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

S. XX. 2.-XXI. 3 ] HUSBAND AND WIFE 271
M. p. 150 l.25-p.151 l.15 ]
duty of a wife. Even if the husband be tainted with a deadly sin she
should wait for him till he is purified (by expiations).
Thus ends the section on duties of husband and wife.
*Now begins the (section on) gambling and prize-fighting.¹
Yājñavalkya (II. 201) says.
The king should enforce payment of the stake property won in a public
assembly of bettors presided over by a master (of the gaming house),
when the king's share (in the stake won) has been paid up (by the master)
and not otherwise (when carried on secretly and without sabhika).
'Prasiddhe' means 'not in secret'; 'dhūrtamaṇḍale' means 'in a
gaming house'; 'sabhikaḥ' is the superintendent of gambling appointed by the
king. The meaning is 'the king should enforce payment of what is won in
this manner (indicated in the verse) and nothing else. The same author
(Yaj II. 202) lays down the punishment for him who is guilty of fraud in
gambling :
Men who play with false dice and by tricks should be branded by the
king and banished.²
'Upadhiḥ' means 'a trick or fraud.' Manu (IX 224) declares the
punishment if gambling be carried on without the king's permission :
The king should punish corporally all those who themselves engage in
gambling and prize-fighting or cause (incite) others to do so and also
śūdras who wear the marks of the twice-born ³
'Dvijaliṅgam' (marks of the twice-born) means 'the sacred thread,
uttering the Veda and the like' Yājñavalkya (II. 203) extends the rules about
gambling to samāhvaya (prize-fighting) :
This very law should be understood to apply to prize-fighting in which
there is gambling with animate objects.

1. The difference between dyūta (gambling) and samāhvaya is that the former is carried
   on with inanimate objects (like dice) and the latter with animate objects (such as cocks,
   rams, bulls, buffaloes, and wrestlers). Vide Manu IX. 223, Nārada p. 212 v. 1 and
   Bṛ. 385 v. 3
2. Compare Nārada p. 213 v. 6.
   3 The attitude of Manu towards gambling was rather uncompromising. But Yāj-
   ñavalkya allowed gambling under the supervision of persons appointed by the king as it,
   helped in detecting thieves. Bṛhaspati p. 385 v. 1 says that gambling was prohibited by Manu,
   because it destroys truth, honesty and wealth, but other legislators permitted it when,
   conducted so as to allow the king a share in the stakes.

• P. 252 (text).