व्यवहारमयूख (नीलकण्ठ भट्ट - पश्चिमी भारत की हिन्दू न्याय-संहिता एवं व्यवहार कोष)

S. V. 4. 8-10 ] RECOVERY OF DEBTS 213
M, p. 111 ll. 8-30 ]
A debtor, who being well off, does not pay ( a debt ) through wicked-
ness should be compelled by the king to pay it after taking twenty percent .
( from the debtor ).
*The meaning is ' twenty in a hundred ' ¹
When several creditors present themselves at the same time ( for pay-
ment ) Yājñavalkya ( II 41 ) states the order ( of payment ) :
A debtor shall be made to pay his creditors in the order in which ( the
loans ) were taken, but after ( first ) discharging ( the debt due ) to a
brāhmaṇa and afterwards that due to the king.²
Kātyāyana, as quoted in the Vivādaratnākara, says
When, however, there are several debts due at the same time that
which was first contracted should be paid first , a debt due to a king
( should be paid ) after one due to a learned brāhmaṇa. Where ( several
debts ) are contracted in writing on the same day, ( the king ) should
treat all as equal so far as the security, its protection and enjoyment are
concerned ³ In other cases ( i e where debts are not of the same date )
they should be paid in order ( of dates ) Where a creditor establishes
that a particular article for sale was manufactured ( by the debtor ) with
the money ( or materials ) supplied by him, the money ( got by sale of
the article ) should be given by the debtor to that creditor only and not
otherwise
Yājñavalkya ( II. 93 ) says
The debtor should write on the back of the document the money paid
by him from time to time ( by instalments ) or the creditor shall pass a
receipt marked with his own hand.
Nārada ( p 70 v 116 ) says
When the debt is discharged ( the creditor ) should return the document ;
in the absence of the document ( creditor ) should give a receipt. In this
way the creditor and debtor would be free from their mutual obligations.
¶ ' Pratis'ravah ' means ' a document of release declaring that a debt

1. Par M. and Vir explain differently, saying that it means ' a twentieth part ' of
   the claim Compare Manu VIII 139, Visnu VI 20-21
2. If the creditors were of the same caste and all approached the king at the same
   time, debts were paid in the order in which they were contracted ( i e the earlier prevailed
   over the later ), but if the creditors were of different castes, the brāhmaṇa creditor was paid
   first though his debt was later in date than that of a kṣatriya creditor Vide sec 48
   of the Transfer of Property Act ( for the the proposition that the first in time prevails ) and
   sec 56 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code ( which makes state revenue a paramount charge
   on the land ).
3. This verse states a rule of rateable distribution among several debts if the debtor is
   not able to pay all fully The same rule applies to a pledge, to the expenses of preserving it
   and to the interest or enjoyment of it.

• P. 183 ( text ). ¶ P. 184 ( text ).