Vyavahara and Prayashchitta: Civil and Criminal Law, Penance, and Atonement
This domain tests the structure of legal procedure, the eighteen titles of vyavahara, evidence, and the separate logic of prayashchitta.
Vyavahara
Manu and Narada list eighteen titles, including debt, deposits, sale without ownership, partnerships, resumption of gifts, non-payment of wages, boundary disputes, assault, defamation, theft, robbery, adultery, and inheritance. Procedure moves from plaint and reply to evidence and judgment. Evidence includes documents, witnesses, possession, and, in some texts, ordeals. The king's court enforces the decision.
Prayashchitta
Prayashchitta is expiation for sin, not a substitute for legal penalty. It is graded by intention, the act, and the offender's capacity, and may involve fasting, japa, homa, gifts, pilgrimage, or service. Secret sins may be expiated privately; public crimes also require royal punishment.
Worked example. A man steals grain. The court may order restitution and punishment; the shastra may also prescribe a penance for the inner fault. Paying the penalty does not automatically remove the sin, and performing penance does not cancel the crime. The reasoning keeps two jurisdictions distinct: royal justice and ritual-ethical purification.
Traps. Do not reduce vyavahara to criminal law; do not list eighteen titles from memory without checking the text; do not make ordeals the normal proof; do not confuse prayashchitta with punishment; do not say penance erases legal liability.