Examination of Sudden Death

Examination of Sudden Death, which has been discussed in the chapter VII of Book IV in Arthashastra, provides a long and well explained procedure for treating the corpse. According to the Examination of Sudden Death the corpse shall be smeared with oil and examined. It leaves a number of signs of identification with which the cause of death shall be detected.

Examination of Sudden Death as such recognises that the bodies which have swollen body parts and swollen organs have been usually dying due to suffocation ;any person with contracted arms and thighs may be regarded as having being killed in hanging ; person with swollen hands, legs, and protruding eyes have been dying due to hanging ; any person with bitten tongue between teeth and stiff stomach is a case of death due to drowning; those having blood marks and marks of strangling are usually the cases of accidental deaths. Further persons killed with broken arms and limbs have been thrown off while the dead bodies turning blue in colour and complexion is due to poisoning the person before death. As such the chapter recognises nine types of unconventional deaths which need to be scrutinised under perfect supervision.

Examination of sudden death also mentions that death can be due to punishments when the prisoner has been too severe. Overall all kinds of sudden deaths usually centre around causes like offence to women or kinsmen, claiming inheritances, professional competition, hatred against rivals, commerce, guilds and any one of the legal disputes is the cause of anger and anger is the cause of death. In case the deceased was brought by any third person, queries like who brought him, who was with him etc will be the issues of query.

Thus, the rules explained in this chapter have been crucial for they will help to assess the level of criminality and the level of punishments of severe nature which has been administered by the state. As such the verification of the death remains important as it will decide the funeral rites.

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