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

36 VYAVAHĀRAMAYŪKHA [ § II. 3.10-11
[ M p 26 ll 13-34
"It has reference to ( faults in ) trustworthy witnesses that ( faults ) can be
ascertained from ordinary experience of the world. When the defendant has
no knowledge of the faults ( of the witnesses of the plaintiff ) the same
author says
Those faults of evidence ( witnesses and documents ) that are latent
should be declared by him who disputes ( the evidence ) at the ( proper )
time and the patent faults should be declared by the members of the
court ( sabhyas ) at the proper time after exhibiting what the sāstra ( the
works on law ) dictates ¹
The meaning is that latent ( concealed ) faults should be exposed by
expounding ( by reference to or reliance on ) the sāstra before the (actual)
examination of the witnesses. And Bṛhaspati ( p 302 v 250 ) says that
they ( the latent faults ) should not be exposed after that ( stage )
Whatever faults in ( or objections to ) a document or a witness there
may be must be declared at the time when the trial is proceeding but the
( litigant ) should not ( be allowed to ) declare the faults after they ( the
witnesses ) have deposed
Uktān means when they have said ' i e when they have begun to speak ²
The termination of the past passive participle ( kta in Panini s terminology )
is added ( here in uktān ) in the active sense according to the rule ³ the
affix kta ( i e ta ) is added to a root to denote the completion of the first
of a series of continuous acts and in the active voice Kātyāyana declares
the punishment in this matter
He who after a matter has been deposed to would find fault with
( raise objections to ) witnesses in whom he found no fault before and can
not give ( adequate ) reasons for that for not pointing out the faults
earlier shall be mulcted in the lowest amercement ⁴
If the witnesses be themselves unable to refute the objections raised against
them the party ( whose witnesses they are ) must do it so says Bṛhaspati
( p 302 v 26 )
— — — —
1 The proper time for pointing out the faults of witnesses by litigants is when the
hearing begins and for the judge and the assessors when the judgment is being pronounced
The śāstras ( smṛtis ) lay down rules as to circumstances that vitiate oral and written
testimony
2 Mandlik translates ( p. 20 ) uktān as 'th speaker beginning to speak ( i e all be
stopped); this is the meaning' This is quite wrong Vide notes to V M p 74 The word uktān
(which is a past passive participle ) would naturally be connected with dvān in the
preceding half, but then the sentence hardly makes any sense Here uktān is explained
as an active past participle and connected with witnesses
3 This is Pāṇini III. 4 71 Vide notes to V M p 1
4 According to Manu 8. 138 the lowest amercement was 250 panas the middle
was 500 and the highest was 1000.
p 50 ( text )