. Thailand. One of the conspicuous dissenters has been Michael Vickery, who in a series of closely argued review articles has questioned not only the accuracy of the written chronicles but also the dynastic lists found in the stone inscriptions. Vickery's reviews are the product of unremitting scholarship and incisive analysis, and are full of compelling insights. One of these, which to my knowledge has not been pursued but assuredly deserves to be, is his comparison of the dynastic lists of the Mangrai and the Sukhothai dynasties. I cite his comments on these, not only for their inherent interest, but as an example of the kind of distortions that could invade the documents with which we are concerned. I find it highly unlikely that at about the same time in both Sukhothai and Chiangmai there were
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princes named ... [Chai Songkram ] and ... [Ngua Nam Thaml Nam Thuam Ngua*] in die same generational sequence, the name of one who has legendary associations, and both/all of whom appear in later texts or in an inscription which designates them as ancestral spirits. The conclusion I propose is that these names go back to an older Thai mythology, common to both Sukhothai and Chiang Mai, and perhaps other areas, that they were evoked as spirits in 1392 along with the spirits of genuine kings, and that they were taken into later Chiang Mai chronicles when extra generations were required to fill out an expanded story (Vickery 1976:376). In a later review Vickery casts doubt on the possibility ('I am convinced that it is utterly impossible') of writing history 'in terms of individual kings and precise political events' for any part of early Southeast Asia (1979: 171). On the previous page he casts doubt on even die extent of sociological inference possible. He is referring specifically to the early history of Ayutthya. Whatever our own ideas of history we must recognize that the tamnan are dateless traditions which may not with any certainty be attributed to any period earlier than the date at which they were recorded. There is no evidence .that they represent the idea or ethos of history of Ayodhya or early Audhya; and a much better working hypothesis, pending the full analysis that must be carried out before they are used at all, is that they, like European tamnan, are a confused mixture of fact and fancy due to people who were grossly ignorant of the facte of the past (p. 170). Some Recent Developments There has recently been an attempt to separate, within a single document, early from later sections. Griswold and Prasert published in 1977 the first twenty-two clauses of the
* My romanization has been substituted for Vickery's. 5
Lopburi* manuscript of the Mangraisat, which for various reasons they believe to be the earlier and more authentic portions (Griswold and Prasert 1977). More recently Wyatt and Kirsch have commented briefly on this English version, taking into account the then most accessible version of the law code, that edited in Thai by Prasert na Nagara in 1971. Wyatt considers the text in the context of the Indian and Buddhist traditions (1984), and Kirsch draws out of the content of the translated clauses certain arguments confirmatory of notions generally held about the sociology of early Thai society (1984). This kind of enterprise is clearly necessary and its basis must be the kind of scepticism demonstrated by Vickery, but also a return to the documents themselves and a concerted effort to establish their context and their provenance. It is necessary, as Vickery does, to subject the internal consistency of the document to scrutiny; but it also may today be possible to make more material judgments, including, though one should not be to hopeful of useful results, examination of the palm leaf itself. In more general terms we need a much greater application of the techniques developed over the years in the pursuit of prehistory to the subject matter of Thai history and proto-history. Two very recent exercises, one in scepticism the other in the application of scientific techniques, could perhaps be mentioned. In 1985 Surasinghsariiruam Shimbhanao contributed a paper to a seminar series on Lannathai Studies: History and Archaeology' (Laannaa khadii syksaa: prawatsaat lae boraan khadii ) held in Chiangmai, which questioned many of the assumptions of his Thai colleagues working in the field. The paper was entitled 'Slowly, please ... To the reader and user of chronicles' (Chaa korn ... nak aan lae aang tamnaan ). The paper contains some highly pertinent criticisms of the use of these documents in the writing of history and of some of the political and nationalistic biases that reveal themselves. He asks for instance, what happens to the Lua (or Lawa) in the modem writing of Northern Thai history. The answer appears to be that all references to this Mon-Khmer-speaking group in the chronicles are inteipreted as being references to Lao and therefore to Tai-speakers. * Wat Saw Hai is actually in Saraburi Province.
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In a different vein, in a book published later the same year Surasinghsamruam attempts to identify a more believable tradition in the ancient manuscripts. He transcribes into modem Thai, and introduces, another code of law and administrative practice, The Way of King Kuna (Khlorng cya haeng Phracaw Kyynaa ). I shall here mention only briefly two points he makes in his introduction. He dismisses the notion that this code owes its ancestry to the Indian tradition from Manu, and by implication the Dharmasastras, and he points to the lack of the supernatural either in the cases related or in the powers of the presiding judge. He suggests that this text relates to real cases experienced in Lannathai society. I am not here concerned as to whether Surasinghsamruam is right or not. What his work does suggest is that there is a need for a massive co-operative effort in the examination of the internal consistency of these texts. I am not implying that this does not happen - but Michael Vickery has all too often seemed like a lone standardbearer. Surasinghsamruam has gone beyond scepticism and has presented a number of alternatives, most of which cannot be dealt with in this brief essay, which is, in intention, a plea for widespread participation in die enterprise. However, though scepticism is important, in our search for the historical facts and the anthropological interpretation of the societies of the past, the application of the tools of modem technology may be almost as important. The prehistorians have proved this beyond doubt. It seems unfortunate that so little of these techniques are being applied to more recent material. In Thailand the most spectacular exception is the Thai-Australian Ceramics Project (see Thai Ceramics Archaeological Project 1984) at Sri Sachanalai. But it must remain a puzzle and a disappointment that so little of this kind of work has been done on the material remains of the Kingdom of Chiangmai. In the same collection of seminar papers cited above there is, however, one which augurs well for the future. It is entitled 'Ancient Communities within the B orders, of Lannathai*(Chumchon boraan nai kheet Laannaa ) by Nuansiri Wongthangsawasdi. The paper is largely an exposition of how aerial photography may be used to locate and describe ancient settlements. Though some settlements are described, its actual contribution to any historical or anthropological issue is small - largely because it is not directed at any particular problem, and for the most part 7
attempts to substantiate unsourced claims by earlier writers by showing the physical presence’ of some feature. At the very end of the paper he raises an issue which may turn out to have some importance. This is the relative age of the walls of Chiangmai city. I have discussed these objects elsewhere (1984 and 1986:119-24) and argued that the (almost) square city has ritual meaning which helps understand the nature of the society in historical times. Perhaps the oldest reference to the city walls is in the account of the city's construction in the Jinakalamali . The interpretation' given to the passage is that the walls were rectangular, their length being in the ratio 9:10. Nuansiri argues that the inner and outer walls are contemporaneous on the evidence of aerial photographs, which show that the north-south and east-west diagonals of the odd-shaped object formed by the outer earth wall and the north and west’walls are in the ratio 9: 10. It seems that, however tenuous, there are now a set of problems which can be solved in purely physical terms and which could have bearing on the nature of die societies that built and lived within those city walls. The Language and the Script The language used in the text presented here and in the others discussed above is variously known Thai Yuan, Lannathai, and sometimes, perhaps inaccurately, Lao. My own preference is for the term widely used by the speakers themselves, Kham Muang (kham myang ), though this too has its problems. The word wyang is context dependent, and may be considered an abbreviation for the particularly muang referred to, e.g. Muang Chiangmai, Muang Lampang, Muang Nan. Or it may be interpreted as short for Muang Thai - Thailand. This latter interpretation, I am told, is cause for hostility from Bangkok Thai, though I have'not encountered this. The correct interpretation, which I think is also the interpretation Davis arrived at, is that 'muang' represents a particular political system and way of life and should be treated as a lexical item glossed as ’Northern Thai', hence the title of his book Muang Metaphysics. This however does not solve all problems, as it turns out the language has a distribution well beyond the boundaries of northern Thailand. More of this in a moment. The language is, of course, a member of the Tai family, and according to Marvin Brown includes a number of identifiable 8
dialects, of which he treats five (1965:13). To the casual listener it appears that the language is closer to Lao than it is to Siamese (which includes Central Thai), but this appears not to be Brown's conclusion (’Family Tree’, Brown 1965:179). In the written language modem Lao is clearly more akin to Thai than is either to the Muang writing system. The first important Western scholarly contact with Muang was by the Presbyterian missionaries who established themselves in Chiangmai in the 1860s. To them, as it was to Bangkok society of that time, the language was Lao, and so it remained until the missionaries finally lost their importance as Chiangmai's opening to the modern world. To my knowledge, in all their writing they never identify the people and language with the word myang ; but neither it seems did the Thai of the period. The Presbyterians created a font and established a press, which I am told still exists and produces religious publications at Wat Sri Dorn Chai . But it was Clifton Dodd who recognized the importance of the Muang system of writing and the extent of its use. It seems to have arisen through a demarcation dispute between the Presbyterians and the Baptists in Burma. There was an understanding between these groups that gave the evangelization of Burma to the Baptists and of Siam, as they then knew it, to the Presbyterians. The Baptists had their major successes with Karen-speakers and had done major work on that language, but when they got to Chiangtung they had no ability to communicate with the bulk of the population except through Burmese. To the British in Burma all Tai-speakers who were not Siamese were Shan, therefore Kentung (Chiangtung) was Shan. T h e Presbyterians had some contact with Chiangtung even before the fall of Ava. Ava had laid claims to the vassalage of Chiangtung, though these were only one set of a number of countervailing claims of that period. The British appropriated Ava's claims, though for many years they were in no position to enforce them. The Sawbwa of Chiangtung not only rejected Ava's claims, but himself laid claims to paramountcy over a number of muang including Chiangsaen The press was part of the estate of Luang Anusam Sunthom and was deposited with other historical material at the University of Chiangmai. It appears Wat Sri Dorn Chai uses the press on lease from the University. 9
across the Mae Khong. When the British ultimately occupied Chiangtung, the Baptists followed in their wake and objected to the incipient presence of the Presbyterians. There were two aspects to the dispute - political and ethnic affiliation. Chiangtung was now clearly British by force of arms, but the Presbyterians seem to have been just as right in their claim that Chiangtung was Kham Muang- and not Shan- speaking. Dodd spent a great deal of his time, after this defeat, tracing the use of Muang script and language in China, but not much more came out of it The Tai may have been the elder brother of the Chinese to Dodd, but neither elder nor younger brother had much to teach the Presbyterian. One consequence of his work is the recognition that at the turn of the century there were many more users of Muang than there were of Siamese, and it is perhaps an accident of geography, as well, of course, as of the rise of Ayutthya, that the Thai script and not one based on Muang is the written language of Thailand. But what is the relation between these two scripts? The ancestry of the Thai system of writing has not been a vital issue in Southeast Asian scholarship, but over the years a scattered yet substantial bibliography has accumulated. The problem of the Thai script has of course been part of the wider problem or problems of the Tai scripts and their relation to each other and the Devanagari from whence they all come. For many years the Ccedds view of the relation between these has been the uneasy compromise. Very briefly this view was that the Sukhothai script was the product of the dual influence of the Khmer of Angkhor and proto-Tai. The latter, with Burmese, had an ancient Mon ancestry. The Muang script was a direct modification of proto-Tai. The ancient Ankhor Khmer system of writing owed its derivation to southern Indian scripts, while ancient Mon had its ancestry in the northern Indian scripts. This view has come under attack from a Lao scholar, Sila Weerawong, whose work, unfortunately, I have not yet seen. It is however the basis of a strong counter to the Cccd&s theory by the Chiangmai University scholar closely associated with die propagation of the modem Thai versions of the northern manuscripts, Sommai Premchit. Sommai's paper in the commemorative *This brief account is based on documents in the Presbyterian Mission Archives, Chiangmai and the Public Records Office, London. 10
volume for the installation of the Three Kings Monument in Chiangmai argues that Sinhala, Mon, Burmese, Shan, Ahom and Muang (Lii-Lanna) all derived directly from southern Indian scripts, while modem Thai traces a long and complex lineage through Khmer to northern Indian scripts (Sommai 2526-27:103-20). The reason why the Muang script is problematic is that most inscriptions found in north Thailand seem more closely related to the Sukhothai script than to Muang. The relation between the modem scripts may be summarized by saying that the modem Thai and secular Lao scripts are closely related. Muang, in one form or another, was used for both secular and religious purposes in North Thailand, the Muang areas of Burma and some of the Chinese Tai areas. It is also closely related to the religious script of Laos and Northeast Thailand, and more distantly to the Shan. The most lucid and persuasive account of the relationship between these scripts is a recent paper by Hans Penth (2528). He suggests there was a gradual adoption of Mon script by Tai-speaking peoples in the 12th and 13th centuries. A process of regularization and continuing contact with Mon and Khmer created the so-called Sukhothai script, and in mid-14th to 15th centuries this script was widely used from Chiangrai to Ayutthya. In the Muang areas this script was modified by features of the tham (i.e. religious) script, and the result is known as the fak khaam, in which most northern inscriptions are written.. Besides this script the Muang developed a script 'which looks as if it were directly copied from the later inscriptions in Lamphun, or perhaps from official Lamphun Mon texts’ (p. 16). This is the Muang script, and it was at first used only for religious purposes (i.e. Pali). But from the latter 15th century the Muang language was also written in it. The script spread from north Thailand to those areas where it is now found. Penth writes that the script was not unknown in Ayutthya, but did not replace Khmer, which was used for religious texts (Penth 2528). The System of Transliteration There has been some disagreement- as to the most appropriate transliteration of Northern Thai script into modem Thai (see Surasinghsamruam 2528a: 6-8). The system used here endeavours to maintain equivalences 11
established between the two systems of writing based on their historical connections. The major disadvantage of this system is that the Lanna writing system had certain important divergences from the spoken language and these are maintained in the transliteration. This is particularly noticeable with consonant' clusters which KhamMuang often reduces- to a single unaspirated consonant. A common example is the word khran ('when') which is pronounced kan in Kham Muang, but is written with the aspirated consonant cluster in both Lannathai and the transliteration. There are a few conventions in the transliteration which will' be unfamiliar to foreign readers of Thai (in fact, probably to most native- speakers of Thai). These will be deciphered without too much trouble, but for convenience a few comments follow. 1. The word khon (person) is always written with khor khwaai with bar and comma above. (The bar indicates that the aspiration is retained and the comma that the vowel- 'o' is intended and not the usual carrying, vowel of Northern Thai script ’'a'.)~ 2. The multi-purpose Thai particle kor is written with khor khwaai and little circle above. ’ 3. The low aspirated consonants are usually pronounced unaspirated. 4. The consonant n in final position is always written with the letter ror . 5-. The consonant symbol ror in initial position is most often pronounced as an h and is then equivalent to a Thai hor nokhu.uk. The name Mangrai is an exception. The Thai ror rya is usually written with a lor ling . 6. The Thai vowel ia ( usually written sara' 'e' sara' *ii jor) is written sara' 'e'jor and in medial position with only jor. 7. Northern Thai has no equivalent of the mai muan . This is always written with the mai malai. In the English translation section headings and numbers, and all material within square brackets, has been added by me except that square brackets occasionally contain the original northern Thai word where it was thought this would clarify the translation.
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Conclusion • . , One of the major aims of this publication, is to stimulate research interest in the many aspects of these Northern Thai documents and we conclude with a brief introduction to the published sources. Acharn Aroonrut is of the opinion that this document is significantly different from other copies of the Mangraiyasart that have so far become available. One item which is common to the two manuscripts in the Davis collection, but not to any other known version, is the specification of a retiring age, from corvee labour, of fiftyfive. In her view the text appears to incorporate three quite different codes. (See below for the probable points of division.) She also suggests that perhaps this document is in ' some ways closer to, Lao legal texts which are not as well known as the Lannathai. The Mangraiyasart (in general) is basically a code of law reputed to have been promulgated by King Mangrai, who defeated the Mon kingdom of .Hariphunchai (modern Lamphoon) and later built and established the capital of his new kingdom at Chiangmai - an occasion, according to the chronicles, graced by the presence of King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai and King Ngam Muang of Phayao. These three are known as The Three Kings or The Three Comrades, and in 1984-85 an imposing statue was erected at the centre of Chiangmai city commemorating the alliance. Our particular manuscript (the Mangrayathammasart) briefly relates the story of die conquest of Hariphunchai and the founding of Chiangmai. The law code follows from this, as .it is a recurring theme of the story that Mangrai replaced the arbitrary rule of the Mon ruler with a rule of law. The penultimate sentence of the text names the three constituent documents, but the only indication of a break comes at the end of sub-section 87, where the sentence 'The Thammasart ends here' occurs. Sub-section 88 to the end then probably represents the Traditions of King Mahosot’. At the end of sub-section 5 9 is the sentence 'This is law of Mangrai and Ai Fa', but this seems to refer to the rules of inheritance which comprise the sub-section rather than marking the end of a code. There are seven other known manuscripts of the Laws of Mangrai, six of which have been transliterated into
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modem Thai. These are listed under the transcriber’s name, and all have the title Mangraiyasart except the first Maha Kamol Chotimanto 2510 The Law of Mangrai, King of Lannathai (Kotmaai Mangrai kasat haeng Laannaathai ) Bangkok: IrrigationDepartment Prasert na Nagara 2513
Wat Saw Hai (Saraburi) manuscript Published for die cremation of Luang Hotarakittayanuphat
25 24
Notton Manuscript Lan Na Folklore Studies Center, Chiangmai Teachers College.
2527
Wat Chiang Man (Chiangmai) manuscript. Lan Na Folklore Studies Center, Chiangmai Teachers College.
Sommai Premchit 2518
Wat Mun Ngem Komg (Chiangmai) manuscript Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Chiangmai.
Aroonrut Wichienkeeo 2527 Wat Chaiya Satham (Chiangmai) manuscript Lan Na Folklore Studies Center, Chiangmai Teachers College. Another manuscript, known as the Chiangmai University manuscript, is now lost. Acham Aroonrut is involved in a substantial project compiling a concordance of traditional Lannathai law texts with Dr. Prasert as adviser. The series is known as The Analysis of Lannathai Law (Wikhroh kotmaai Laannaa ). The first two volumes have now appeared. The Bibliography of these works should be consulted for other law codes available. 14
Aroonrut Wichienkeeo and Lamoon Janhom 2527 Agricultural Law (Prachum kotmaai kaset) Chiangmai Teachers College. I 2528
Family Law (Prachum kotmaai khrobkhrua ). Chiangmai Teachers College.
The list of other Northern manuscripts now available in Thai transliteration is fast growing, mainly produced by Chiangmai University and Teachers College. Of earlier works the most important is the Phongsawadarn Yonok, which however is more than mere transliteration. (See Wyatt 1976 for works available in the Prachum Phongsawadarn series.) In more recent times, next to the work of Dr. Prasert in this field was that of Sanguan Chotisukharat. Three of his most important works are listed below. Sanguan Chotisukharat 2512 The Law of King Mangrai. (Kotmaai haung Phracaw Mengrai ) In Thai Yuan- Khon Myang Bangkok: Odeon Store. 2514
The Chiangmai Chronicle (Tamnaan phyynmyang Chiangmai ). Bangkok: Office of the Prime Minister.
2515
Collected Chronicles of Lannathai (Prachum tamnaan Lannaathai). 2 volumes. Bangkok: Odeon Store.
In Western languages, most important is the collection by Notton. Volume one contains the interesting Suwan Kham Daeng Chronicle and Volume three the Chiangmai Chronicle, both of which parallel very closely the versions given by Sanguan. The slim Volume two is wholly taken up with the Chronicle of Lamphoon. These three volumes were published as follows:
15
Notion, Camille 1926 1
Annates du Siam Premiere Partie Paris’.Charles- Lavauzelle.
1930
Annates du Siam II e Volume Paris: Charles Lavauzelle.
1932
Annates du Siam III e Volume Paris:Libraire Orientaliste Paul Geuthner.
Ccedfes' translations of the Chamathewiwamsa fatJinakalamali appeared in 1925.
and.
Ccedes, Georges (ed.) 1 925 Documents sur LUistoire Politique et Religieuse du Laos.Occidental. Bulletin de I'Ecole Frangaise d'Extreme Orient XXV nos. 1 & 2 : 1-205. The Pali Text Society version of the Jinakalamali appears as Ratanapanna Thera 1968
The Sheaf of Garlands of the Epochs of the Conqueror (Translated by N.A Jayawickrama). London: Luzac.
Other English language translations are: Sommai Premchit and Donald K. Swearer 1977 A Translation of Tamnan Mulasasana Wat Pa Daeng Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 65 part 2: 73- 1 10. Mangrai, Sao Saimong (Trans.) 1981 The Padaeng Chronicle and the Jentung State Chronicle ,Ann Arbor:
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Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan. Ratchasomphan Saenluang 1966 The Nan Chronicle (ed.) David Wyattlthaca: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program Data Paper Other References Bumay, J. and Georges Coed&s 1927-28 The Origins of the Sukodaya Script. Journal of the Siam Society Vol. XXI Part 2: 87-102. Chiangmai Provincial Administration 2526-27 Lannathai: Souvenir of the Commemoration of the Three Kings . Monument (Laannaathai: anusorn phra raatcha pithii poed phra boroma ' raatchanusaawaliisaamkasat ) Chiangmai Teachers College 2528 Proceedings of the Seminar on Lannathai Studies: History and Archaeology (Lannakhadisyktaar prawatsart lae borankhadii). Coedds, Georges 2507
Davis, Richard 1984 < 1970 Dodd, W. Clifton 1923
The Stoty of Thai Writing (Jarman aksorn Thaitamnan phraphim ) Bangkok: Kurusapha. Muang Metaphysics, Bangkok: Pandora Press . A Northern Thai Reader . Bangkok: The Siam Society. The Tat Race, Cedar Rapids: Torch Press . 17
Fox, James J 1977
Harvest of the Palm, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard .
Griswold, A.B. and Praseit na Nagara Epigraphic and Historical Studies No. 1977 17:The Judgements of King Mang Ray. Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 65 Part 1:137-60. Jit Phoumisak 2526
Kirsch, Thomas A. 1984
McFarland, G.B. 1944
Thai Societv in the Caw Phrava Valiev before Sri Ayutthya Sangkhom Thai han Mae Nam Caw Phraya korn samai Sri Ayutthya). Bangkok: Mai Ngarm Press . Cosmology and Ecology as Factors in interpreting Early Thai Social Organization Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Vol.l5No. 2 :253-65. Thai-English Dictionary . Stanford: University Press .
Nuansiri Wongthangsawasdi 2528 Ancient Communities within the Borders of Lannathai (Chumchon boraan nai kheetLaannaa). In Chiangmai Teachers College 2528: 03-001; 58pp. Penth, Hans 2528
The Wat Kan Thom Inscriptions and the Development of Thai Letters.In Chiangmai Teachers College 2528:04001; 17 pp.
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Prachakitchakomcakra, Phraya Phongsawadarn Yonok . Bangkok: 2516 Khlang Withaya Press. (first printed 2441). Royal Institute, The 2525 Sommai Premchit 2526-27
Dictionary (Potchananukrom). Bangkok: Aksom Charoen Press . The Language and Writing System of Lannathai (Phaasaa lae aksom Lannathai ) In Chiangmai Provincial Administration 2526-27:103-20.
Surasinghsamruam Shimbhanao 2528 The Way of King Kuna (Khlorng cya haeng Phraca Kyynaa ).Bangkok: Sukanya Press . 2528a.
Slowly please ... To the reader and user of chronicles.(Cfaza korn ... nak aan lae aang tamnaan ) In Chiangmai Teachers College2528:05-003; 24 pp.
Thai Ceramics Archaeological Project 1984 The Study of Thai Historical Ceramics: A Preliminary Report on The Production Centres of Trade Wares. In Art and Archaeology, Proceedings of the International Conference on Thai Studies Volume VI, Bangkok. Vickery, Michael 1976
1979
The Lion Prince and Related Remarks on Northern History Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 64 Part 1:326-377. A new Tamnan about Ayudhya. Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 67 Part 2: 123-186.
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Wijeyewardene, Gehan 1985 Great City on the River Ping: Some Anthropological and Historical Perspectives on Chiangmai. Political Science Review (Chiangmai University) Series No/6: 86-112. 1986
Wyatt, David K. 1976
1984
Place and Emotion in Northern Thai Ritual Behaviour. Bangkok: Pandora Press. Chronicle Traditions in Thai Historiography. In Southeast Asian History and Historiography eds. C.D. Cowan and O.W. Wolters, pp. 107-22 Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Laws and Social Order in Early Thailand: An Introduction to the Mangraisat Journal of Southeast Asian Studies . Vol. 15 no.22:245-51.
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The Laws of King Mangrai translated by Aroonrut Wichienkeeo and Gehan Wijeyewardene
1. The story of King Mangrai Greetings! We shall talk about the judgments of King Mangrai. There was a lord named Mangrai, who ruled Chiangrai. He had a slave named Ai Fa, who was his scribe. One day Ai Fa paid obeisances to his lord and said, 'There is a kingdom called Hariphunchai whose king is called Phraya Ba. Would Your Majesty like this kingdom?' King Mangraiusked, What must I do to get this kingdom?.' Ai Fa replied, 'If Your Majesty will permit, your slave will try something that is not too difficult.’ Phraya Mangrai agreed. The king pretended that Ai Fa had committed a crime. He was banished, and sought refuge in the kingdom o f Hariphunchai. Phraya Ba was glad, because Ai Fa had' the reputation of being honest. He gave Ai Fa the job o f administering the country. He built markets and bazaars, which were taxed for the kingdom's treasury. The king was pleased and handed the entire administration over to him. Ai Fa sent a letter to King Mangrai and asked the king to raise an army and wage war against Hariphunchai without delay. King Mangrai raised an army and laid siege to Hariphunchai. Ai Fa opened the city gate and let King Mangrai into the city. The king occupied and governed the city. 2. The Code of King Mangrai Later he built the city of Chiangmai. He proclaimed a code of law which did not run contrary to dharma. Phraya Ba was henceforth deprived of all power to oppress the citizenry. A city without citizens is not a city. From that time on a citizen who had not committed a crime could not be put in chains. If bound with rope, he must be compensated withlOO pieces of silver. If a citizen is killed without cause, wergild of 10,000 pieces of silver must be paid. Thus the lords love the citizens, and the citizens respect the lords. Servants respect 21
their masters. Wives respect their husbands. Children respect their parents. Students respect their teachers. Younger brother and sister respect the older. 3. Precedence The elephant must make way for the carriage. The horse must make way for the elephant. The slave must make way for the lord who has come from afar. The peasant must make way for the townsman. The light boat must make way for the heavier; if they collide and the heavier boat is damaged, the light boat must pay for the damage. 4. Sexual offences Let not a noble have sexual relations with the wife of a citizen. If he does he will be fined 440 pieces of silver. If a citizen has sexual relations with the wife of a noble, he will be fined 1 10 pieces of silver, because the noble’s wife is at fault for loving the commoner. If a man who stays home has sexual relations with the wife of one away on state business, and the husband kills the offender on finding out, there is no fault If he does not kill the lover, the lover will be fined 660 pieces of silver. If the slave loves his master's wife, let them both have each other, but they shall not be given any goods, and they both become slaves, because the woman wants to be a slave. If an officer of the Elephant Corps grabs the wife of another officer, and she objects, if he grabs her breasts outside her blouse, he will be fined 440 pieces of silver. If he embraces her he will be fined 1 10 pieces of silver. This refers to officers of the Elephant Corps. If he grasps the breasts of a woman who is willing, he will be fined 22,000 cowrie shells, equivalent to 21 pieces of silver. If he grasps her breasts inside her blouse he will be fined 11,000 cowrie shells. If the offender has a wife he will be fined 1 10 pieces of silver. If he has no wife he will be fined 5 2 pieces of silver. If one procures a noble’s wife he will be fined 110 pieces of silver. If a noble falsely accuses another of having relations with his wife and if the judgment is that the accusation is false, the noble will be fined 1 10 pieces of silver. If a noble sees another man with his wife, he may kill him at once without any penalty.
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If a freeman has relations with someone else's slave, he will be fined 110 pieces of silver. If a slave has relations with a free woman, he will be fined 52 pieces of silver. 5. The value of persons and offences against persons The price of a man or a woman is 330 pieces of silver. If a man without fault is killed, or is caused to be killed, the fine is four times [the price of a man], that is, equal to 1,320 pieces of silver. This is the fine for a free man. If it is the slave of a thaw or phraya who is killed, the price is 660, and the fine four times, equal to 2,340 [sic] pieces of silver. If a free man is assaulted and attacked with a sword, if he does not die but is too sick to perform state service, or if he dies, the assailant will be fined four times, equal to 990 [sic] pieces of silver. If he is maimed, a fine of 100 pieces of silver [will be imposed]. If he has a large scar, the fine is 770 pieces of silver; for a medium-sized scar, 330 pieces of silver; and for a small scar, 110 pieces of silver. Consider the wound, whether it is large or small. If there is blood, 522; if there .is bruising, 332. If there is only pain, 1000 cowrie shells. If the victim was beaten two or three times without blood being spilled, and he struck the assailant once, there is no case. If there is a fight and one party takes weapons and searches out the other in his house, and the owner kills the intruder, there is no case. If two fighters kill each other, or if they hurt each other, it is held to be equal. If one comes to kill another with a weapon, if the attacked escapes, or if another restrains the attacker, the attacker is fined 330 or 52, depending on whether the culprit is noble or free, of high or low position, and on his rank and family. 6. Abuse If one was abused and abuses in return, if there was no cause, the [first] abuser is fined 33,000 cowries: 11,000 for the upper lip, 11,000 for the lower, and 11,000 for the tongue. This concerns abuse. 7. Theft If a slave is stolen and is not found, the fine is 1,320 pieces of silver. If returned, the fine is three times, or twice,
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equal to 990 [unclear - 990 is three times the 'price of a man']. If cowrie shells are stolen, or a slave is stolen, and then runs away, if he returns [to his master?], the court official will not levy a fine but will request the cost of f o o d [ambiguous, may refer to compensation to the owner for loss of labour], for he has lost by his slave being taken away. There is no fine, because the stolen slave [or cowries ?] has been returned. If [the slave or the cowries] had not been returned, the loss would have been total. The judgment of the court is just. If someone finds a runaway slave and keeps him, and does not report to the headman or chief, it will be assumed that the slave has been hidden with the intent of stealing him and the fine will be doubled, that is, 660 pieces of silver. If an escaped slave is taken into the house and fed, the fine is 110 pieces of silver. If an animal worth 110 pieces of silver is stolen, if it is a cow worth 52 pieces of silver [ unclear], the fine is four times, including the calf in the womb, male 22, female 110 pieces of silver, the fine is fourfold. The same applies to buffaloes. [Much of this is unclear.] The stealing of forest animals: For a deer, compensation of 330 pieces of silver. Tamnae or saai 22,faan 52 [these are types of deer]. Rabbit, peafowl, wild pig, 22 pieces of silver. Goats, village pigs, 1 1,000 cowrie shells. The fine is nine times the value. If die animal is pregnant with a male, 100 cowries. A chicken 1,100 cowries, a duck 150, a goose 300 cowries. If the value of the animals [stolen] is less than 10,000 cowries, the fine is seven times the value. If the value is over 10,000, the fine is four times the value. If the thief [of these animals] is killed by the owner of the stolen goods, there is no offence. If the animals are stolen, killed and cooked, and are eaten by the thief’s accomplices and friends, an accomplice will be fined half the amount of the fine of the thief. For stealing a fishing net without a handle, the fine is either 10,000 [cowries ?] or four times the value. For a fish trap with a handle, 10,000 or nine times the value. For a fish container and a casting net, the value being 330, the fine is nine times. For stealing a plough and a harrow, without the metal parts, the value being 3,000, the fine is three times that.
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A horse worth 330, the fine is four times, that is, 1,300 cowries [sic]. A cow or a buffalo of good condition, the same price. A cat worth 1 10 cowries, the fine is nine times that. An ordinary dog two pieces of silver. The fine for dogs is according to their value up to 1 10 pieces of silver. If silver is stolen, of value about 1,000, the fine is three times; of value about 100, the fine is five times; from 50 to one baht, the fine is nine times. If gold is stolen, by weight, from one baht to 1/8 baht, the fine is nine times; if more than one baht, the fine is double. 8. Damage to ritual objects For burning the spirit shrine of the village, for destroying it completely, for razing it to the ground, the fine is 110 baht, silver. For breaking the container for. offering liquor to .the spirits, the fine, 33,000 cowries. Even if the vessel is not broken, if any villager dies the offender must pay the cost of the funeral, or he must pay wergild. He must pay for the corpse to be taken away from the village. [He should] also be fined 330 pieces of silver. For cutting the inthakhin pillar, 330 cowries. [Cutting] the pillars of the sema of the city, 1 10 pieces of silver. 9. Theft Stealing bird-nets or animal traps of all kinds the cost must be paid, and in addition a fine of 33,000 cowries. ■Stealing the yoke of an ox, the cost must be paid, and a fine of 13,000 cowries. For stealing firewood, or a spade or a hoe with the handle, the fine is 13,000 cowries, or nine times [the value]. 10. Damage Cutting down the fence of a house, or of the city [?], 33,000 cowries. 11. Marriage and property If two slaves love each other and have slept with each other, whatever the price of the male, slave, let the master of the female slave pay the master of the male, to redeem him, and let them live together. If the female slave is not willing, let 25
her finish her month's seclusion by the fire, then see that the male goes away. If he does not look after her and she dies in childbirth, let him replace the female slave who died. If a woman sold to her husband's house for a price of 1,000 pieces of silver says she has no freedom and is unused to it and runs back home, she must return die [bride] price. If the husband is adamant and demands a divorce, whatever the price paid for the woman let this be divided into four parts, determine a daily wage for as many years or months she has been with him, and let the rest be returned to the husband. 12. Persons A man or woman who reaches the age of 55 is free from corvee labour. If one has a son, the price is 50 pieces of silver; if a daughter 22 pieces of silver. This is the value of the son or daughter. If there are no children, each year the value is reduced by 5 0 [pieces of silver], because the woman gets older day and night, each year, each month. 13. Offences involving trespass If one shoots, with a bow and arrow, a chicken or any other animal living in the compound of the house, let the offender be held responsible for the cost of the animal. If the owner of the house suffers no harm within three to seven days, there is no case. If cattle or buffaloes die, the fine is 110 pieces of silver. If a pool or other stretch of water has been reserved, anyone who steals fish from there will be fined 11,000 and fined fourfold[?]. If bees or other honey-producing insects which have been reserved are stolen, for each hive the fine is 50 pieces of silver. If gourd-bearing creepers of all kinds are cut down, for each creeper the fine is 1,000 [ amounts presumably refer to cowries]. 14. Theft of clothes Stealing clothes, cloth, white cloth of value, the cost of the cloth must be paid and [the culprit] fined 1 1,000 cowries. 15. Homicide Concerning homicide: If a man were to say he would kill another but does not, the offender will be fined 52 pieces of silver. If the 26
offender takes up a weapon but does not carry out his threat, the fine is 1 10 pieces of silver. If he takes up a weapon and rushes towards the other’s house but is stopped by a third party, the fine is 330 pieces of silver. If he actually kills the other, the fine is 1,320 pieces of silver. 16. Theft If cowries or betel nut are stolen, the former by the thousand, the latter by the 'head', the fine is ninefold. If a thousand strings [a string has a thousand cowries] or a hundred strings [are stolen] the fine is double. If water is stolen from someone else's field and put on one's own, offerings of chickens and pigs must be made on behalf of the owner of the field. If the culprit doesn't pay, the fine is 33,000 cowries. 17. Damages If cattle or buffaloes are killed because of some fault of the animal, the value of the animal is divided into three; one part goes to the offender. If a man is killed in similar circumstances, the same is done. If, while burning the forest, the fire should burn someone's house, the fine is 52 pieces of silver. If the ploughshare alone, the ploughshare should be weighed, and the fine half the weight of the ploughshare, in silver. [This sentence seems misplaced.] If fields are situated close to the village, the owner of pigs must ask the owner of the fields to fence them. If he does not, and pigs eat the rice, there are no grounds for complaint. If the owner of the pigs does not tell the owner of the fields [to fence them], and no fence is built, the price of the pig is divided in two, if the pig is killed - it may be divided into two or three. Concerning the care of cattle and buffaloes it is the same, whether the damage is great or small. If buffaloes or cattle eat the newly-sprouting rice in swidden or field, the fine is 11,000 cowries for each rice plant. If they agree that no fine be paid, let a ceremony be done to call the khwan of the rice. [Something omitted; perhaps: 'If animal killed or accidentally injured...'] the owner of the rice must take a pair of chickens to the owner of the buffalo or ox. If the ox or buffalo were to die, the owner of the animal is fined 110 pieces of silver. If the owner of the ox or cattle does not give [chickens for sacrifice ?] and the owner 27
of the rice dies, the owner of the animal is fined 330 pieces of silver. [This passage seems to have many errors in copying. It seems to refer to the killing of animals by magic and/or the inauspicious consequences of animals destroying the growing rice.] If a buffalo wallows in a fully-prepared field or nursery, let the owner of the buffalo pay a pig and a chicken, according to custom. If an ox or a buffalo eats the young rice plants after they have been transplanted, let the owner [of the animal] get new plants and replace those destroyed. If he cannot find shoots for planting, let him be fined 5 1 cowries for each stalk. If the buffalo had a keeper, let him be fined 110 cowries for each stalk. This refers to newly-planted rice. If the rice was eaten when grown, the fine is 100 cowries for each stalk. If the animal had a keeper, the fine is 200 cowries per stalk. If the grain is ripe and there was no one looking after the buffalo, the fine is 300 cowries. If there was a keeper, the fine is nine times that for each. Stealing rice which has been reaped, the fine is nine sheaves for each [stolen]. If a basket of rice is stolen, the fine is nine baskets.If a saen [a hundred thousand; here applied to units of capacity, now reckoned to be approximately a hundred to a litre] is stolen the fine is threefold; for a million [about a thousand litres] the fine is double. If there were no fines like this, the number of thieves would increase greatly. If one borrows clothes and they are tom, let the borrower keep the clothes and pay the owner their value. If a silversmith is hired to do a job and the customer is not satisfied, let the object be smelted and remade before the smith is paid. If he is not forced to remake it he will not improve. 18. Marriage and property If husband and wife do not get on and are to separate, let them divide their goods and each take what they brought to the marriage. If a woman wishes to divorce her husband, let her beg his pardon with 1 10 pieces of silver. If the woman is poor, let her pay 52 pieces of silver. If a woman takes a lover three times, let her father sell her and with the money buy a new wife for the husband, and to look after the parents [unclear as to whose parents are meant]. If the woman does not agree [meaning unclear], let 28
half the money be given to the husband, half to the wife. If the father and mother die, to whomever of their children they leave their possessions, let that child inherit. Do not disobey the instructions of the deceased, else there will be disaster. If the wife dies and leaves her possessions to her husband, if the child leaves possessions to the parents, if the slave dies and leaves possessions to the owner, if the pupil dies and leaves possessions to the teacher, if a servant dies and leaves possessions to the master - in these five cases the instructions need not be obeyed but the possessions may be divided according to custom. 19. Ritual offences If someone comes and destroys silver. If [meaning was forced, let him
holds a sukhwan ceremony and another the ritual objects, the fine is 110 pieces of of following words unclear] because he pay half.
20. Liability If many people get into a boat and the boatman allows more to get in and the boat sinks, the boatman is fined half [the value of goods lost]. If the boatman warns the passengers and they do not listen to him, there is no fault. If slave, child or wife flee the house and hang themselves, if someone sees them and does not bring them back, or brings them back, whatever the owner gives for the trouble taken, that is sufficient It is all right if the owner does not give anything. 21. Eoisoning If someone dies of poison which has been administered, let all the possessions of the poisoner be siezed and let the poisoner be banished. 22. Marriage If a man courts a girl and her parents do not agree, he cannot be betrothed. If the parents agree and the daughter also agrees, he may be betrothed. If die parents agree but the daughter does not and runs away to someone else’s house, let the parents return the value of the betrothal gifts, 11,000 cowries. If the daughter agrees and the parents give her [to her 29
husband], and she later runs away to someone else's house, let the betrothal gifts be returned twofold. If the girl is betrothed but does not agree and runs away, the goods may not be returned. If money has been given let it be returned. If a husband gives money to his wife but she does not get on with [his] mother and runs away, let whatever money remains be returned. If it is the woman, the same appplies. If either man or woman has given money to the other and has broken the law, let him or her be chased away; no money need be paid back. 23. Contracts If the capital of one man is used for trading with another and the partnership is dissolved, let the capital be returned to its owner. Let the profit be divided into three parts: two parts to the parents of the owner of the capital, and one part to his partner. If two poor people get money from their parents as capital, and then divorce, let their goods be divided into five parts: one part for the parents who provided the capital, the four other shares to be divided into two; whether a man lives in the house of his wife, dr the woman lives in the man's house, the shares are divided the same. If a person borrows money and has to pay interest, but does not pay and the creditor comes and inquires, and abuses him or beats him, let the debtor repay both capital and interest and let him be fined another 110 pieces of silver. 24. Civic responsibility If a man beats the drum in the monastery without cause, the fine is 330 pieces of silver. If the drum is beaten and one near the drum hears it but does not run to see what has happened, the fine is 1 10 pieces of silver. 25. Marital relations and sexual offences An official in authority who seduces another's wife is fined 1,200 pieces of silver. If he knew she was someone else's wife but took her as his own, the fine is 2,200 pieces of silver. If he steals someone else's wife and runs away, but then returns her, he must not be fined. He is not fined for stealing the wife but is fined for having intercourse with her. Because if he had not brought her back, the husband would be grieved. 30
If a man brings a wife to his house, and if he beats her and she dies without his intending her to die, the fine is 330 pieces of silver. The householder's goods are divided into three parts: one part is offered to the parents of the wife, the husband keeps two parts because he did not intend to kill his wife. If he intended to kill her, the fine is 1,320 pieces of silver. 26. Homicide If a father kills his child, a husband kills his wife, an elder brother [or sister] kills the younger, the fine is 1,320 pieces of silver. If a wife kills her husband, a child kills his [or her] parents, the younger kills an elder sibling, a servant kills the master, a slave kills the owner, a pupil kills the teacher - in these five cases the punishment is heavy. The culprit should be killed and the executioner commits no crime. If a father beats his child, an owner beats his slave, and the one beaten dies, if there was no intention to kill there is no punishment. But if they intended to kill, this is against the law. The person concerned must pay 330 pieces of silver to go to the king's treasury. 27. Theft For stealing a cock, the cost is 400 cowries; for stealing a hen 1,000 cowries and the fine is nine times the value. For stealing knives, the fine is 3,300 cowries for each. For stealing a mortar and pestle the fine is 200 cowries, for stealing only the mortar, 660 cowries. 28. False accusation If a complaint is made against someone and no case is proved a fine of 1 10 pieces of silver must be paid. 29. Liability If money is borrowed at interest and the borrower dies, let the guarantor pay the capital. If the debtor runs away, again let the guarantor pay the capital. If the debtor is later found, let him repay the guarantor twofold. It is as if the rafters were heavier than the pillars of the house. Let the borrower sell himself [as a slave].
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30. Liability for corvde If a person is stabbed and does not die but cannot perform corvde labour, let the attacker take his place. The same applies to animals. 31. Use of force by officials If a person is guilty, and the chief sends a man with a spear and sword and the guilty man kills him or two or three persons while fighting, there is no fault. Even if he gives himself up for judgment for- the murder [there is no fault] because the chief had not given the matter enough consideration. The guilty man did not have a weapon and the official was not entitled to kill. Even though he was killed, the official is at fault. The accused could not [?] fight, and afterwards, if investigation shows he was not guilty, the official would be guilty of a crime. [This passage presents some difficulties, though the intended meaning seems clear enough.] 32. Livestock If the tail of a buffalo is cut, whether severed or not, the fine for damaging the animal is 52 pieces of silver. If buffaloes and cattle are being tended and animals belonging to someone else get mixed up with them, they should be driven back. If they cannot be separated and the owner is present, let him separate and drive them back. If the cattle are stolen and being hidden, the fine is twice the value. 33. Theft If stamped iron [is stolen], for each lem [a bar of standardsize] the fine is 330 pieces of silver; iffe/w dork kaew [unknown], 220 pieces of silver; lem of poor quality, 1 10 pieces of silver. For stealing a male [presumably a stallion] horse [the cost is] 330 pieces of silver, the fine four times that. [The value of] a mare with foal in womb is 52 pieces of silver, a mare [alone] is 22 pieces of silver. A buffalo [is worth] 110 pieces of silver. The fine is fourfold. If there is a calf in womb, 11,000 cowries; the fine is ninefold. The value of a dog, either male or female, which guards the house and is well kept, is the same as that of a person; the fine is 330 pieces of silver [note: the value and the 32
fine are here equal]. The value of an ordinary dog is 3,300 cowries; the fine is nine times. For stealing and eating a wild ox, a rhinoceros, or a gaur [the fine is?] for each 330 pieces of silver. 34. Damage of shrines For breaking the gate of the city, or the sima of the city, the fine is 330 pieces of silver. 35. Theft ' For stealing an elephant or a horse, 33,000 cowries [presumably the fine on return, rather than compensation]. For stealing a favourite fowl [a fighting cock?], fiiang ngern [unknown] nine times [the value]. If the thief refuses to pay and the owner of the bird dies, the fine is 330 pieces of silver. Stealing a round pot during a war, the fine is 220 pieces of silver [significance unknown]. 36. Negligence If someone shoots an arrow and kills another unintentionally,, let the shooter pay kha hua [the price of the head] five times. Let him also pay half the cost of the funeral. There is no fine. 37. Inheritance , Whomever parents will their possessions to, let that person have them. 38. Liability If a trap [haaw] were set in the fields, or in the house [compound] and if someone is killed or injured, there is no fine, for there was no intention to kill. Let the owner pay the price of the person. If it happened at night, there is no payment, because if [the dead person] had not been trying to steal he would not have been killed. If it happened during the day and [the dead man] was looking for firewood, [the owner] must pay 330 pieces of silver. 39. Inheritance If children get money as capital from their parents for trade and, when the parents die, brothers and sisters do not agree, let the capital be returned and the property then be 33
divided [may imply that not all children were involved in the partnership]. The real children, children who were sponsored for ordination, pupils and slaves, these four categories will inherit all. If there are children of a past husband or children of a second husband, when the parents die the property will be divided in two. [That is, in the first case these categories of heirs divide the entire property between them, if the second case applies, the property is divided in- two, the heirs in each category sharing their haff equally.] If there is an agreement [between husband and wife] and they have a child, divide the property into three: two parts for the children of the first husband, one part for the children of the second. If a woman has a child and properly and takes the child to live in the house of a new husband where she dies, the goods she brought with her should be inherited by the first house [that is, by the child of the previous husband] if she has no children by die new husband. If she has a child by the new husband, the goods they acquired together should be divided equally between the two children. If a man goes to the house of his wife and has a child [by her], if he redeems a slave and makes her his second wife and has a child by her, and husband and both wives die, their goods should be divided in five parts. The children of the principal wife get three parts, and those of the lesser- two parts, because they both have value. If the husband and principal wife die but the lesser wife does not die, the goods are all inherited by the lesser wife. If the lesser wife dies and she has no children, let the goods go to the relatives of the husband. If the husband has no relatives, let the goods go to the relatives of the woman. If she too had no relatives, let half the goods go to the treasury and half the goods be used for merit-making on their behalf. 40. Slaves If a person hires a slave from another master to transport goods by carrying or by cart or by boat, and the slave runs away, the one who hired the slave must pay the value of the slave. If the master allows the slave to look for work himself, and he runs away, there is no compensation to be paid. If the slave dies, they must jointly cremate him. If the slave is ill, they must both help in caring for him. 34
41. Allocation of fines If the king [sommuttiracha], a Boddhisatva, makes a judgment or proclamation [the money is to be shared]: if 1,100 pieces of silver, the treasury takes 500, the kwaen 200, the tor 300, the fee for trouble taken 110 . [This makes 1,110. Functions of these officials are not known.] If 660, the treasury [takes] 200, the kwaen 1 10, the cost of trouble 50. If 3,330 pieces of silver, the treasury 120, the kwaen 60, the tor 90 , the fee for trouble taken 30. If 220, the treasury 10, the kwaen 90, tor 60 the cost of trouble taken 10. If 110, the treasury 90, the kwaen 20,tor 30, trouble taken 10. If 52, the treasury 20, the kwaen 10, tor 12, trouble 2. If 11,000, the treasury 5,000, kwaen 2,000, tor 3,000, the trouble taken by the elders of the muang 1,000 pieces of silver. [It will be seen that the sums mentioned do not match the totals.] The king divides the fines in the court of Nopburi Sri Nakhom Ping Chiangmai. When the official [caw phan] of the court is involved, if the total paid is 110 pieces of silver, the fine is 50, for the phra muang [?] and king’s mother 10, the protective spirit of the muang 10, myyn tin chiang 2, myyn laan 2, the myyn caa does not get any of this. This is one value [meaning not clear]. The payment by an outsider is 1 10 pieces of silver; the hang caa [the one who makes the court ready] gets 10, the kwaen 20, the fine 40, the treasury 40, phra muang 20, the queen mother 10, myyn tin chiang 2, the wife of myyn pin kham laan 4, a total of 42 [sic]. Myyn laan gets one part, equal to 30 siaw. Myyn luang caa nai gets two parts, equal to 20 pieces of silver. 42. Slaves If the slave of a king, or of an official, lives with a free woman and has three children, two of the children will be free [p/zrai], and one a slave. Let him [her] be a slave just as his [her] father was. If a slave of the king Eves with a free woman and has a child, if the father, the slave, dies in the woman's house, the goods he brought with him go to the treaury. If they have already been given to the treasury, it is all right [?]. The child stays with the mother. Let it be free.
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43. Liability for debt If a husband borrows money and the wife does not know about it, if the husband dies the wife does not have to repay the debt. If a wife borrows money and the husband does not know and she dies, the husband does not have to repay. If grandparents, or parents, borrow money and the children do not know about it, if they-die the children do not have to pay. Because, if they live in the same house, if the husband borrows money the creditor should tell his wife. If the wife borrows money the creditor should let her husband know. When grandparents and parents borrow money, the creditor should let the grandchildren and children know. If they do not know, they do not need to pay. If the creditor can be trusted and.if the loved ones of the debtor who died fear he is a pret, they may pay the money if they wish. 44. Fratricide ‘ If an elder [sibling] kills a younger, let the elder be sold and the money go to the king's treasury. Even if he lives with his parents, let him be sold as punishment. If he has no parents and has only brothers and sisters, and the elder kills the younger, let him be sold and the whole price go to the treasury. Where the elder kills the younger, let relatives living in other houses pay a fine of 1,320 pieces of silver. [This is uncertain. It probably means that the killer may be redeemed by relatives, for that price.] 45. Desertion If a common soldier runs away from his oficer [naai sib ] during a battle, the soldier should be executed. If a naai sib runs away from anaai saaw [saaw meaning 'twenty'] let him be executed. Let all such cases be executed up to the rank of naai saen . If a naai saen runs away, let him be executed by the king and all his property be confiscated. 46. Homicide If a husband goes to live with his wife and he beats her and she dies without his intending, let the husband be chased away and his goods given to the parents and relatives and children of the dead woman. If he beats her intending to kill her but pretends he did not and the woman dies, let the 36
husband, be sold to pay the fine and let the price of the dead woman be paid to her parents and relatives. 47. Marital offences [The following section is badly garbled.] A man who is the lover of someone else’s wife - there are twelve kinds of wives. If a man touches the body of the woman, this is a crime whether it.is the man or woman who is responsible, they must be punished. Whatever the fine, let.it be divided into two parts. One part is paid to the offended person. [?] The person who committed adultery with eight kinds .of women. The other half is for the man who had sexual relations with animals, i.e. buffaloes and cattle. If the wife of a man sleeps in another man's house and they kiss and hug but do not have intercourse, let her put on a cotton cloth and flowers and beg her husband’s forgiveness. If the husband does not agree and wants her fined, let the price of the wife be set at 20 or 33, and she may be fined as it is not a serious crime. But the wife is very bad having gone to. the man's house. If someone is responsible for the death of a child, let the one responsible have the corpse cremated. If he refuses, let him be fined 520 pieces of silver. According to Burmese law, if a man has sexual relations with another's wife, or his daughter, or his granddaughter, if the offender has a wife already he should be fined according to custom. As for the woman, if she knew he had a wife already, let her hair be cut and her ears cut off so that everyone would know she took another's husband. If her hair is cut, and her ears are cut, let her also be charged the cost: for the cutting of the hair 52, and for the cutting of the ears 52. This is the standard, but according to her rank, the amount of this fine may be reconsidered. 48. Ritual offences If someone excretes on cut rice, let him provide two jugs of liquor, two pairs of chickens, puffed rice and flowers, and offer them to the spirit of the field and the soul of the rice. As for the culprit who excreted on the rice, let him be fined 110 pieces of silver, because rice is the staff of life [khaung liang chivit} of all mankind. Whoever excretes in someone else’s swidden, adjoining the rice fields, let him provide a jug of liquor, a 37
pair of chickens, flowers and puffed rice to be offered to the spirit of the swidden. If a person were to urinate on planted crops, let the plants be uprooted and compensation paid. A jug of liquor and a pair of chickens must be provided. 49. Wife-beating If a villager beats his wife , and the wife runs to the headman’s house, if the villager pursues her there and continues beating her, let him be fined 22,000 cowries. If the headman beats his wife, and she runs to a villagers house, if the headman follows her there and continues beating her, let the headman be fined 33,000 cowries. 50. Liability in accidents If a light boat collides with a heavy boat, whatever the damage, let the light boat pay compensation. If [the light boat] does not pay, and someone dies, let him pay 330 pieces of silver . If two heavy boats collide, whatever the damage, let the goods that remain be divided equally between the two boats. If a bearer carriying a light weight collides with one carrying a heavy weight, let the one with the lighter pay for all the damage. If the carrier with the heavier weight falls and is hurt, let the carrier with the lighter weight pay for his care and treatment twice over. [The following passage is not entirely clear. A certain amount of interpretation has been added.] If persons out walking [as relaxation] collide with each other, or carriers bearing heavy weights collide with each other, or a trader [collides with a trader], or the slave of a nobleman [with one of similar status], [ if any of these categories] walk without due care banging into each other, if they are hurt, or goods damaged, let them be equally guilty. If the one who was out just walking collides with a carrier, whatever is damaged, let the one just walking pay the full cost. If the carrier is hurt, the one walking for pleasure is to be fined. If a light cart collides with a heavy one, whatever the heavier suffers in damage, the lighter cart must pay compensation for the whole amount I 38
51. Precedence and liability Whether journeying or sitting, lying down, standing, walking, the cavalry officer must give way to the officer of elephants, the infantry officer must give way to the cavalry officer, the ordinary person must give way to the officer. Let the ordinary bearer give way to the bearer who is servant to a lord. Let tire ordinary infantryman give way to the merchant, the slave of a lord, and men carrying grass [?]. If he does not give way and there is a collision, and the infantryman beats the man carrying goods, let him be fined 11,000 cowries, because the bearer had a load and the other was just walking. The latter is at fault for hitting the former. He should be fined. If he holds him by the arm and hits him one, two, three times, if blood does not flow but he is bruised, the skin not broken, if he is unwell for only a single day, let the fine be 11,000 cowries. If [the infantryman] hits the other straight off, whether [the bearer] is hurt or not, if he returns a single blow, even if blood flows, there is no case. It is considered equal. If a lord hits a man who has no fault and he returns the blow and blood flows, it is held to be equal. There is no case. 52. Liability for death of another If a bad man induces a good man to steal, and the house-owner being robbed kills the good man, let the bad man pay the cost, 250 pieces of silver. If die owner kills the bad man, there is no case against the good man, but with respect to the theft or robbery, let him be fined according to tradition. If one persuades another to climb a tree, and the latter falls and dies, the one who persuaded should pay the price, 250, and he should help the widow and children cremate the dead man. If one asks another to cut trees and clear a swidden, and the former does not take due care and the latter is hit by a tree and dies, let the one who asked pay the price, 250 pieces of silver. If the tree falls, and the former does not warn the other, with the intention of letting him die, let him pay the price and be fined the cost of two men, 750 in silver. [This must be the total, for 'the cost of a man' is now being calculated at 250, not 330.] If he does not pay attention and the man's head is broken, let the one who requested the work pay the cost of medicine, 1 10 silver, and provide liquor and a 39
pair of chickens and provide for the ritual of tying holy thread round his wrists. 53. Divorce For husband and wife in the process of divorce, it is as follows: If the man moved to the woman's house on marriage, took money with him, this money being the bridewealth, and this money was used to buy household goods, let it be counted as spent. If the husband respects the wife's parents, if the husband and wife cannot live together, if the wife is to blame and the husband not to blame and the one to divorce, let the goods the man brought as marriage settlement be returned to him. If the money the man brought has been spent on clothes for the wife, on food and goods for the wife, let the husband's father be paid for the clothes. There is no further case. As for the part that was spent, if he stayed three or seven days it is considered as belonging to the owner of the house, because the woman gets older every day and every night. There is no need to repay the man. The property they acquire together should be divided in two. If there is a child, pay one part to the woman. If the man makes trouble and beats the wife; even without cause he beats her, without cause he ties her hands, her head splits open and swells, her parents are distressed, if he only brought a small brideprice, let him be chased away and keep all the goods. Even of the goods they acquired together, do not give him any at all, because when he lived there he was bad to the owner of the house. So let them divorce. If the woman is bad and has a lover and does not provide a home for her husband, let her be sold and half the price be given to the husband, because her parents did not teach her, and allowed her take a lover. 54. Conjugal property on death of spouse If they work together and the man dies first and his relatives come to claim his property, whether it be joint property or that which he brought with him, they should not be given any. The husband has left that family [trakun], The money is the brideprice. The husband’s parents gave him the money when he was alive, so the money belonged to their son. The son died in his wife's house and he did not will his 40
property to anyone. When a husband dies his property goes to his wife. No one can claim his property. Even if the husband wills his property to his relatives, it cannot go to his parental house because the property is [now] the property of the woman, not of the man. If the woman still loves her husband, let her not ignore his wishes. Whatever she wishes to give them, let her do so. The law of the land does not forbid it. If the woman dies first and the husband goes back to his parental house, whatever they acquired together give to the parents of the woman, as if they were being divorced, as if the woman were still alive. As for the money the husband brought with him, the owner is not dead, so the parents of the woman cannot take it. Let them return it to the son-inlaw. If they both die, let the property go to the parents of the woman. If the woman has no parents or relatives, let the property go to the parents and relatives of the man. If they both have no parents or relatives, half the property must go to the king's treasury, and the other half for merit-making. That is if they have no children. If there are children, the children inherit ill. 55. Marriage and property If two friends have their children marry each other, if they have equal property, the number of slaves too being equal, they may live in either house [some words not translated] ... if they cannot get on with each other and they wish to be divorced, whatever each one had, let them take that. The property they acquired together, let them divide it between them. If they have children, let the children have it. If they live together till they are old and the husband dies, he leaves his property to his wife. If they both die the property goes to their children. If they have no children, let half go to the relatives of the woman, and half to the relatives of the man. If the husband has no relatives, let it all go to the relatives of the woman. If the wife has no relatives, let it all go to the relatives of the man. If neither has.relatives, let half go to the king's treasury and half be offered for meritmaking. The husband goes to live with his wife and takes money as capital. The woman has money, the man has money. The woman has much, the man has much. When they want to divorce, divide the property, to the man 41
according to his capital and to the woman according to hers. Whatever is left, divide it into three parts, the man getting one, the woman two. If the woman is not industrious, divide it in half. If the husband is not industrious, divide the property in four. Give the man one part, and the woman three. If the husband is truly lazy do not even give him food. Let him go without anything. If the woman is truly lazy divide the property in three. Give the man one, the woman two. [This is an error.] Because she had capital and only lived as owner of the house, she gets less. 56. Desertion If a man goes to live with his wife and does not perform corvee service, then runs away from his wife and children, and there is no news from him for a year, let the woman take a new husband who will perform corvee. If the first husband returns, let him be returned the goods, gold and silver which he brought with him, if he is gone for less than three years ... [meaning uncertain]. If he is gone for less than a month and the woman takes a new husband, let the price of the woman be divided into three parts. Let the husband [the first] be given one part. The goods he brought with him are to be returned. Let the marriage between them be dissolved. If he runs away from corvtSe service, let the woman find a new husband who can perform corvde service. The chief allows her to take another husband. If die first returns, let the goods he brought be given back. That is all. If the man is not liable for corvee, but is the son of a moderately rich man, a trader, a noble with land, and he runs away for less than three years, let a new husband be found for her. If the first returns, let his goods be returned. If he runs away for a full three years, but on his return brings gifts, she is still his wife. 57. Property and adultery If the wife finds her husband has a mistress, let the price of the woman [seems actually to mean the marital estate] be divided in three parts of which the husband gets one. Let them then be divorced. If he wishes to remain with his wife as before, let them not be divorced.
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[Next section unclear, appears to mean] If the wife does not wish to return his goods, as she is still his wife, let them remain together. If the wife has a lover, let her be fined 1 10 pieces of silver. Let the husband's goods be returned twofold. Fined 1 10 pieces of silver. [Unclear. Two fines are mentioned, one may be a fine imposed on the lover.] If they are poor let the fine be 52 pieces of silver. If he is still not finished with her, do not [?] ... If the woman offends two or three times, the value of the woman belongs to the man [she becomes his slave?]. 58. Property in polygamous marriages If the slave of a free man, the slave of a noble with land, but not the slave of the king, is married to a trader, or if any one of these should go and live with a free man, if they should divorce, consider, the goods are to be returned. Do not let the free man take all the goods and give them to his minor wife, nor let him take his minor wife to the previous house; even if the owner of the previous house should die, let him not bring his minor wife there. Goods from the first house should not be brought to the front house. If the parents and the relatives give the goods, that is all right 59. Inheritance When parents die, if there are many children and they wish to divide the property but do not know how to do so, if the parents left a will and there is a witness, let the goods be divided according to the parents' will. If there was no will [consider] who was looking after the parents, who was hostile to the parents and who was not, who was sold or not sold by the parents. Divide the property according to the effort they took or did not take [in looking after the parents], whether they have virtue or not, more to those with more, less to those with less. If there are three sons and a daughter, that is four, the eldest cultivates fields for the lord, the second goes trading, one becomes a monk, the daughter stays home and looks after the parents; when the parents die, if they do not know how to divide the property let it be divided into fifteen parts. Let the one who cultivates the lord's fields have two parts; in happiness and in trouble the parents could depend on him. The one who was a trader, let him have two parts; if the 43
parents lost their possessions they could go to him for help. The one who was ordained, let him have five parts; he protects the parent from suffering [in the next life]. The one who looked after and listened to the parents gets six parts. If parents and grandparents die, to whomever they will their goods, let those persons have them. If there are many children and grandchildren, whoever displayed virtue towards the parents, let that one have more. Any children who live by trading, who live in the house and make money, or others who make their living through knowledge, it is not necessary to give them portions. If the lord appropriates any goods, or if they were stolen while the parents were still alive, they cannot be claimed when the parents die. Any child, or grandchild can claim the goods; they should be given to them. No one else has a right to the goods. Goods that have been gifted to someone, need not be divided and given to some other person. If some property is to be divided, but before it is divided one of the children hides it and is later found out, let it be brought out and divided. The one who hid it should not be fined, for it was the property of his parents. If the parents [sic] go and sleep with a female slave and there is a child, tills child should be given half the normal share because he is of the same blood. If the parents adopt someone else's child, this child too should be given half the normal share. If the parents die and a child is adopted, or if the mother dies and the father adopts a child, these children do not get half, but the half is divided in half and a child will get one share. If the parents do not have any children, these children can inherit the property. If the principal wife and the lesser wife are of equal rank, their children should get equal shares; The children of the wife who is head of the household, whether there are one or two, if there is a second husband these children must also get equal shares of the property. If there are no children by the second husband and the wife who is head dies, let the property be divided into two parts. Let the children of the first husband be given one part, and the second husband one. These goods cannot be taken to the new house [i.e. if the husband marries again]. Whenever the second husband should leave the house, let his
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share be divided in half and let one part go to the children of the first wife. If a woman has children by a previous husband, one or two, if she goes to live [with a second husband] the children go with the mother. If she has children by the second husband, one or two, when the parents die half a share of the property goes to the children .who came with the mother. The children of the second husband get one portion. [This is not quite clear.] If there is a principal wife and a minor wife, and the principal wife has no children but the minor wife does, one or two, when the parents die, if the principal wife also dies the property of the principal wife also goes to the children of the minor wife. The goods in the house of the minor wife belong to the minor wife. When the parents die, the goods belong to her children. The relatives of the. principal wife cannot claim them'. If the principal wife has children, the children of the minor wife get their mother’s property. This is the law of Mangrai and Ai Fa. 60. Borrowing and lending The following concerns borrowing and lending. If cattle or buffaloes are borrowed for cultivating fields and the animals are stolen, or taken by armed robbers, or if they die, decide the value of the animals and let the borrower repay that amount.. The hire of the animals must also be paid, according to the prior agreement. If the fields had not yet been worked, the rent need not be paid. If they died of disease before the owner could be told, let the borrower pay half the value. If the owner had been tpld, and they helped each other treating them, but they still died because of karma, even if they had remained with the owner they would have died, there are no grounds for complaint. If someone borrows an ox or a buffalo to draw a cart or to cultivate fields, and someone else slashes or stabs it, or it breaks a leg or is stolen, determine the value of the animal and let the borrower pay the amount. If the thief is later-found out, let the owner fine [sic] .the thief the value of the animal instead of the borrower. If someone borrows an elephant or a horse and rides it and lets it run away, if someone else catches it let the borrower redeem it. If die elephant or horse is injured,, let.it 45
be chained, and the borrower pay the cost of the elephant to the owner and the animal belong to the borrower. If the animal is sick and there is not time to inform the owner, [if the animal dies] let the borrower pay half the value. If the owner was informed and they together treated the elephant but it died, let it be left at that; it was the animal's karma. If things without life, such as clothes, are borrowed, if they are tom or damaged, let the borrower pay for them and take the clothes. If a boat is borrowed and damaged, let the borrower pay the cost of it. 61. Liability for slaves If one orders someone else's slave to climb a tree and he falls and dies, let the one responsible cremate him. If he is injured, let him be treated and the one responsible pay half. If the owner of an areca-nut tree hires someone else's slave, and he falls and dies, let him pay half the cost. It was the owner's bad luck, so let him b e responsible for half. It was he who let the slave go. If he had not given him permission, he could not have gone. If [the one who borrowed the slave] had not asked to hire him, but had met him on the road and asked him to climb the tree, and he fell and died, or did not die but was injured, or if the slave ran away, let him who took the slave pay the entire cost. If the slave is injured let him have him treated till he is completely well. If the slave does not recover completely, let him buy the slave. If a person hires someone else’s slave to carry goods on a shoulder pole or in a bag, or for some other work such as climbing areca-nut trees, or a tree for a boat [i.e. a dugout canoe], and the slave falls and dies, let the one who hired him pay the whole cost If a person hires someone else's slave and takes him trading to another state without telling the owner, and the slave dies or runs away, or is taken ill, let the one who hired him pay half the cost of treatment 62. Liability for animals If a person chases someone else's cattle and buffaloes and they crash and die, let him pay the cost of the animals that die and take the flesh of the dead animals. If an ox or a buffalo is being led with a rope and it butts or treads on a passer-by, who dies, let the owner pay 46
the cost of the animal, [error: should be ’man*]. If the one controlling the animal had asked the other to give way, or to run away, and was not heeded, there is no case to be answered. If buffaloes and cattle are loose in the field and someone is gored and dies, let the animal be sold and the proceeds divided in two parts. Let half be given as compensation for the dead man and the other to the owner of the animal. If an ox or a buffalo is let loose in a field and it goes into another field and fights with an animal there and dies, there is no case to be answered. If the second animal dies, let the first be sold and the proceeds be divided in two. Let one part go to the owner of the dead animal and the other to the owner of the animal that was sold. In the case of an elephant or horse the same applies. If ducks, chickens, pigs or dogs enter a field and eat the rice, the owner of the field must tell the owner of the animals to restrain them. He should be told two or three times. If the animals are not restrained after such warning, let the owner of the field or garden kill the animals. Half the flesh goes to the owner of the field, the other half to the owner of the animal[s]. If the owner of the field does not warn the owner, let him restrain the animals himself [passage missing]. Let the owner of the field compensate the other for the value of the dead animal. Let the dead animal be given to the owner of the field. Let the owner of the animal compensate the owner for damage to the field. If the owner of the field or garden beats the animal and it dies, and he does not inform its owner but takes it and consumes it, this is considered theft. Let him be fined nine animals [ninefold]. 63. False accusation Concerning false accusation: If a person is accused of killing another but is not guilty, let the accuser be fined as if he were guilty of the offence, 330 pieces of silver. If a person is falsely accused of stealing a buffalo, let the accuser be fined the price of a buffalo, 110 pieces of silver. If the accusation is of a kind that cannot be readily equated with any goods, for example an accusation of 47
adultery with another's wife, let the fine be according to tradition. If a person goes to a monk and tells him that another is coming to kill him, but in truth it is the man himself who wishes to kill, the monk, let him be fined 330 pieces of silver. 64. Counterfeiting If a person knows how to make silver coins or knows how to fabricate an official seal, or knows how to counterfeit silver let him be put to death and his goods siezed by the king's treasury. If a person is falsely accused of counterfeiting, whatever goods the accuser may have let him be fined that amount. Knowledge of counterfeiting should be punished with death. If the guilty person is not executed, let his goods be siezed by the treasury. If a person receives coins and he claims that he has been given counterfeit, and the giver having examined them denies that they are, let not the accused be fined until the coins have been tested twice; If they are then found to be counterfeit, he should be put to death and his goods confiscated. If a person is in possession of an official seal and its provenance is not known, let him be punished by his goods being siezed. If anyone comes into possession of an official seal, it should not be kept in that person's possession but handed to an official so that punishment may be avoided. 65. Theft If money is stolen, if the value is between 10,000 and 5,000 pieces of silver the fine is three times the value; from 3,000 to 4,000 the fine is four times; 500 to 900 the fine is five times; 400 the fine is six times; 90 or 20 the fine is seven or eight times. Up to one baht let the fine be nine times. 66. Slaves Concerning two [sic] kinds of slave: The first kind are those bought with goods. The other kind are the children of female slaves. The third kind are those who give themselves into slavery.
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The fourth kind are those who are made slaves as punishment. The next kind are those who are slaves one way or another. There are no other ways of becoming a slave. 67. Theft If thieves steal from a citizen and the prince or officials retrieve the stolen goods, let the goods be returned to the owner. Neither prince nor officials should be rewarded, because they live off the country and are enjoined to look after the inhabitants, not to protect thieves and evil-doers who oppress the common people. The common people develop the country, cultivate fields and swiddens so that the land may prosper. Therefore [prince and officials] should have no reward. [This section is repeated.] If a thief steals a cow or buffalo and sells it to a citizen as food, if the buyer calls on his neighbours for work and kills the buffalo and feasts them, if [an animal] of the lord is stolen and killed for food, the villagers who were invited to eat are not guilty of a crime. Let them not be falsely accused and fined. The one who stole the animal should be fined according to law. 68. Slaves If a person beats a slave and does not intend the slave to die, there is no crime. If he intended to kill the slave and used a sword to stab him, consider first whether he had broken the law; whether he was afraid of the slave, so he killed him; whether he did not know the slave had found treasure [unclear]. Did he kill him because he was afraid? Of what crime is he guilty ? Let it be considered. If it is clear there is some fault, let the punishment be according to the seriousness of the crime. If the crime deserves a fine, let him be fined. If there is no crime, but he killed someone else’s slave, let him pay the price of the slave, 330 pieces of silver, to the royal treasury. 69. Liability for goods Concerning the depositing of goods: Redeeming and returning goods: If an owner puts goods in a box and does not open it so that the one who accepts it does not know what is in it, nor does he open it to find out, if the goods are later spoiled 49
the one who stored the goods must compensate the owner. He did not consider or pay sufficient care. If the owner did not tell him what was in die box but entrusted it to him, let him pay the cost of the goods. If thieves steal the deposited goods, or the prince and his officials take the goods by force, or if they are burned in a fire or destroyed by floods, or if others too had knowledge of the goods, die one who took the goods for safe-keeping does not have to pay for them. If the one who stores the goods tries to deceive, such as if he breaks the wall’ of the house and says he does not know how it happened, but none of his own property is lost, let him pay the full cost of the goods. If thieves steal the goods and their identity is not known, let the one who stored them compensate the owner. Later, if the thieves are caught, let the money stay with the owner and the goods be given to the other. 70. Jnjjux If a person shoots an arrow or [wields] a spear or sword, and it injures someone [or some animal] without his intending to and the person or animal dies, or a domestic pet dies, let the injured person concerned be compensated according to tradition. If the injured does not die, let the one responsible pay the cost of treatment. If the injured does not wish to be treated but demands the culprit be fined, let the goods of the culprit be considered and let him be fined according to his possessions. Let the fine be divided into two portions, and one portion paid to the injured. If the weapon cut the clothes of the injured, let them be compensated for and the clothes given to the one who pays. 71. Liability for goods and slaves sold If a slave is redeemed and cattle and buffaloes bought, and if they are to be returned according to the conditions of sale, because they have bad eyesight, because they are foolish, possessed by spirits or under-nourished, have kidney stones, foot-and-mouth disease, are salivating, pen lorn [a condition of disease, untranslatable], or have asthma, if the parties live far apart the animals may be returned within a month. If an official steals someone's slave and sells him, however long ago it may be, he may be returned, if he was 50
not seen [?] [This sentence and the next, which is not translated, are not clear.] If a slave forces another, belonging to a different master, to run away, and if the first slave has been sold a number of times, die owner of the second slave must be compensated by the owner of the first by the amount that was paid for [the second slave]. 72. Punishment Concerning punishment: Justifiable homicide has no punishment. There are five varieties of justificable homicide. First, if the wife's lover and wife are killed when they are together, there is no crime. Second, if a thief is killed with the stolen goods in his hand. Third, if a person carrying a spear or sword enters another’s house or compound, he may be killed. Fourth, a man who enters another's house stealthily at an unusual hour may be killed by the owner without punishment. Fifth, If someone throws an object at a house during the night, damaging the house, the owner may kill that person at that time. If the thrower runs away and the owner pursues him and kills him, he must be punished. Concerning punishment for serious crimes, where there is no compensation: When a person persuades a man’s child, wife or slave to kill him, whether goods are stolen or not. When damage is done to monastery buildings, cedis, Buddha images, or the Triple Gem. When a person waylays another to commit murder. When another's house is attacked and burned. When a criminal, deserter or enemy is given shelter. When someone steals from a monastery. When someone kills a monk When a child kills his or her parent When a younger brother or sister kills an older. When a slave kills his or her master. When a wife kills her husband. These are serious crimes, the king must judge these cases according to their severity.
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There are three types of severe punishment: first, execution; second, amputation of hands and feet; third, banishment. 73. Judgment The judge must consider five matters. First, let him consider the value of the goods involved, whether large or small. Second, consider whether the goods were expensive or not at the time at which the crime was committed. If they were cheap at that time, judge them at that value; if expensive, at that. Third, consider the time of day at which it was committed, whether in the morning or at night Fourth, consider whether the goods are valued at their proper price. If the goods were expensive when lost or damaged, but are now cheap, judge them as if they were expensive. Fifth, he must make sure he knows the price of all goods, whether cheap or expensive. Sixth, consider whether the goods are for wearing or are comestibles, whether they are new or old, decide according to that [The manuscript giyes six, not five, points, but the second and the fourth are in fact the same.] A judgment made by the court should not be altered. There tire eight circumstances in which a bad judgment should be changed. First, where a case has been decided through the use of unjustified force. Second, where a case has been decided and the man's children, wife or goods have been taken. Third, if a woman has made the judgment Fourth, if the judgment was made at night. Fifth, if the judgment was made in the house [of the one judging]. Sixth, If the judgment was made in secret Seventh, if the judgment was made by an unfriendly person. Eighth, if the judge is master to one of the parties. [Pali omitted].
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74. Women who may be taken as wife There are twenty kinds of women who may be taken as wife. [The following section is garbled. The translation that follows does not necessarily make sense.] A man who has relations with these eight kinds, except the eighth, a woman who is the slave of a monk, he is not fined, but must express his regrets by offering flowers to the monk. The other seven: first, a woman whose guardian is her mother, second her father, third both parents, fourth her elder brother, fifth her younger brother, sixth her clan, seventh her relatives, the fine is 52 pieces of silver. A man may have relations with the other twelve. First, one who has been bought with goods. Second, one who has no relatives, but they like each other. Third, the man gives money to the woman for her keep, such as in the story of Indra, who gave money to a prostitute. The day that Indra's money was finished, that day she was no longer his wife. Fourth, When the man leaves his clothes in the woman's house, with the parents' knowledge. Fifth, the parents perform the water-pouring ceremony. Sixth, when the man puts a cloth over the woman's head [other texts say mongkut , a crown]. Seventh, when a man tikes a daughter of slaves to be his wife. Eighth, a woman who is poor, who comes to work in the house and is taken as wife. Whether for one year, two years or three, after that period whether one runs away, or they separate, it does not matter. During the period of the agreement they are husband and wife. » Ninth, a woman who is captured in battle. Tenth, a woman who has no guardian, and the man sleeps with her for three nights or two, or a. single night. When the husband goes away the marriage is over. . There are ten kinds of wife; take another two to make the twelve and there are twenty. Concerning salaka it will be explained. If the two sets of parents are both expecting children and they agree that if one is a boy and the other a girl, they will be married, the
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man will look after the woman. If the parents decide to end the contract, the marriage is at an end. The final type, the man goes and woos a woman, and takes her gifts such as betel leaves and betel nut, coconuts, sugar palm, bananas, sugar cane, and the parents of the woman are satisfied and accept them, but he has not yet taken her to be his wife, the woman is considered sarankha. If a youth had relations with her, according to ancient custom, it was decided thus: if the woman were the daughter of a king, the man must pay gold equivalent to the weight of the woman. The gold is divided into three parts, one part to be paid to the man to whom she is betrothed. Because she is the daughter of a king, it is done like this. If she were the daughter of a noble or of a rich man, the fine is silver equivalent to the woman's weight The silver is to be divided into three parts, one part going to the betrothed. If it were the daughter of a commoner, take the price of the woman according to the custom of the place and divide it into three parts, one part going to the betrothed. Coceming sahaparitanda. Any woman who has been wooed by a nobleman or lord, let not her parents, brothers or sisters, or relatives find her another husband. She is bespoken already. If any man has relations with her she will be considered sahaparitanda. The court may not fine the man who was involved. This example depends on* who was in authority. The person of inferior status is not concerned, as he had no authority. They could not control their children, it is not the concern of the inferior. 75. Theft of beehive For stealing a beehive the fine is 52. If the hive had been presented to the king, the fine is 1 10 pieces of silver. If the thief is killed and his wife and children are alive, they must pay the fine because they ate the honey. 76. Concerning officials The administrators of the king should govern so that the country progresses, both' commoners and slaves. Let the freeman trade at his convenience. Let him live in happiness, make merit at ease, and keep the precepts. Let the administrators govern acording to the law, the cakkawadraacha .
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Concerning officials of the kingdom, in this world there are two kinds. The first is called gunadhamma, the other gunamara. The wise men are aware of these, they are the four sangkhahawattuthatn. [These are not cited, they are (1) giving, (2) good speech, (3) helping, (4) treating others as equals.] He is helpful to fanners and common men, does not extort nor oppress the common man, does not shackle the common man. This is called gunadhamma. The characteristics of gunamara are such that he does not, have the four sangkhahawattutham . He does not help farmers and common men, he is oppressive and shackles his inferiors, and fines them before freeing them. He extorts possessions from farmers. He often abducts the daughters and nieces of free men. He forces the wives of common men to sleep with- him. He acts in this evil manner. He is called gunamara . Wherever there is a man like this, the people are destroyed and unhappiness is widespread. The king should not allow a man like this to occupy a high position. Such a man is like a poisonous plant growing in the country. He produces fruit which brings evil to the country. This is all about the rules governing the officials of the king. 77. Sexual offences [Parts of the following section are garbled.] If the parents and relatives agree to them living together for one or two months, when the period is over they separate. The twelve kinds of wife. If a man has relations with any of these, he should be fined 1 10 pieces of silver. The twelve kinds combined with the eight are together twenty. It is an evil practice [michacaan] for a man to have relations with any of these. Concerning michacaan, if a man and a woman of any of these twelve kinds consent to have relations, they are michacaan . They must go to hell. The court must fine them. There are twelve kinds of behaviour, which are not the same in degree. Holding hands, touching the hair, touching the breasts are not equal to adultery. They are to be considered physical misbehaviour. They will not lead to hell. But there will be bad consequences such as pain in hands and feet, disease of the eyes and ears. The court should not fine them 1 1 0, it would be wrong.
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If a monk has sexual relations of four degrees, he disgraces his position. If he holds the hand, touches the hair, touches the breast, it is a fault [sangkhathiseet ]. If a man has relations with any of the twelve kinds of woman, there is a crime committed. With any of the eight kinds, it is a sin, not a light one. With the twelve kinds the punishment is great and the sin is great, michacaan attaches to both man and woman. Whoever commits adultery with the eight kinds of woman also has michacaan. [The rest of this section is hopelessly garbled.] Another thing. A citizen of Uttarakhupura ammaparikhaha. He could not find anyone in place [of the woman]. In that case there is no michacaan. We, the people of Chompu [believe that] goods have owners and owners are concerned about their goods. Therefore michacaan arises. It is said [Pali omitted] if someone commits bestiality there is no michacaan, because all animals are ammaparikhaha. Because of this, the teachers have said that if a man has intercourse with an animal such as a buffalo or a cow there is no michacaan. It is physical misbehaviour; though there is no punishment, there will be bad consequences. If one of the eight kinds of women has intercourse with a dog, there is no michacaan . But if one of the twelve kinds of women has intercourse with, a dog there is michacaan, because she is not faithful to her husband. We are aware of this. 78. The story of Queen Marika Concerning the lady Marika Thewi. Queen Marika was the wife of King Pasenthikosarat. One day Lady Marika went for her bath to the bathing hut. While she was bent over scrubbing her legs, the king's dog, which had accompanied her, had pleasure with her. She was guilty of michacaan. At that moment the king was looking out of the window and saw the queen and the dog. When the queen returned to the palace, the king said, 'You are an evil woman, I've seen you do an evil deed.' The queen replied, 'Your Majesty, whoever enters the bath hut appears to be two. If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, please go yourself, and I will watch you from the window. The king went to the hut, and the queen looked out of the window. She said, 'I see you copulating with a female goat.' 56
The king was not very clever, and believed that he appeared to be doing what the queen said she saw, and his anger disappeared. The queen was stricken with feelings of guilt. She thought to herself, The king is not very clever and I have lied to him. I have committed a great sin by accusing him falsely. I have also brought sin on the goat. The Lord Buddha knows my sin. The Two Disciples and the Eight Great Disciples also know I told a lie. I know that I have acquired much bad karma.' On her deathbed she thought of the sin she had committed with the dog. The dog was on her mind as she breathed her last. She went to hell for seven days, according to human calculation. On the eighth day she had done with hell, and went up into the Tusita heaven. She did not go to hell 1 because she told a lie, not because she told the king that whoever was in the bath hut appeared as two, nor because she falsely accused the king of having sexual relations with a female goat. False accusations between parents, between husband and wife, and between teacher and pupil, are neither crimes nor sins. It will not result in the offender going to hell, though there will be bad consequences. She went to hell because she had relations with a dog. This sin caused her to go to hell for seven days. 79. Sexual offences Anyone who copulates with an animal, a buffalo or cow, without the consent of the owner, the court official may chastise him. Anyone who has relations [not necessarily copulates] with the twelve kinds of women will be fined. The fine is divided in two. [The next few sentences are garbled and are not translated.] If a monk touches a woman, intending to do so, he commits an offence against the order, it is sangkhathiseet. If he touches the clothes of a woman it is thunlacai. If a monk has relations [the word used is thyy ; it is not known what degree of association is intended] with a female animal, it is an offence, thukot. The Lord Buddha laid down these three examples to be followed. There are two kinds of adulteiy. First, with the wife of a man devoid of all virtue. He has no great intelligence, and cannot acquire merit; he cannot be trusted, has no virtue, is not succesful, is not of high rank or of good family. [The second] with the wife of a man who is virtuous and 57
meritorious. He acquires merit, is trustworthy and intelligent, he has rank and followers, and is of noble lineage. The sin is great; If a commoner commits adultery with the wife of a noble, the fine is 1 10 pieces of silver. If a man of the position naai sib commits adultery with the wife of a commoner, the fine is 220 pieces of silver. If a village headman commits adultery with the wife of a naai sib, the fine is 330 pieces of silver. If a cavalry officer commits adultery with the wife of another cavalry officer, the fine is 110 pieces of silver. If two friends like each other, and one says to the other, 'Go sleep with my wife', and he does, there is no fault, for permission was given. It is like the wife of Boddhisatva Withunpandit. When Punyakayak stayed with him for about three days, he entertained him and told his fifty wives to serve and take care of him and to be his wives. There was no sin by the women, nor by either of the men. 80. The woman with two husbands There was a man who went trading, and was away a long time. His wife, at home, was told that her husband had died. She was very sad because she loved her husband very much. After a long wait she found another husband. Not long afterwards, the first husband, who had not died, returned to live with his wife. The two husbands could not come to an agreement, so they went to court. The court ruled that they should not quarrel, that they were both her husbands within the law, as her parents had arranged both marriages. No offence had been committed by either man. It is like the rishi who married the wife of Phraya Uthen, or the case of Phraya Witheha who took Nang Uthumaracha as wife. [These stories are not in the manuscript.] 81. The tale of the millionaire’s daughter A certain king ruled Benares. At that time there was a millionaire who was a Boddhisatva, who lived outside the city. He took gifts and, on behalf of his son, asked for the hand of the daughter of another millionaire who lived within the city. The date of the marriage was agreed. The daughter ran away with another man. At the same time the Boddhisatva was entering the city to lead the millionaire's daughter to his own house. The man who 58
eloped with the girl became very tired, so he stopped to rest under a tree by the road. The Boddhisatva saw the girl seated at the feet of the man. He said, 'Dura ! This man is not clever, you should not many him. You should not live with this man of low status.’ The daughter of the millionaire then replied, 'I say to you, Oh Boddhisatva, I the daughter of a millionaire say to you, I think this man is as distinguished as the Bull Ussuparacha that you worship'. The Boddhisatva took the millionaire's daughter and fled the sleeping man. The woman was bathed and her hair washed. He took her in his carriage to his son. 82. The rishi and the tiger A cobra stung a Bengal tiger, which died. A rishi was walking the forest in meditation. He saw the dead tiger and blew on it, on the snake's poison. The tiger arose and saw the rishi. It said, 'I will eat you because you have intruded in my territory.' The rishi said, 'You should be grateful to me, not eat me.’ The tiger, however, was determined to eat him. They went in search of a jackal to decide between them. The jackal thought to itself, "This tiger protects the forest, he is a co-resident. He protects the forest from the destruction of men.' He thus decided that the tiger could eat the rishi. They then went to a deity. The forest deity thought to himself, 'Humans come and cut down the trees in which we forest gods live.’ So he decided the tiger could eat the rishi. The judgment of the jackal is santhakathi [with love], the judgment of the forest deity thosakathi [with hate]. They then went and found an ox. The ox was frightened the tiger would eat it, and so decided the tiger could eat the rishi. The ox's judgment is called phayakathi [with fear]. They went on and found a monkey. The monkey thought, 'Once, long ago, there was a man who fell into a ditch, and my grandfather helped him out. The man then caught my grandfather and ate him.' He then hurried off to his mother, saying the tiger could eat the rishi. This judgment is called mohakathi [in anger]. They went on to a vulture. The vulture thought to itself, 'If he dies I could eat some of him.' So he decided the 59
tiger could eat the rishi. This judgment is called lophgkathi [with greed]. They then went to a rabbit. The rabbit asked to know the circumstances that led to the present position. The three went back to the place where the tiger had died. The rabbit asked the tiger, 'Where were you when you died ?. Go back to that place.' The -tiger lay down and shook its tail. The cobra came out of his hole and stung the tiger. The tiger died. The rabbit would not allow the rishi to bring the tiger back to life, but told him to go away. The rabbit's judgment is sukkliathikhamana [correct]. 83. The four students of Taxila (1) There were four youths who went to study at Taxila. The first studied astrology, the second archery, the third swimming and diving and the fourth the art of bringing the dead back to life. The four went and lay down by the sea. The astrologer said that the hasdiling bird would seize the daughter of King Phanasi and bring her to that spot Sure enough it did. The archer then shot the bird, and it fell into the water. The swimmer dived into the sea and brought the girl back to shore. The resurrectionist blew oh her and brought her back to life. She was grateful to all four. They then quarrelled as to who should marry her. They went to the king and made obeisances. The king decided that the archer would be as a father to her, the astrologer would be her teacher, the resurrectionist would be as mother, and the swimmer be her husband. The king's judgment was sukkhathikhamana . Each one deserved gratitude alike. The husband and wife ruled the kingdom, replacing her father. The other three were respected as teacher and parents. 84. The four prostitutes Four prostitutes saw a rishi who they thought was very handsome. The rishi had been speared at the city gate, by order of the king. He was not yet dead. One of the prostitutes paid 1,000 pieces of silver for him to be freed. The second looked after him and gave him medicine. The third boiled up medicinal herbs, washed his wounds, and cleaned him of excrement and urine. The fourth brought food for him to eat.
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When, he was fully recovered they quarrelled as to which one should have him as husband. The went to .the king and he gave judgment. The one who paid the thousand gold pieces was to be as a mother, the one who gave him food as an elder sister, the one who washed his wounds would be his wife, because she had seen all his secrets. [One missing.] They were worthy of equal gratitude. Let the husband and wife look after the other three. The king judged in this appropriate manner. 85. The four students of Taxila (2) There were four young men who went to study all branches of knowledge at Taxila. When they were returning the tigers were s o fierce [and roared so loudly as they journeyed through the forest] that they could not sleep. One of them took up a piece of torng wood and from it carved the figure of a beautiful woman. The second carved the features and the details of the body. The third polished the figure so that it loked ike the skin of a living woman. The fourth breathed life into the figure. They quarrelled among themselves as to whose wife she should be. They went to the king for judgment. He decided that the one who put in the details of features and body should have her as wife, because he knew the details of her body.' He further decided that husband and wife should look after the one who carved the figure as if he were their mother. The one who breathed life into it should be taken care of as the father. The one who polished the skin should be as a brother. This judgment is appropriate. 86. The story of Khamanican There was a man named Khamanican who was the servant of King Athayasanukkha. He had been a servant for a long time. The son of the king was seven years old when he succeeded his father. Khamanican said, The king is young. I am an old man, how can I serve a young king? I shall go and farm in the country.' He then ran away to the country. He did not have cattle or fields. He borrowed a pair of oxen from a friend. He took them in the morning to plough a field, and returned them at dusk to the owner’s house. In the morning he took them back to the field. This he did every day.
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One day the owners of the oxen, husband and wife, were eating on the terrace and saw Khamanican leading back the cattle. He took them into their enclosure, and then went home. He did not say anything to his friend, because he was afraid his friend might invite him to eat. At that time rice was very expensive. Also they had seen him bring the cattle back. That night thieves stole the cattle. The two friends quarrelled. I brought them back* [the borower said]. The other said,' You didn’t. I knew nothing about it. You didn't tell anybody. I don't agree.' The wife said, 'The cattle entered our pen, don't blame your friend.' The husband said, 'Khamanican didn’t say he had returned the cattle.' The husband would not agree and would take Khamanican to the king. Because the friend had been in such a hurry, it seemed Khamanican had not had breakfast. Khamanican was very hungry, so they stopped at the house of a friend. He asked for food. The friend was not in, only the wife was home. She was pregnant, and very close to giving birth. She said, Tlease wait, I will cook some rice for you.’ She placed the pot on the fire under die house and then climbed up to get some rice to put in it Descending, she fell down the steps. The child was bom, and died. The husband returned, and said, ’You have raped my wife. You are responsible.' He too would go to the king. They all went on. They soon reached a forest. Khamanican thought to himself, ’Where will I get the money to pay for the cattle, and for the death of the child? I will jump off the precipice and kill myself. My body will be smashed.' He decided he would do it, and jumped off the precipice. Just at that moment there were two mat-makers, father and son, preparing strips of cane at the bottom of the precipice. Khamanican fell on the neck of the father and killed him. The mat-maker held Khamanican responsible, and he too would go to the king. On the way they reached a house in which lived a man who kept a horse. He had returned with his horse and was trying to lead it into the house, but it would not go in. Instead it ran back the way it had come. The horse-keeper said, Uncle, hit the horse so it comes back.' Khamanican picked up a stick and threw it at the horse. It hit the horse's leg and broke it. The horse-keeper held Khamanican 62
responsible and would go to the king. In a single day Khamanican had four cases to answer. First, he had borrowed the cattle. The owner said to the king, 'This man borrowed my cattle and did not return them. He lost two of my cattle. I charge him with it.' The king asked for an explanation. Khamanican explained what had happened. The king had the wife of the cattle owner removed, and then questioned the husband. He replied, 'At that time we were eating on the terrace, but he didn't bring the cattle back.' He then questioned the wife. She said, 'Khamanican returned the cattle, but he didn't say anything.’ The king decided that Khamanican had taken back the cattle, but had not said anything to the owners. Because of this Khamnican must pay compensation for the two oxen. The king asked, How much are the cattle worth?' The owner said, 'One hundred and sixty one.’ The king asked, T)id you really not see him? Your wife says she did, you claim you didn't.’ The man confessed, 'Yes I saw him.' The king now had all the facts, and ruled that Khamanican should pay compensation. He said, 'You have lied to me that you didn’t see Khamanican.' He decreed that Khamanican should take the cattle owner's eyes. Then Khamanican would compensate him for the cattle. The owner of the cattle would not agree to losing his eyes. 'I don’t want the money for the cattle.' On the death of the child, the father of the child said Khamanican had raped his wife. 'My wife did not consent, she resisted. He assaulted my wife, the child was bom and died.’ The king asked Khamanican if this- was true. Khamanican said that none of it was true. He explained what had happened. The king now had the facts. He sent courtiers to question the wife. The mother of the child confirmed everything Khamanican had said. The king gave judgment that Khamanican had no intention of Idling the child. There was no sin, but he should pay the customary compensation. The father was not willing to take compensation. 'Goods are not difficult to acquire, but a child is difficult. I want a child.' The king said, 'It is not easy to bring a corpse back to life. Take the compensation.' He would not agree. He wanted a child. The king then decreed, Tn that case let Khamanican take your wife and make her pregnant. When she is in the same condition, let him return her to you.' The man was not willing to allow 63
Khamanican to sleep with his wife, so he said he would not take any compensation. The case was dismiss ed.The case of of the mat-maker. He claimed Khamanican had killed his father and should make restitution. The king asked Did you kill his father?' Khamanican said 'I had no intention of killing his father,' and went on to explain what had happened. The king decided that the mat-maker had died because of Khamanican's action, but there had been no intention to kill. The king ordered that the amount of the compensation be divided in three, and Khamanican pay one. The karma of the mat-maker was great The son said, 'I have only one father. I cannot take the compensation, I cannot replace my father. Money is not scarce. The king decreed, Take Khamanican to be your father. lAnother thing, your mother is still young.' The mat-maker took Khamanican home as his father. The case of the horse with the broken leg. The horsekeeper said, 'I was driving the horse back home. I passed Khamanican on the way. He hit the horse and broke its leg.' The king asked Khamanican if this was true. Khamanican said, 'Yes, it’s true. The horse-keeper asked me to hit the horse, so I threw a stick which hit the horse's leg. I did not intend to break its leg.' The king now had the facts, he gave judgment. 'When cattle and buffaloes are being driven back home and they run away, it is usual that the owner ask passers-by to hit the animals. No one intends to injure the animals.' The king again asked the horse-keeper to tell the truth. He confessed that he had asked Khamanican to hit the horse. The king was now fully informed. He asked, 'What is the cost of the horse?’ The man replied 'One hundred and sixty.' The king ordered the value to be divided into four parts. 'Each leg is worth forty pieces of silver, let Khamanican pay one part, because only one leg was broken. Because you lied, I shall have your tongue cut. You are twotongued, so I shall have one cut.' The horse-keeper was frightened and said he would not take the compensation. He ran away. 87. Discussion of the judgment The king who gave these judgments was very wise. People say he was a Boddhisatva, but a Boddhisatva would not order eyes plucked out and tongue cut. Is it proper for a Boddhisatva to make such judgments? Others justify it. It was ancient tradition; the king governed the city and was 64
responsible for preserving the peace. They lied to the king. The horse-keeper tried to deceive him. It is right the king should threaten to have his tongue cut. The other judgment ordering Khamanican to make the wife pregnant and then return her, a judgment like that is a sin. Should a Boddhisatva make such a judgment? Others justify it The king first ordered him to take compensation for the child, but he would not. He would only be satisfied with, a child. His child was dead, it was impossible for him to be returned. So the king gave a judgment to enable him to have a child. According to law he must make such a judgment. If he had not ruled in this manner, the people would not respect the king and his officials. In fact there was no intention to pluck out the eyes, to cut the tongue or allow him to sleep with another man's wife. The Boddhisatva had no such intention. The judgment was made according to the necessity of the case. The king made his judgments according to tradition. The Thammasart ends here. Cases 88. Preamble [This section is very obscure, some parts being untranslatable.] The great king gives cane for the making of baskets and for the making of water buckets, has trees planted with fruit, sour, bitter, and sweet. The brave flee and the coward stays. Has one support eight grandfathers, support eight [kon, meaning unknown]. Support eight bald-headed men. Conduct oneself like a folded umbrella. Hit when spread. Support eight [nang with classifier paak\, support eight nagas. Support .a hundred thousand cattle. Support strangers from a hundred thousand countries. Miang that has lost its savour must be flavoured with salt. Do not breed mord [meaning unknown] in the country. What follows concerns principles for judging, for king, court officials and judges of the country. During the time' of Acham Tis sapamok in Taxila the three [Books of] Instruction, that is the Rigveda, the Yajurveda and the Samaveda brought knowledge to the ruler on six topics. Things that destroy, these are five topics, that is the panchakhatiwat. How many are there that will bring prosperity to the ruler ? First, wake early. Two, do not show 65
your anger. Three, always keep your word. Four, do not act disrespectfully towards others. Five, do not act according to the panchakhati. Six, think before acting. These six principles should never be forgotten by the king, court officials and judges. What are the panchakhati ? They are santhakhati [love, see below], thosakhati [hate], mohakhati [anger], phayakhati [fear], lophakhati [greed]. Do not play favourites. This is good practice. Santhakhati is favouring relatives and friends, and making judgments that cause strife. One person is at fault, another has no fault. •The one at fault is a friend, so the decision is made in his favour and the innocent is found guilty. This is called santhakhati. Thosakhati. If there is a dispute between two people and one of them is not at fault, but the judge has quarrelled with him in the past, so he finds him guilty. That is thosakhati. There is a dispute between two people, one of whom has rank. The man without rank is innocent, but the judge finds him guilty because he fears the other's rank. This is phayakhati . There is a dispute between one who gives gifts and another who does not, but is not guilty. The judge favours the one who gives gifts. This is lophakhati. Examples are found in the tale of the snake that stung the tiger, the tiger that was sleeping that day in the forest of the Himalayas. 89. Assessment of evidence The following discussion concerns the different ways of judging cases. Some cases should be judged ignoring the original conditions. Some cases should be judged in the context within which the events occurred. Some cases should be judged on the evidence of witnesses. Some cases should be judged according to the law of the land. Some cases should be judged according to sacred law [dharma].
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Some cases should be judged according to prior agreement Some cases should be judged on internal evidence [inference]. Some cases should be judged on external evidence [obvious, visible]. Some cases should be judged on the evidence of external witnesses. Some cases should be judged according to time and place. [Sentence obscure. Not translated.] The different conditions will be illustrated in the following stories. 90. The child swallowed by a fish There was a rich man who lived in the city of Kosamiya who had a newborn son. He sent a slave woman to bathe him in the Ganges so that he would have great fortune. A huge fish swallowed the baby. The fish travelled seven yojana downstream where a fisherman had spread his nets. He caught the fish and sold it in the market. The slave woman of another rich man saw the fish and bought it. This rich man lived in Anurath. His wife had her cooks gently open up the fish and the child appeared. The wife adopted the child as her son. The rich man of Kosamiya learned that his son had not died. He went to the rich man of Anurath with a thousand pieces of silver to redeem the child, but the other would not agree to give back the child. They quarelled, and went to the judge for a decision. The judge said the rich man of Kosamiya had fathered the child and his love and affection for the child had not been broken. The rich man of Anurath had bought the fish with his money and had adopted the child. The child was thanakitta, the child of both. Let the child live with whomever he loved more. This case was decided according to dharma. The rich man of Kosamiya still loved his child. The rich man of Anurath had the child for five months, then sent him to the other. The two rich men are called phakulakuman. The story is in the Tikanibat. 91. The novice and the naga king There once lived the monk Maha Anuratha Thera, who ordered a novice named Sumana to bring him water 67
from the Anomata pool. Sumana asked permission of the naga king who lived in the pool. The Naga said, ’If you can get it, go ahead.' He then spread his hood fifty yojana wide, blocking the pool. The novice Sumana called on all the heavenly deities of the eight directions to be witness. He stamped on the hood of the naga king so that it sank below the surface of the water, then hurriedly scooped up some water and jumped in the air. The naga king followed him, shouting that the novice had stolen his water. The Maha Anuratha asked the novice to tell his story. He said he had asked permission of the naga king. The Maha Thera asked the naga king, who replied that it was true. The Maha Thera said that the naga king having given the novice permission, he could see no fault in his action. The Maha Thera drank the water and since that time suffered from no ailments. This case is a judgment according to the truth. 92. The child in the jar There was a rich woman who lived in a mansion. She had a love affair with a godling. She became pregnant and had a child. She was afraid people would find out, so she put the child in a jar and floated it down the river. There were two women bathing down river. One of them said, T will have that jar.' The other said, 'I will have whatever is in the jar.' When the jar got to them, they opened it and found a little child, a beautiful boy. They quarrelled. The one who spoke second would not concede the child to the other. They took the child to King Bimbisara. The king gave the jar to the one who spoke first, and the baby to the other. This case was decided according to prior agreement and evidence. 93. The ex-monk on the tree trunk There was a man named Kelitissa. He entered the monkhood for four years. When he wanted to leave the order, he could not find any lay clothes. He jumped into the water and came on a floating tree trunk. Two women bathing downstream saw the tree trunk floating towards them. One said, T will have that tree trunk.' The other said, 'I will have whatever is on it.' They quarrelled. The one who said she would have the tree trunk changed her mind. The one who said she would have what was on it, when she saw Kelitissa had no clothes on, said she would go home and get clothes 68
for him. They [i.e the .man and the other woman] went to her house. The parents of the woman had them get married. The complainant claimed that the other woman had not kept her word, as she had said she would take the log. Which woman should have the man to be her husband ? The judge said, 'That is true, but when you spoke they were not yet husband and wife. Because of this Nang Sumana should have the man as husband.' This case was decided according to the law of the world. 94. The stolen cow There was a man who took a cow to graze. He was sleepy and fell asleep in the shade of a tree. Another man came along and stole his cow. The owner ran after him and caught him. They argued as to whose cow it was. They went to King Mohosot for judgment. The king asked the one who took the cow, 'Where did you get the cow you took to graze?' He answered, It is a cow bred by me. I feed it on beans and tubers.' He then asked the owner, Where did you get the cow?' He replied, It is my cow, I feed it on grass.' King Mohosot ordered the bark of the prajong [Aglaia odorata ] plant be brought It is also known as Han.. He had it boiled and fed to the cow. The cow brought up the contents of its stomach, and there were neither beans nor tubers. The king said,. 'You claimed your cow ate beans and tubers, but that is not true. You are a thief.' He was sent directly for punishment of the grade ta'in. That is, he was whipped two or three strokes and then set free. This case was decided on internal evidence. 95. The child and the guardian spirit There was a woman who carried her child to a pond, spread her mat, and sat beside it. She bathed in the pond. The pond had a guardian spirit who wanted the child. She said, 'This child is very beautiful, let me carry it for a little while.' The mother did, not knowing it was a spirit. She said, 'Go ahead.' The spirit took the child and ran away.. She ran after the spirit and caught it They disputed possession of the child and went to King Mohosot. The king ordered the two to pretend to fight over the child. When they were done, King Mohosot decided that the smaller woman was the mother, because being the mother she loved the child. While fighting she appeared frightened the child would be hurt. The spirit 69
was aggressive and showed no love. She is a ghost, her eyes are red. This decision is according to justice. 96. The three music students Three young men went to study together. The first said, This tree is very suitable for the handle of a phia [a musical instrument].' The second said, 'Thong, toong, thong, toong.' The third got up and began to dance. They were on a boat. The boat overturned and all the goods in the boat were lost. They went to the judge. The judge ruled that the one who spoke was responsible because of his words. The one who sang 'thong, toong', was physically responsible, and the one who danced physically responsible in his whole body. They were all responsible for the sinking of the boat. The value of the goods was to b e divided into five parts. The one who was responsible because of his words should pay one part, the onewho sang one and a half parts, and the one who danced two and a half parts. This judgment is according to dharma. 97. Concerning relations between the sexes [.Parts of this are unclear.] Because of the thirteen principles, whoever did it should be responsible. Thothana [?] punishment to that person. Pahala will be explained. Consider in the sections kulatithathiyoo and kulathitaloo which are divided into twenty kinds. In the class kulatisatijoo are ten kinds of wife, for example matulikakhita, tanakittaa. In the category kulatithajoo there are ten kinds of wife, e.g. matulakhitaa. Wise scholars considered there were twenty kinds of wife. Two aspects of dharma must be considered for judgment. When husband and wife separate, let them do it according to the traditions of noble men; The first principle of dharma is desire, which is of two kinds, bupphakhatanha and appariphahakhatanha. The first occurs in the minds of men and women who are in love but who have not exchanged presents and who have not touched each other, and between whom there i s no agreement. There is only the feeling of love between them. This is bupphakhatanha. The other occurs when husband and wife have separated, and wish to get together again but they cannot. There is no trust between them as there was before.
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This is appariphahakhatanha. It is this that keeps creatures, except the enlightened, circling in samsara. Concerning women who run away from their husbands but are not divorced, there are five kinds. One is iccha'ariya, another is aniccha'ariya. In the case of iccha'ariya when the woman runs away from her husband, she need not be divorced in three situations. The first is icchaparaji, another owathanikaparaji [something missing]. Concerning anicchaparaji, the woman is not satisfied with the man, does not love her husband and runs away like Patphawadi, who ran away from King Kusaracha. His desire was not extinguished. Nang Patphawadi could not be divorced from him. Concerning sattaparaji the woman is frightened she would be killed or beaten. She runs away from her husband like Nang Manora, who ran away from her husband Lord Suthan. Some desire prevented Lord Suthan from divorcing her. Nang Manora remained his wife. When thanikathawaraji, the husband runs away from the home of his wife in order to shame her, to teach her a lesson to make her behave, as in the case of Witathikumara whose wife cajoled him to kill her father. He was persuaded. He dug a ditch to bury the father's corpse. But Witathikumara was a Boddhisatva and knew very well the true state of affairs. He devised a plan to teach his father [error] a lesson. His wife had committed a sin against him and he was angry, but he tried to contain his anger. He frightened her and tricked her into leaving the house. Two or three days later the father of Witathikumara announced that he would take a new wife. The mother [mistake for 'wife'] of Witathikumara confessed her sin and asked for forgiveness. Iccasaraji is when a man has announced his intention of taking a woman as wife but is not happy with the decision. He has given gifts and said he is happy with the arrangements, but then he runs away. Like the stoiy of Indra in the form of a young man who gave money to a prostitute, then ran away and did not come back for three years. His love and desire for her had gone. He did not want the woman. He had given her a thousand pieces of gold. He regretted paying the money. He had assured her that he would return, and she had agreed. If the court does not know what his feelings are, the judge should not dissolve the marriage. 71
When the prostitute had difficulty making a living she went to the judges. They decided that if the man had not returned for three years, that meant his feelings for her were gone. Where can this precedent b e found? In the Atthathamma in the section Pariyathappha . Yoithi [?] When a woman has a husband who is important, he should look after her himself. The judges decided according to this clause that the husband had deserted the wife. The judge should make an inventory of goods that were left with the wife. If the goods were enough to keep the woman for ten days, she is his wife for ten days. If he did not leave any goods at all, she is his wife for one day. If the husband and wife live together and they are bored with each other, and the husband runs away and takes his possessions with him, the woman is his wife for a single day.- If he does not take his goods with him, let an inventory be made and an estimate of how many days they could support the woman. Whenever the estimated support ends, from that day she is no longer his wife. If a man sleeps with a woman for one night and does' not leave any goods behind, the woman is called mahutikapariya, that is ’the wife of a single day 1. They lived together, and he may love her, but there is no agreement. If he tells her he will return within a certain period, and the period is not yet over, the woman is still his wife. This is known as icchatanhasarai. Saicchaanarai [?] is like Nang Pancapapi who was deformed in five parts of her body. But she smelled sweet. Her skin was soft and delicate. The king loved her skin and made her his queen. She was the first of 12,000 consorts. The others wished to separate her from the king. They paid the Brahmins to address the king. ’If Your Majesty does not send Queen Pancapapi away, three dangers are likely to befall you.’ The king was afraid of the three dangers and his feelings for her diminished when he heard these words. He had a raft built on which Pancapapi was placed and floated down the river. Later his desire for her returned. A scholar said to him, ’You should not have believed their words.’ The king at the mouth of the river took her as his wife. He was not guilty of any fault. Later both kings wished to wage war against each other. The advisors decided according to the wishes of the two kings. The king at the mouth of the river lived with Pancapapi for four months. Thus she is called Mahuttika72
pariya. If the king at the mouth of the river leaves her, his love for her will end, but his desire will still remain. Then the judgment should not take into account the desire, .but should take into account the love. Concerning icchatanha'anaracha, it .is like Queen Uthumaracha. Her father Tissapramokkha gave her as wife to Singkuttaramanawa. He was not very pleased with her and returned to Witheha, which was his home. She went with him. On the way they saw some ripe fruit. The husband climbed the tree, plucked the fruit and ate it, but did not give his wife any. She climbed up herself and ate on her own. In this case love is absent. Later King Witheharacha took her as wife. There was no fault and no punishment. On the other hand according to Taicchanlook, it is permissible. The following also concerns Taicchanlook. If the parents of the husband or of the wife are not satisfied with the daughter-in-law, and say, ’She is not our daughter,' and she is forced to go away, or, 'This man is not worthy of being our child,' and he is forced to go away, the marriage is finished. If they have no parents but have guardians, such as the king or elders who have the 'ten principles of kingship', and the guardian considers the wife does not help the husband's advancement and he cannot perform his duties to the state, and he is held by the state to be in breach of customary duties, the state can force him to leave his wife. The marriage is dissolved. Later, if they live together again, against the wishes of parents and officials, the man is guilty of an offence, because the woman is matulakhakhita . According to icchanuloopha, if the husband returns the bride price, and his love is over, the marriage is over. 98. The dissolution of marriage Santhawasini is when the husband leaves the wife or the wife leaves the husband. If the husband does not cohabit, but lives with another woman, their love is over, the marriage is over. Two who are pattawasini, if the husband does not give his wife the daily requirements such as food and clothes and money, the relationship is over. Kammakalipariya is a woman who has a husband who cannot support her, and the woman gets her requirements from some other man. She goes and works for 73
this man according to what she receives. The relationship [with the first] is over. But the other man cannot claim her as wife. She is only known as phatika. She is only a servant taking orders. The person who is ophattacumphitapariya , is where the man and woman exchange gifts, and later return them. The relationship is over. A woman is mahuttikapariya when her husband or her parents have her go and live with another man in order to get money and goods from him, with a limit on the period one day or one month. When the time is expired, she is no longer his wife. This has been concerned with when relations should and should not be ended. 99. Children The following concerns four categories of children. The first is apphacho, the second is khettacho, the third thinanathiko, and the fourth antowasiko. The one who is appacho is a real child. The one who is khettacho is one bom in the household. Thinanathiko is a child who has been adopted. Anthawasiko is a pupil who is treated as a child. In these four cases, if the parents die without leaving a will, they should divide the property, with the one in the closer relationship to the parents getting more and the more distant less. Appacho is closer than khettacho', khettacho closer than thinanathiko; thinanathiko closer than anthawasiko . He who is judging should consider carefully. Any one of the four categories may administer the estate. 100. Punishment The Brahma set four conditions. The first royal punishment, rachathantha, chaining and beating. The second kind of punishment is cutting off of hands and feet, cutting tongues, ears and blinding. Bupphachelithantha is exile from the country. The fourth is wathathantha, execution. There are these four kinds of punishment. [Pali omitted]. Later on society developed, evil barbarians increased, and four kinds of punishment were applied. People called on the king to consult his advisers. So that people would not seek revenge fines should be added as a fifth kind of punishment, thanathantha . Compensation in money should be paid, so that people would not be stirred into seeking 74
revenge. To this day there are five types of punishment which prevent society from falling into ruin. Before there were these five types of punishment, people were not afraid of the law. They had as little respect for custom as the earth. Everyone sinned and no one could say or do anything. Society could have been destroyed because there was no law or custom. So the five punishments were called yopala. It is known as thanathanthai and can remove sin. If a man has done something wrong, and is fined, his anger is cured. His demerit is also cured. 101. The two rich men and the precious stones There were two rich men who were friends. One of them had precious stones worth 100,000 pieces of gold. He put them in a sealed bag and left it with his friend. His friend, the other rich man wanted them. He cut the bottom of the bag and took the stones worth 100,000 and replaced them with ones worth 100 pieces of gold. He had a man skilled in sealing repair the bag so that it was like new. Later the owner came to claim his bag. He opened it and did not see the stones worth 100,000, but some worth only 100 pieces of gold. He checked the seal, and it was in order. He was astonished. He went to the king and told him what had happened. The king said, 'It is as you said. Now put the stones worth 100 gold pieces in the bag, seal it and leave it with me.' The king saw a small trace of where the bottom had been cut He thought about it and realized that the friend had cut the bottom, and had taken the valuable stones and replaced them with cheap ones. He then had a skilled workman repair the bag to its original condition. The king took a piece of cloth and cut out a very small piece of it. He gave the cloth to a launderer, who washed it, put it out to dry and brought it back. The king checked the cloth and pointed the hole out to the launderer, saying, 'You will be punished.' The launderer was afraid he would be executed, and went looking for the most skilled. repairer to bring the cloth back to its original condition. He took the mended cloth back to the king, who examined it, but could not see any sign of the cut He got from the launderer the identity of the man who had repaired the cloth, and had him ask the repairer for whom he had lately done a job of sealing. The repairer said, 75
'There was a rich man who brought a bag of precious stones with a small hole in it.' The king was now certain. He summoned the rich man who had stolen the stones. He said, 'You cut the bottom of the bag and took the expensive stones and replaced them with Ones worth only 100, and then had die repairer seal it as if it were new. He has told me all.' The rich man could not deny it. He said, 'It’s true'. He asked the king to help him. The king had the rich man take the stones worth a hundred pieces of gold and replace them with those worth a hundred thousand... [something missing] ... The king took the precious stones and told the other rich man, 'Take the bag back home and pray the expensive stones return. Tomorrow morning open the bag. If I have merit, the stones will have returned. When you have the stones back, love your friend as before. Do not let there be anger between you.' He followed the king's instructions. He opened the bag in the morning and the precious stones were back. With gratitude, he said, That the stones were returned is because of the merit of the king.' He took a thousand pieces of gold which he offered to the king. The- other rich man too was grateful that he had not been disgraced. The king advised them to be friends as before, and the other rich man also made an offering of a thousand pieces of gold. The king had great merit. 102. The two friends who stole from each other There were two friends who went trading, each with a thousand pieces of gold. One night they slept in a public resting hall [sale]. During the night one stole the thousand pieces of gold that belonged to his companion, and hid it. The other man thought to himself, 'No one else could have done it; it must be my friend.' He said, 'I have lost my thousand pieces of gold, I cannot go on. I will stay here today and look for my money. If I find it, I will continue.' Later the one who had lost his money, stole the gold of the other and hid it. Now they had both lost their gold. They suspected each other of stealing their gold, and they went to the court official. He decided that they should each return the gold to the other, and they were both fined as if their gold was often water". [This is obscure. It apparently means that the quality of their gold was not the same, though 76
they were fined as if it were.] The protective deity was angered. The judgment was not fair. He cast coals on the forest and set it alight. The judges were eating and their rice turned into sand. They went to the king. The king said their judgment was correct. The deity was angered again, and again set the forest alight with hot coals. The king went to the rishi who lived in the royal park, and told him what had happened. The rishi understood the problem and gave his advice. He asked if the two thousand pieces of gold had been assayed by a goldsmith. The king said it had not yet been done. The gold was then taken and examined. The gold of the first man was of the first quality. The gold that was stolen second was not refined. The rishi said that it was correct the gold should be returned. But the first man should be fined 8,000 pieces of silver because his gold was of the best quality, and the second fined 10,000 pieces of silver because his gold was inferior. This was a just decision and the deity strewed flowers over the rishi. 103. Factors in arriving at a judgment The next is judgment according to the time. [Consider] whether it is a decision in the morning or evening, day or night; whether the goods stolen are cheap or expensive, let the fine be according to the value. Such as when the monk stole phraphloengphlaw [reference unknown] from Chomphu and took it to Lanka. Another thing, if the country is in turmoil, such as in war, everything is public property. Whoever can, takes, such as buffaloes and cattle and goods of all kinds. If the owner can find his goods he may be compensated. This is a punishment of a kind. The compensation is only half. The judge must decide whether the punishment should be heavy or light. Let the judge fine according to the difficulty involved. Let the judge take half the fine. That is fitting. Let the judgment be according to the circumstances. 104. The poisoned mango There were mango trees in the royal gardens of the king. A goldqn mango, ripe and beautiful, fell down. The gardener picked it up to offer to the king. The king gave it to one of his servants. The servant ate it and suddenly died. The king accused the gardener of putting poison in the mango. He 77
ordered the gardener be executed. The chief minister told the king it was difficult to-find a gardener as clever as this one. The punishment should be reconsidered. He could be executed after the reconsideration. The king went to his gardens, to the mango tree, and asked the gardener where he had found the fruit. The gardener pointed out the tree and the branch, and the spot where the fruit fell. When everyone was quiet the chief minister threw a stone on the spot indicated; A cobra came out of a hole in the ground and bit the stone. The officials killed the snake. Later on they gave a mango to the king. He ate it and it was delicious. So he let the gardener look after the gardens as before. This case was decided on the evidence. 105. The jar full of silver Concerning whether goods could or could not be taken, this is an example. There was a man who filled a jar full of silver, and sealed it and buried it. Another man dug up that place and took the jar. The owner went to look for his jar, could not find it, and realized someone else had dug it up. [Section missing, and what follows is garbled.] ... The jar had 10,000 when full. The other weighed it and said 3,000 filled the jar. They went to the judge for a decision. The judge said it is full. He had 3,000 and it filled the jar, but in fact it could take another 5,000. Let that jar be the standard.’ 10,000 would be more than the jar holds. As for him who said 3,000, that would not fill the jar. Another 5,000 was necessary. This judgment is according to the evidence of the average of the jar. One man guessed that it would hold 3,000, but the one who was skilled said it would hold 8,000. So the judgment had to be carefully given, with caution. Like the story of Withoon Brahmin who went to trade in Phalaharanakhom. 106. Envoi A man came to a monk there [in Phalaharanakhom]. The monk had shot*and killed a crane. The man claimed the crane was his father. Another man defended the monk, said he was good, as the first man's father had borrowed the second man's father's cornea, and had not returned it. 'I have
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come back to take the cornea.’ A fourth man said, 'Your father borrowed a small white pig and hasn't returned it.' Another man came and said 'Your father borrowed crystal from my father, enough to fill a well two metres deep, and has not returned it. I will have it now.' The king of Phalaharanakhorn judged the case. Chotikakumara, who was of the line of the Buddha, joined with the king to consider the case. Later, Chotikakumara had the power to defeat all of them . Let the reader consider. The law of the world and the law of the dharma, the Dharmasastra of Mangrai and the traditions of King Mahosot are respectfully ended. Paripunna is finished at 8.10 p.m. on Sunday, the 1 1th month, the 10th night of the waxing moon C.S. 1334 of the Year of the Rat.
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