Manav Nyaya shastra ;

Section on Debt Transaction

Contributed by
Shristi Singh
Ruchi Dhital
Anusha Khadka
Simma Rani Rai
Prasansha Luitel
Jayanti Lamichane
Simon Upreti
A bit of historical background

Manav Nyaye Shastra is the first codified law of Nepal, written during the Malla
Dynasty, by Jayasthiti Malla in the 14 th century. It is believed to be the root of
structured law system of Nepal and was the main source of administration of justice
during the medieval period.
One event that we have studied in history is that Pashupatinath’s 21 dhukutis
were robbed by Tirhut Doya Rajya. The entire treasury was emptied and other
temples were set on fire and destroyed. The rules of ethics and morality were
subjected to degeneration in lack of a precise law to control such affairs. For Jayasthiti
Malla, robbery of Pashupatinath was the indicator of the detoriating social order in
the state and this, instigated his desire to have a strict and precise laws and a well
established judicial system in the country. He decided to set up code of law and
formed a committee of 5 other sages, Kirtinath Upadhyaya, Raghunath Jha, Shrinath
Bhatta, Mahinath Bhatta and Ramnath Jha. This is how Manav Nyaye Shastra was
formed and it is mostly based on Smritis and other religious texts.
• Major things that were observed in this portion were;

• Hierarchy of evidences
We can see that Manav Nyayashastra emphasized on the evidences in
case of dispute in any kind of transaction be it financial or public. And
they ranked the evidences based on their power or validity in legal
point of view. Those evidences were;
• Written Evidence
• Witness Evidence
• Evidence based on Possession
In case all or some of these evidences are present and they are not in
coherence with each other then judgment is prolonged rather than being given
haphazardly.
• Concept of Valid and Invalid Transactions

• Occupational Code of Conduct

As initially caste system was developed based on the occupation of the people hence there was
strict control over the works that people can engage in. They were to act according to their caste,
were not allowed to engage in any activity that didn’t match their forefathers’ occupation and were
held accountable in case of any breach.
Rule no; 60

• Responsibilities of Debtors, Creditors and Guarantors.

Since the loan transactions had to pass different criteria to be valid hence the relation between debtor, creditor
and guarantor was regarded with great importance. All of them had to follow certain responsibilities in case of
the transactions.

• Ordeal System
We can easily observe the huge influence of religion and people’s faith in God. People were not
fearful of the ruler or the laws but rather, they were fearful that god would punish them they might
go to hell after their death. It is said that gods are regarded as truth and mankind untruth.
Hence this helped to shape the rules in such a way that developed the Ordeal system. As ordeal
system is developed on the belief at outcome will be the judgment of Gods and God always knows
the right/truth.
• Unfairness Towards women
Manav Nyaya Shastra shows how the society in Malla Dynasty
had prejudiced view towards women and how they were treated as
second class citizens.
Rule no;22, 23,101
• Hierarchical development of Society based on caste
Although in Licchivi Dynasty the caste system was practiced
based on the occupation of the people but from this document we
can observe that Malla Dynasty had developed vertical classification
of the society based on caste. People were judged based on their
caste and were regarded valid or invalid in transaction sometimes
solely based on their caste.