In British law, assault is an attempt or offer, with force and violence, to do a corporalhurt to another, as by striking at him with or without a weapon. If a person lift up or stretch forth his arm and offer to strike another, or menace any one with any staff or weapon, it is an assault in law. Assault, therefore, does not necessarily imply a hitting or blow, because in trespass for assault and battery a man may be found guilty of the assault and acquitted of the battery. But every battery includes an assault. Research Assault
Bastinado is a form of torture or punishment (often used in SMsexgames) involving beating the soles of the feet. Originally, bastinado was employed as a method of corporal punishment, consisting of blows upon the soles of the feet, applied with a stick, in the Far East. Research Bastinado
Blasphemy is the denying of the existence of God, assigning to him false attributes, or denying his true attributes; contumelious reproaches of Jesus; profane scoffing at the Holy Scriptures, or exposing them to ridicule and contempt. In Catholic countries it also includes the speaking contemptuously or disrespectfully of the Holy Virgin or the saints. By the former common law of England blasphemies of God, as denying his being and providence, all contumelious reproaches of Jesus Christ, etc, were punishable by fine and imprisonment, or corporal punishment. According to a celebrated judgment of LordHales, 'Christianity being parcel of the law of England, to reproach the Christian religion was to speak in subversion of the law;' but in a case decided in 1883 it was held that a person may attack the fundamentals of religion without being guilty of a blasphemous libel 'if the decencies of controversy are observed.' Research Blasphemy
Brahmanism is a religious and social system prevalent amongst the Hindus, and so called because it was developed and expounded by the sacerdotal caste known as the Brahmans. Brahmanism is founded on the ancient religious writings known as the Vedas and regarded as sacred revelations, of which the Brahmans as a body became custodians and interpreters, being also the officiating priests and the general directors of sacrifices and religious rites.
As the priestly caste increased in numbers and power they went on elaborating the ceremonies, and added to the Vedas other writings tending to confirm the excessive pretensions of this now predominant caste, and give them the sanction of a revelation. The earliest supplements to the Vedas are the Brahmanas, more fully explaining the functions of the officiating priests. Both together form the revealed Scriptures of the Hindus.
In time the caste of Brahmans came to be accepted as a divine institution, and an elaborate system of rules defining and enforcing by the severest penalties its place as well as that of the inferior castes was promulgated. Other early castes were the Kshattriyas or warriors, and the Vaisyas or cultivators, and it was not without a struggle that the former recognized the superiority of the Brahmans. It was by the Brahmans that the Sanskrit literature was developed;
and they were not only the priests, theologians, and philosophers, but also the poets, men of science, lawgivers, administrators, and statesmen of the Aryans of India.
The sanctity and inviolability of a Brahman are maintained by severe penalties. The murder of one of the order, robbing him, etc, are inexpiable sins; even the killing of his cow can only be expiated by a painful penance. A Brahman should pass through four states: First, as Brahmachari, or novice, he begins the study of the sacredVedas, and is initiated into the privileges and the duties of his caste. He has a right to alms, to exemption from taxes, and from capital and even corporal punishment. Flesh and eggs he is not allowed to eat. Leather, skins of animals, and most animals themselves are impure and not to be touched by him. When manhood comes he ought to marry, and as Grihastha enter the second state, which requires more numerous and minute observances. When he has begotten a son and trained him up for the holy calling he ought to enter the third state, and as Vanaprastha, or inhabitant of the forest, retire from the world for solitary praying and meditation, with severe penances to purify the spirit; but this and the fourth or last state of a Sannyasi, requiring a cruel degree of asceticism, are now seldom reached, and the whole scheme is to be regarded as representing rather the Brahmanical ideal of life than the actual facts.
The worship represented in the oldest Vedic literature is that of natural objects: the sky, personified in the god Indra; the dawn, in Ushas; the various attributes of the sun, in Vishnu, Surya, Agni, etc. These gods were invoked for assistance in the common affairs of life, and were propitiated by offerings which, at first few and simple, afterwards became more complicated and included animal sacrifices. In the later Vedic hymns a philosophical conception of religion and the problems of being and creation appears struggling into existence; and this tendency is systematically developed by the supplements and commentaries known as the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. In some of the Upanishads the deities of the old Vedic creed are treated as symbolical. Brahma, the supreme soul, is the only reality, the world is regarded as an emanation from him, and the highest good of the soul is to become united with the divine. The necessity for the purification of the soul in order to its reunion with the divine nature gave rise to the doctrine of metempsychosis or transmigration.
This philosophical development of Brahmanism gave rise to a distinct separation between the educated and the vulgar creeds. Whilst from the fifth to the first century BC the higher thinkers amongst the Brahmans were developing a philosophy which recognized that there was but one god, the popular creed had concentrated its ideas of worship round three great deities - Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, who now took the place of the confused old Vedic Pantheon. Brahma, the creator, though considered the most exalted of the three, was too abstract an idea to become a, popular god, and soon sank almost out of notice. Thus the Brahmans became divided between Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer and reproducer, and the worshippers of these two deities now form the two great religious sects of India. Siva, in his philosophical significance, is the deity mostly worshipped by the conventional Brahman, while in his aspect of the Destroyer, or in one of his female manifestations, he is the god of the low castes, and was often worshipped with degrading rites. But the highly cultivated Brahman was still a pure theist, and the educated Hindu in general professes to regard the special deity he chooses for worship as merely a form under which the One First Cause may be approached
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The sharp division of the people of India into 'civilized' Aryans and crude non-Aryans had a great influence upon Brahmanism, and thus the spiritual conceptions of the old Vedic creed were mixed in later Hinduism with superstitions and customs belonging to the so-called aboriginal races. Suttee, for example, or the burning of widows, has no authority in the Veda, but like most of the darker features of Hinduism is the result of a compromise which the Brahmanical teachers had to make with the non-Aryan races in India. The Buddhist religion has also had an important influence on the Brahmanic.
The system of caste originally no doubt represented distinctions of race. The early classification of the people was that of 'twice-born' Aryans (priests, warriors, husbandmen) and once-born non-Aryans (serfs); but intermarriages, giving rise to a mixed progeny, and the variety of employments in later times, profoundly modified this simple classification. Innumerable minor distinctions have grown up, so that amongst the Brahmans alone there are several hundred castes who traditionally cannot intermarry or eat food cooked by each other.
The Brahmans represent the highest culture of India, and as the result of centuries of education and self-restraint have evolved a type of man considered by the West as distinctly superior to the castes around them. They still had great influence at the start of the 20th century, and occupied the highest places at the courts of princes. Many, however, were driven by need or other motives into trades and employments inconsistent with the original character of their caste. Research Brahmanism
Corporal Punishment is the striking or beating of a person as punishment. Caning in schools is corporal punishment, and is a subject of continuous debate as to whether or not it should be allowed. In the past in England certain criminals were whipped, such as incorrigible rogues, perpetrators of robbery with violence and larceny. The whipping of women was banned in England in 1820. Research Corporal Punishment
CP (corporal punishment) is a sexual activity forming a mild form of SM (sado-masochism) in which one or both partners typically spank the bottom of the other. variations include the use of slippers, belts, riding crops, spoons, hair brushes and other instruments in place of the usual flat of the hand. The positions may also be varied, though typically one partner sits and takes the other across their knee. Research CP
A dominatrix is a woman who plays the dominant role in sexgames, typically those of a bondage, sado-masochistic or slave and master variety. Usually, a dominatrix is depicted in black leather, frequently with a military-style peaked cap, thigh length, stiletto heeled boots and a whip, and the sexgames are of a sado-masochistic nature, the other participant or participants being known as submissives or 'subs', and being subjected to degrees of humiliation or ordering about by the dominatrix.
The dominatrix is a popular figure in sexgames, particularly among executive business men who find their daily lives an endless stress of decision making, and appreciate having the responsibility for making decisions taken away from them for a short while during an effective role-reversal recreation.
Sexgames involving the dominatrix traverse the spectrum of sado-masochism and slave-master sex from the benign - such as being ordered which sexual positions to adopt, through body worship (being instructed to kiss the dominatrix feet and other parts of the body), through the more strict corporal punishment involving spanking, caning, whipping etc and also varying levels of humiliation. Typical humiliation games include the submissive participant or participants being ordered to crawl about like a dog, being handcuffed, tied or otherwise restrained in bondage, and may involve the submissive male participant being dressed in women's clothes, or being ordered to clean the floor or even toilet bowl with their tongue.
During such games the submissives always refer to the dominatrix as 'mistress' or 'madam', and maintain a suitably servile and submissive nature, unless deliberately courting 'correction' for misbehaviour or cheekiness. Research Dominatrix
Sado-masochism is a form of sexual activity involving actual or simulated pain so as to enhance sexual pleasure. Various forms are common, including at the gentle end of the spectrum back scratching during intercourse, through corporal punishment (spanking) and flagellation, ranging to the use of devices such as nipple clamps, whips, and more severe forms of pain. It should be emphasised that the whole point of sado-masochism is not of pain, but of pleasure for all (usually two) parties involved. The popular misconception that sado-masochism is about hurting one's partner is a naive fallacy. Rather, due to the complex nature of the relationship between pain and pleasure centres in the brain, many people find a little pain during sexual intercourse enhances their pleasure - for example having their back scratched. Generally, parties involved in sado-masochistic sexual activities enjoy both the dominant and receptive roles, and may also partake of other associated sexual activities such as bondage, slave and master games, humiliation and so on. Flagellation as a means of sexual activity, either solo for masturbation or with other parties has been practised for thousands of years, and was formerly (and may still be) very popular with religious recluses and monks. Under current UK law, any form of sado-masochistic sexual activity partaken of between consenting adults, in private or otherwise is illegal, and constitutes assault (the law stating that one cannot consent to assault unless in a sports scenario, such as boxing). Research Sado-masochism
A lictor was a Roman civil officer, who attended upon the consuls or other chief magistrates when they appeared in public. Lictors executed the orders of the magistrate, especially where force was required, cleared the way before him, and dispersed a crowd when it impeded public business. It was the duty of the
lictors to inflictcorporal and capital punishment. Research Lictor
Clive Dunn is an English actor. He was born in 1920. Entering acting in 1936 during the Second World War he served with the 4th Hussars, was captured and spent four years in a POW camp in Austria. After the war he returned to acting, and in the 1960s developed his role playing old men in the series Bootsie and Snudge before in 1968 being cast as the elderly Lance-corporalJones in the BBC TV series 'Dad's Army', a role for which he won the OBE. Research Clive Dunn
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Assault
