Book 1 (Concerning Discipline), Chapter XXVI: THE SUPERINTENDENT OF

Translated by R. Shamasastry (1915, public domain), 1915. Public domain.

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WHEN a person entraps, kills, or molests deer, bison, birds, and fish which are declared to be under State protection or which live in forests under State-protection (abhaydranya), he shall be punished with the highest amercement.
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Householders trespassing in forest preserves shall be punished with the middlemost amercement.
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When a person entraps, kills, or molests either fish or birds that do not prey upon other animals, he shall be fined 2634 panas; and when he does the same to deer and other beasts, he shall be fined twice as much.
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Of beasts of prey that have been captured, the Superintendent shall take one-sixth; of fish and birds (of similar nature), he shall take one-tenth or more than one-tenth; and of deer and other beasts (mrigapasu), one-tenth or more than one-tenth as toll.
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One-sixth of live animals such as birds and beasts shall be let off in forests under State-protection.
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Elephants, horses or animals having the form of a man, bull or
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an ass living in oceans as well as fish in tanks, lakes, channels and rivers; and such game-birds as krauncha (a kind of heron), utkrosaka (osprey), dátyúha (a sort of cuckoo), hamsa (flamingo), chakravdka (a brahmany duck), jivanjivaka (a kind of pheasant), bhringarája (Lanius Malabaricus), chakora (partridge), mattakokila (cuckoo), peacock, parrot, and maina (madanasárika) as well as other auspicious animals, whether birds or beasts, shall be protected from all kinds of molestations.
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Those who violate the above rule shall be punished with the first amercement.
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(Butchers) shall sell fresh and boneless flesh of beasts (mrigapasu) just killed.
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If they sell bony flesh, they shall give an equivalent compensation (pratipákam).
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If there is any diminution in weight owing to the use of a false balance, they shall give eight times the diminution.
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Cattle such as a calf, a bull, or a milch cow shall not be slaughtered.
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He who slaughters or tortures them to death shall be fined 50 panas.
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The flesh of animals which have been killed outside the slaughter-house (parisúnam), headless, legless and boneless flesh, rotten flesh, and the flesh of animals which have suddenly died shall not be sold. Otherwise a fine of 12 panas shall be imposed.
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Cattle, wild beasts, elephants (vyala), and fish living in forests under State protection shall, if they become of vicious
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nature, be entrapped and killed outside the forest preserve.

Commentary

Book 1 of Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra, Chapter XXVI. 16 paragraphs from Shamasastry's 1915 English translation. The Arthaśāstra is a treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy attributed to Kauṭilya (Cāṇakya), advisor to Chandragupta Maurya. Shamasastry's translation, the first into English, was published from his discovery of a 4th-century manuscript at the Government Oriental Library in Mysore. Modern critical editions (Olivelle 2013, Kangle 1965) are more philologically rigorous; we cite them but do not reproduce.