According to Kautilya’s Arthashastra, which of the following are correct ?
- 1. A person could be a slave as a result of a judicial punishment.
- 2. If a female slave bore her master a son, she was legally free.
- 3. If a son born to a female slave was fathered by her master, the son was entitled to the legal status of the master’s son.
Which of the statements given above are correct ?
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3
Answer is Wrong!
Answer is Right!
This question was previously asked in
UPSC IAS – 2022
Statement 2 is correct. Arthashastra (Book III, Chapter XIII) explicitly states that if a female slave bore her master a son, both the mother and the child would gain emancipation (legally become free).
Statement 3 is incorrect. While the son born to a female slave and fathered by her master gained freedom along with his mother, he was not automatically entitled to the full legal status of a son born to the master’s free wife. Kautilya’s text deals with different types of sons and inheritance rules, and a son by a slave woman had a distinct status, though he was not a slave.