Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard W. Lariviere
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Edition
- Introduction
- PART ONE THE NATURE OF HINDU LAW
- PART TWO GENERAL TOPICS OF HINDU LAW
- Ancient Hindu Criminal Law
- Hindu Law of Succession: From the Śāstras to Modern Law
- Caste and Occupation in Classical India: The Normative Texts
- Megasthenes on Indian Lawbooks
- The “Ambassador” in Ancient India
- The Status of Minors according to Classical Hindu Law
- Quandoque bonus dormitat Jīmūtavūhanas?
- Notes on Mixed Castes in Classical India
- Inheritance and Srāddha: The Principle of “Spiritual Benefit”
- The Theory of Matrimonial Causes According to the Dharmaśāstra
- Jīmūtavūhana's Dāyabhāga and the Maxim Factum Valet
- The Divinity of Royal Power in Ancient India according to Dharmaśāstra
- A Few Considerations on Monocracy in Ancient India
- PART THREE HINDU LEGAL PROCEDURE
- PART FOUR TECHNICAL STUDIES OF HINDU LAW
- PART FIVE ANGLO-HINDU AND CUSTOMARY LAW
- Bibliography
- Index
Megasthenes on Indian Lawbooks
from PART TWO - GENERAL TOPICS OF HINDU LAW
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Richard W. Lariviere
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Note on the Edition
- Introduction
- PART ONE THE NATURE OF HINDU LAW
- PART TWO GENERAL TOPICS OF HINDU LAW
- Ancient Hindu Criminal Law
- Hindu Law of Succession: From the Śāstras to Modern Law
- Caste and Occupation in Classical India: The Normative Texts
- Megasthenes on Indian Lawbooks
- The “Ambassador” in Ancient India
- The Status of Minors according to Classical Hindu Law
- Quandoque bonus dormitat Jīmūtavūhanas?
- Notes on Mixed Castes in Classical India
- Inheritance and Srāddha: The Principle of “Spiritual Benefit”
- The Theory of Matrimonial Causes According to the Dharmaśāstra
- Jīmūtavūhana's Dāyabhāga and the Maxim Factum Valet
- The Divinity of Royal Power in Ancient India according to Dharmaśāstra
- A Few Considerations on Monocracy in Ancient India
- PART THREE HINDU LEGAL PROCEDURE
- PART FOUR TECHNICAL STUDIES OF HINDU LAW
- PART FIVE ANGLO-HINDU AND CUSTOMARY LAW
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Greek author Strabo (quoted by Timmer 1930, from Strabo XV 1.53) has preserved a statement of Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to Candragupta Maurya, according to which theft was an extremely rare phenomenon in the India which he visited.
And the quotation continues: “…, agraphois kai tauta nomois chrōmenois oude gar grammata eidenai autous, all aēo mnēmēs ekasta dioikeisthai.”
The latest editor of the fragments of Megasthenes’ Indica, B.C.J. Timmer, thereby following her predecessors, translates as follows: “…, and this notwithstanding the fact that they use unwritten laws. For they do not know the script, but they administer everything from memory” (1930: 240–41).
Many a page has been written to discuss the possible date of the introduction of writing in India, but at least it seems to be well established now that writing was known in India by the time when Megasthenes lived at the court of Candragupta Maurya.
Consequently, we fully agree with Timmer when she argues that Megasthenes’ statement on this point must be false: “No doubt, Megasthenes’ opinion that the Indians did not know writing was a misunderstanding” (245).
However, Timmer pleads extenuating circumstances in favor of Megasthenes’ apparent inconsistency. Indeed, she says, it was a misunderstanding “based upon the fact that Megasthenes rightly observed that the laws were unwritten and that oral tradition played such an important part in India” (245). According to Timmer, “the laws were indeed mainly unwritten; it was not customary with the Indians to reduce their sacred books (and the Dharmaśāstras belong to them) to writing” (245).
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- Information
- Studies in Hindu Law and Dharmasastra , pp. 215 - 218Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2012