Page:Karl Gjellerup - The Pilgrim Kamanita - 1911.djvu/70



the Sutra reads: ""

The worshipful Vajaçravas comments upon this as follows:

The divine also …' that is punishment.

"For, in the preceding Sutra, such punishments were spoken of as the king or the authorities decree upon the robber, of which are: the mutilation of hand, foot, and nose, the seething cauldron, the pitch garland, the dragon's mouth, running the gauntlet, the rack, besprinkling with boiling oil, decapitation, rending by dogs, impalement of the living body—more than sufficient reason why the robber should, if possible, not let himself be caught, but, if he should indeed have been caught, why he should in every possible way seek to escape.

"Now some people say, 'Divine punishment also threatens the robber.' 'No,' says our Sutra; and for the reason that irresponsibility comes into play. Which may be made clear in three ways: by the aid of reason, from the Veda, and from the heroic songs handed down to us.

On account of space …' by which the following consideration, founded on reason, is meant. If I cut off the head of a human being or an animal, my sword goes through between the indivisible particles; for these particles it cannot, on account of that very indivisibility, cut through. 60