Crime and Punishment in Ancient India (An Old and Rare Book)

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This study is an attempt to focus attention on that aspect of society which arises out of disobedience of established norms and rules invoking widespread moral indignation, strain, stress and tension that calls for deterrents.

Geographically the study is chiefly confined to northern India while the main emphasis is on a specified time period of history.

The work is divided into six chapters. The first chapter deals with source materials and their respective values. The chapter on Crime offers a glimpse of various crimes prevalent during the period from petty breaches of laws to grave offences against society and state. The chapter on Punishment notes the nature and modes of punishment and remissions of punishment under prescribed conditions. The chapter on Police Organization deals with the various measures employed by police administration to detect, control and prevent crimes and the role of different officials in the hierarchy. The chapter on Judicial Administration is a survey of the factors involved in the intellectual procedure by which judges could arrive at decisions and various procedures adopted therefore. The concluding chapter discusses Sources of Hindu Law and notes that application and interpretation of law of subject to adjustment with cycles of time and political changes which determine the social attitude to crime-punishment forms and relations, though law remains unchanged in essence.

About the Author

Dr. Sukla Das was Awarded U.G.C. Fellowship after she secured her M.A. in History from the Jadavpur University, Calcutta topping the list in the entire Arts Faculty. The early part of her research was devoted to preparing thesis entitled A STUDY OF THE SOCIO ECONOMIC LIFE OF NORTHERN INDIA from A.D. 550-A.D. 650, for PhD which she obtained from the same University.

Subsequently she continued the research as a post doctoral Fellow of the U.G.C. and the present monograph represents a Segment of the enquiry.

Presently she is a Lecturer in History in the Durgapur Government College. She is a prolific writer and has to her credit a number of publications in English as well as in Bengali and she has a flair for poetry.