Chapter XIV. Ordeals

Volume III pp. 361–378

Chapter XIV. Ordeals

A brief history of ordeals may be set out here. Rg. I. 158. 4-5, wherein⁵⁶¹ the sage Dirghatamas, son of Ucatha, prays that the fire of faggots heaped tenfold may not burn him and that the rivers in which he was thrown bound hand and foot may not engulf him, are regarded by some as a reference to the ordeal of fire and water. Yet in those verses there is probably no reference to ordeals, but to the cruel treatment of Dirghatamas by dāsas headed by Traitana. Rg. III. 53. 22 also, where it⁵⁶² is said 'he heats the axe (or acc to Sāyana 'just as the tree is injured by contact with the axe &c')', does not contain a clear or certain reference to the ordeal of holding the heated axe. Atharvaveda⁵⁶³ II. 12 is held by several Western scholars to contain a reference to the fire ordeal. This also is far from certain, though verse 8 may lend some support to that view.⁵⁶⁴ The Pañcavimśa (or Tāṇḍya) Brāhmaṇa 14. 6. 6 refers⁵⁶⁵ to the story of Vatsa, who was abused by his step-brother that the former was the son of a śūdra woman, against which Vatsa protested, urged that he was a brāhmaṇa, entered fire to prove the truth of his assertion and came out of fire unscatheḍ This is referred to by Manu VIII. 116. This is probably the earliest and clearest reference in ancient Sanskrit Literature to the fire ordeal Next comes the reference to holding in the hand the heated head of an axe by a person accused of theft to prove his innocence contained in the Chāndogya⁶ Upaniṣad VI 16 1. Āp. Dh S. II. 11. 29 6 refers to inference and divine proof (quoted above ṇ 542). In another place (II 5. 11. 3) Āpastamba states that after carefully considering (the charge before him) by means of divine proof and questioning (of witnesses) the king should set about awarding punishment Śankha-Likhita (n 552) name four ordeals, viz those of balance, poison, water and holding red-hot iron⁷. Manu VIII. 114 mentions only two viz. the holding of fire (i e. red-hot iron) in the hand or plunging in water, but Nār. IV. 251 states that Manu declared five kinds of ordealṣ Yāj II 95, Viṣṇu Dh. S. IX-XIV and Nār. IV. 252 mention five viz. balance, fire, water, poison and kośa (consecrated water). Nārada, however, knew two more viz. taplamāsa (IV. 343) and tandula (IV. 337). Bṛhaspati (S. B E. vol. 33 p. 315 verses 4 and 5) and Pītāmaha speak of nine (Aparārka pp. 628, 694 respectively ).

Yāj II. 95-113, Viṣṇu Dh. S IX-XIV, Nār. IV. 239-348, Kāt. 411-461, Śukra IV. 5. 233-270 treat of the several ordeals Pītāmaha contained, as the quotations from the digests show, the most elaborate treatment That ordeals had attained great vogue in the early centuries of the Christian era is shown by the Mṛcchakaṭika Act IX. 43 (where the ordeals of poison, water, balance and fire are expressly named) and by Bāṇa who mentions the same four in Kādambarī, para 47⁸. Among the digests and commentaries the Mitākṣarā, the Smṛticandrikā, the Divyatattva of Raghunandana, the Vyavahāramayūkha and the Vyavahāraprakāśa contain the most elaborate treatment of ordeals⁹. Divya is defined as ‘that which decides a matter (in dispute) not determined by human means of proof’ (V. Mayukha) or ‘that which decides what cannot be or is not to be decided by human means of proof’ (Divyatattva ¹⁰ p. 574). Medhātithi on Manu VIII 116 discusses the question how ordeals can be relied upon for the discovery of truth. The objection is raised that fire and water are natural forces that act in a uniform way and are not intelligent beings which may change their minds by an appeal to theṃ Therefore, the objector says, ordeals and oaths are like magic and are only meant to frighten the parties into telling the truth. It is further objected that thieves may (by some trick) not be burnt in the fire ordeal and good men are seen to suffer burnṣ The reply is: the usefulness of ordeals cannot be negatived by these examples of failures, as they are not frequent and as even direct perception and inference sometimes lead to uncertain resultṣ No one, however, says that these latter should not be relied upoṇ Just as one relies on witnesses in deciding a matter (who may for aught one knows be telling lies), so reliance can be placed on ordealṣ Where there is failure in case of ordeals, it must be held to be due to the results of the performer’s actions in past liveṣ The general rule as stated by Yāj. II 22, Nār. II 29, IV. 239, Bṛhas- pati¹¹, Kāt. (217) and Pītāmaha is that ordeals were to be resorted to only if no human evidence (witnesses, documents, possession) or circumstantial evidence was available. Kāt. (218-219) prescribes that ¹² if one party relies on human means of proof and the other on divine proof, the king (or judge) is to accept human means and not divine and that if human means of proof reach (i.e. are able to establish) only a part of the allegations (in the plaint), then human means should be accepted and no divine modes of proof, even though they may be complete (i.e. completely cover all allegations). When Nār. II 30 (= IV. 241) states that divine means of proof are to be resorted to when a transaction takes place in a forest, in a lonely place, at night, inside a house, in cases of sūhasa and when a deposit is denied, or when Kāt (230) prescribes that trial by ordeals is to be resorted to in the case of persons accused of committing sūhasa in secret (i.e. by wearing masks &c. ),¹³ those words only apply where it is impossible to have human evidence. Kāt. (229) states an exception to this viz. when the dispute¹⁴ investigated is about sūhasa or about assault or abuse and defamation and in causes that spring from the use of force there is an option that witnesses or divine proof may be resorted to. Nār. 1V. 242 states that divine proof could be resorted to when the chastity of women was in question, in theft and sūhasa and in all cases of the denial of monetary liability. Sītā’s ordeal of fire at once comes to mind as an illustration of Nārada’s rule. Bṛhaspati¹⁵ and Pitāmaha say that in disputes about immoveable property divine proof should be avoided, which does not forbid divya altogether, but only where the evidence of neighbours or of a document is available and that in the latter case even if the defendant offers to pay a fine if he fails by the divine proof, divya is not to be resorted to. The ordinary rule was that ordeals were to be administered to the defendant¹⁶ (Kāt. 411 = Viṣṇu Dh. S. IX. 21). But Yāj II. 96 gives an option that any one of the two litigants may by mutual agreement undergo an ordeal and the other should agree to pay on defeat a fine or undergo physical punishment. This means that human proof is adduced to prove a positive proposition, that divine proof may be resorted to prove a negative proposition as well (e. g. a defendant denying the claim for a debt may prove by divya that he did not borrow a loan ). Making an offer to pay a fine or undergo corporal punishment is said to be being śirsakastha¹⁷ or śirastha (in Yaj. 95, Viṣṇu Dh. S IX. 20, 22, Pitāmaha, Nār IV. 257, Kāt. 412–413) Yaj. II 95 prescribes that the ordeals of balance, fire, poison and water were to be prescribed in disputes of great value and not elsewhere and II. 99 he says that all claims above 1000 panas (of copper) are to be regarded as of great value, but in charges of treason and of the committing of any one of the five grave sins (mahāpātakas) any one of these four ordeals may be resorted to without regard to value and without any offer to pay fine on defeat. So also these four ordeals were to be offered to the defendant where the plaintiff offered to pay a fine on defeat. The ordeal of kośa was allowed in all claims whether of high value or low value or whether the plaintiff offered to pay a fine on defeat or not.

Yaj. II. 98 states that the ordeal of balance should be given to women, a minor (under 16), a very old person (above eighty years), the blind, the cripple, brāhmaṇas and the diseased; the fire ordeal (i. e. heated ploughshare and heated māsa) to kṣatriyas, water ordeal to vaiśyas, poison to śūdraṣ Nār. IV. 335 assigns ordeals to the different varṇas similarly. Nār IV. 256 prescribes that ordeals should not be undergone by those who are observing a vow, who are much distressed or who are performing austerities, and by women Pitāmaha quoted by Mit. (on Yaj. II. 98) adds minors and old persons to these. The Sṃ C. II p. 103 explains this as referring to the ordeals of fire, poison and water only. Another Smṛti (q. by Mit on Yaj. II. 98) prescribes that the ordeals of balance and kośamay be offered to women, minors and the others mentioned above. There is in all these rules a spirit of tolerance, kindness and concern for the weaknesses of mankinḍ Kāt (423) holds ⁵⁷⁸ that persons of the higher castes who are cowherds, traders, artisans, bards, domestic servants and usurers should be given ordeals as if they were śūdraṣ Kāt (422) allows all ordeals to members of all castes, except that brāhmaṇas are not to undergo the poison ordeal. Kāt. (424–426) prescribes that the ordeal of fire should not be offered to blacksmiths or those who are leprous nor of water to those who ply boats or who suffer from difficulty in breathing or cough, nor poison to those who are experts in incantations and yogic practices or who suffer from (excess of) bile or phlegm, nor kośa to those who are drunkards, to persons fond of women, to gamblers and to those who are atheistṣ Viṣṇu Dh. S. IX, 25, 29 and Nār IV. 255, 332 contain similar provisionṣ Kāt (427-430) further provides that no ordeal should be allowed to be performed personally by the following persons, viz. those charged with the murder of their father, mother, a brāhmaṇa, their teacher, a minor, a woman and the king; those guilty of the (five) grave sins; particularly those that are atheists; those who wear (or subsist by) peculiar sect marks; great rogues; those who are experts in incantations and yoga practices; those who are the progeny of unions of persons of different varṇas; those who repeatedly engage in sin; in the case of these the king should offer ordeals to good men appointed by them on their behalf and if such good men are not willing then they should appoint their own relativeṣ Śaṅkha-Likhita also refer to the appointment of friends or relatives as representatives (Aparārka p. 842)¹⁹ Kāt (433)²⁰ lays down the following rather remarkable pro-vision, viz. when untouchables, men of lowest castes, slaves, mlecchas and those born of mixed unions in the reverse order of the castes are guilty of crimes, the determination of their guilt (by the above mentioned ordeals) should not be made by among theṃ The Sṃ C and Par M say that this applies only when they cannot secure relatives or other persons appointed by them to undergo the usual ordeals on their behalf. The Vyavahāratattva (p. 579) explains that the ordeals referred to among mlecchas and others are the snake in the jar and the like. This seems to have consisted in taking out a ring or coin with the hand from a jar in which a snake was placed; if there was no snake-bite or no effect even if the snake bit, the person was declared innocent. Vide note 580. Yāj. II. 97 and Nār. IV. 268, 320 prescribe that all ordeals are to be administered by the chief justice in the morning at sunrise or in the forenoon in the presence of the king, the sabhyas and brāhmaṇaṣ The Mit. adds that a Sunday is the proper day according to the usage of respectable people (śiṣṭas). Pitāmaha specially provides that the water ordeal should be administered in the noon and poison in the last watch of the night (Mit. on Yāj. II. 97). Certain seasons and months were either appropriate or inappropriate to certain ordeals e. g. Nār. IV. 254 states that the fire ordeal should be given in the rainy season, balance in the winter (śiśira), water in summer, poison when the season is cool Nār. IV. 259 prohibits water ordeal in the cold season, fire in summer, poison in the rainy season and balance while the wind blows violently. The Mit. (on Yāj. II. 97) and Par. M. III. 162 quote Pitāmaha to the effect that the months of Caitra, Vaiśākha and Mārgāśirṣa are common to all ordeals, kośa and balance may be administered in all monthṣ

As regards the place, Pitāmaha prescribes that ordeals are to be administered by the king or the judge appointed by the king in the presence of learned brāhmaṇas and the public (or the ministers)²¹. Kāt. (434-35 and 437) provides:²² ‘ordeals should be administered in some well-known temple in the case of men accused of grave sins and near the royal gate in the case of of those charged with treason; in a public place where four roads meet in the case of those born of mixed unions in the reverse order of castes, in cases other than these in the hall of justice. When ordeals are administered in an improper place or at an improper time and when they are performed outside human habitation (in a lonely place) they fail as to the matter in hand (i. e. they cease to be decisive). Nār IV 265 prescribes that the balance should be planted in the hall of justice or at the royal gate or near a temple or where four roads meet.

The procedure common to all ordeals and described in the Mit on Yaj II 97 and 99, the V May pp 52–55, V P. pp 183–186 (all relying on Pitāmaha) and Vyavahāra-nirņaya pp 148–53 (relying on Prajāpati, Pitāmaha, Br ) is briefly as follows—In ordeals the chief justice is to do every thing at the king's bidding as the adhvaryu priest does in all sacrifices He should observe a fast and the śodhya (person undergoing the ordeal to clear himself) is also to do the same. Both are to bathe in the morning and the śodhya was to have his wet clothes oṇ The Chief Judge is to invoke the gods to the accompaniment of music and to offer flowers, sandal-wood paste and incense He should fold his hands, face the east and invoke Dharma to be present at the ordeal (Dharma being the principal deity in ordeals) and assign places to Indra, Yama, Varuna and Kubera in the four principal quarters from the east and to Agni and other guardians of quarters in the corners of the principal quarterṣ He is to contemplate on the eight deities of the eight quarters as having different colours (viz Indra as yellow, Yama as dark &c.) He is to assign the eight Vasus (repeating their names) to the south of Indra, the twelve Ādityas (repeating their names) between Indra and Īsāna (i e. between east and north-east), assign a place to the eleven Rudras to the west of Agni, assign a place to the seven Mother goddesses between Yama and Nirrti (between south and south-west), assign a place to Ganeśa to the north of Nirrti, to the Maruts (seven) to the north of Varuna; to the north of the balance ('or the place of other ordeals') he should invoke Durgā. All these deities are to be invoked with appropriate Vedic mantras (set out in V. May.) He should offer the several items of worship from arghya (water offered by way of honour) to ornament to Dharma (as the principal deity) and then to the subsidiary deities from Indra to Durgā (according to appropriateness ) and then sandalwood paste, flowers, incense, lamp and navedya to the deities from Dharma to Durgā The flowers for Dharma are to be reḍ Up to this is the work of the Chief Justice. Sacrificial priests should offer into fire in the four quarters 108 oblations of clarified butter, boiled rice and fuel sticks with syllable Om and the Gāyatī i and with ‘Om’ and ‘svāhā’ at the end of each. Having written down on a leaf the subject matter for which the party is undergoing ordeal the leaf should be placed on the head of the śodhya with the mantra, ²³ ‘the sun, the moon, the wind, fire, heaven and earth, waters, the heart, Yama, day and night, the two twi- lights and Dharma know (see or mark) the deeds of men’.

The several ordeals will now be briefly describeḍ

First comes tulā or dhāta (balance) A sacrificial tree (such as khadira or udumbara) should be cut to the accompaniment of vedic mantras (employed in making a sacrificial post). Two wooden posts made of that tree should support a trans- verse beam (called akṣa). The posts should be fixed in the ground, the part above ground being four cubits and that below being two cubitṣ This frame should face the east (i. e. the posts must be in the south and north). Then the beam of the balance was to be made from the same tree and was to be suspended from the transverse beam of the frame by means of a hook. Three iron rings were to be fastened to the beam of the balance, two at the end and one in the middle for suspending the balance from the transverse beam by means of a chain or string. Two scales were to be suspended at the two ends of the beam by hooks and strings from the iron rings fixed at the ends of the beam On the two sides of the balance there should be two arches in which the scales should move and which should be ten angulas higher than the balance. There should be two perpendicular pendants made of clay hanging down from the arches and touching the upper surface of the balance In the pan to the west the śodhya should be placed and weighed against clay, bricks and stones placed in the other paṇ Then traders or goldsmiths or braziers should examine the balance and bring it on a level with the two pendants hanging down from the arches and examine the perfect horizontality of the beam of the balance by spilling a little water on the beaṃ When the person sitting in one pan is equal in weight to the materials (clay &c) in the other, a line should be drawn with chalk by the experts on the arch (to show the exact position of the pans). Then the man is made to get down from the pan and he is to invoke the balance as stated in Yāj. II. 101-102. 'O balance, you are the abode of truth, you were created by the gods for this purpose, declare the truth, free me from this (cloud of) suspicioṇ Mother! if I am a sinner then take me lower, if I am pure take me upwards'. The person is then to hear exhortations about the result of untruth after putting the writing on his head (vide Nār. IV. 276 and Viṣṇu Dh. S. X. 9), then he is again to be placed in the pan to the accompaniment of invocations (Nār. IV. 278-279, Viṣṇu Dh. S. X 10-11). A worthy brāhmaṇa learned in astronomy is to calculate the time of five palas ²⁴ or vînāḍīs Then his weight is again to be markeḍ If the person goes up (i. e is found lighter than what he formerly weighed) he is declared innocent (acc. to the coṃ on Nār. IV. 283, V. Mayūkha p. 60, Dīpakalikā on Yāj. II. 102 ); if he weighs the same or goes down (i. e. weighs more) he is guilty. Then the person concerned is to distribute gifts to the judge, the brāhmaṇas and sacrificial priests and take leave of the deities invoked Bṛhaspati (SBE vol. 33 p 317 v. 19) states that he who weighs the same should be weighed once more. If the pan or the beam or the hooks break or the ropes give way owing to some visible cause then the procedure was to be repeated, but if the breaking is due to an unseen cause or accident, the person was to be declared guilty.

The ordeal of fire is as follows :-Nine circles with cowdung are to be drawn from west to east, they being meant for Agni, Varuņa, Vāyu, Yama, Indra, Kubera, Soma, Savitṛ and all godṣ Each circle was to be 16 aṅgulas in diameter and the space between two circles was to be 16 aṅgulaṣ In each circle kuśa grass was to be spread and the person to be tested was to plant his feet on them; ghee was to be offered into fire 108 times A blacksmith by birth should heat in fire a ball of iron weighing 50 palas (16 palas ²⁵ in the case of a weak man ) and eight III] angulas in length till it becomes red-hot and emits sparkṣ Then all the details described above ending with the placing of the writing on the head of the śodhya are to be gone through by the judge and the fire (in the red-hot piece) is to be invoked with several mantras (such as Yāj. II. 104²⁶ and Viṣṇu Dh. S. XI 11–12). The śodhya should stand in the first circle facing the east. Having made red marks on all sores of the hands of the śodhya on which grains of rice have been rubbed, he (the judge) should place seven leaves of the aśvattha tree on them and also grains of rice and curds and should fasten round them threads Then the judge should carry the red-hot iron piece by means of a pair of tongs and place it in the hands of the śodhya (that are covered with leaves). Then the śodhya holding in both his hands the red-hot piece should walk from the first to the eighth circle not hurriedly but slowly and at ease. Having reached the 8th²⁷ circle he should throw the red-hot iron piece on to the 9th circle. Then the judge should rub on the hands of the śodhya rice grains and when the latter shows no hesitation at the rubbing and no injury on his hand at the end of the day he is declared to be innocent. Kāt. (441) and Yāj. II 107 provide that if the red-hot piece falls earlier (i. e. before reach- ing the 8th circle) or there is a doubt (whether his hands are injured or not) or if he loses his footing or is burnt elsewhere than on the hands he should again undergo the ordeal.

The ordeal of water as described in the smṛtis and digests is rather complicateḍ The Sṃ C. (II. p. 116) remarks that²⁸ as the ordeals of water and poison had gone out of vogue (in its day) it passes over the procedure of these and takes up the description of kośa ordeal after the fire ordeal. Having gone to a reservoir of water the judge should get erected on its bank a toraṇa (an arch) as high as the ear of the śodhya on an even and cowdunged plot. He should offer worship to Varuṇa (Lord of waters), to a bow of middling size and to three arrows (the points of which are made not of iron but of bamboo) with sandal paste, incense, lamp, flowers A target is to be fixed at the distance of 150 hastas (cubits) from the torana A post of some sacred tree is to be fixed in the water and a strong man of one of the three higher castes free from love or hatred for the śodhya is to stand in navel-deep water facing the east and holding the post. Then the judge is to make the śodhya stand in water, invoke the deities from Dharma to Durga, perform all the rites up to the placing of the writing ( embodying the accusation ) on the head of the śodhya. A kṣatriya or a brāhmaṇa following the profession of arms who is of a pure heart and has observed a fast should discharge, while standing near the root of the torana, three arrows at the target. The śodhya should invoke the water with the mantra, ‘O Varuna ! save me by means of truth' ( Yāj. II 108 )²⁹. Then a young but swift man should run to the spot where the second arrow struck the ground, and stand there holding that arrow in his hanḍ Another swift man stands at the root of the torana whence the arrows were dischargeḍ Then the judge claps his hands thrice. At the third clap the śodhya dives into the water seizing the thighs of the man standing in water and at the same time the swift man near the arch runs at his best speed to the place where the second arrow fell The other man who holds the arrow starts off the moment he reaches him and comes running to the arch If he does not see the śodhya or sees only his head ( i. e. the back of the head ) when he reaches the arch the śodhya is to be declared innocent; but if he sees other parts of the head ( such as the ear or nose &c. ) or if the śodhya floats to some part other than the one where he dived he is not innocent

Ordeal of poison After worshipping Mahēśvara with incense³⁰ and the like ( mentioned above ) poison, a placed before the image of Mahēśvara is to be administered in the prose gods and brāhmaṇas The poison to be selected is śārñga (derived from the śrñga plant) or vatsanābha (aconite) or haimavata (Viṣṇu Dh. S. XIII 3, Nāṟ. IV. 322 &c.). Pitāmaha (q. by Aparārka p. 712) treats the three as distinct, while Yāj. II. 111 appears to prescribe śārñga growing on the Himālaya as the poison to be selecteḍ Viṣṇu Dh S. (XIII, 2-3) also does the same. In the rains the quantity of poison is to be six yavas in weight, in summer five, in hemanta (and śiśira) seven or eight and in śarad (autumn) less than the latter (i. e. six yavas acc. to Mit. and three acc. to V. Mayūkha). Poison is to be administered in the last watch of the night and never in the noon or after- noon or twilight; it was to be mixed with ghee thirty times as much. It may be administered to any one except a brāh- maņa. Viṣṇu Dh. S. XIII. 6-7 and Nāṟ. IV. 325 are mantras with which the judge invokes poison and Yāj. II. 110 is the mantra which the śodhya repeats before taking poison viz. 'O poison! thou art the son of Brahmā, thou art firm in the duty of (deciding) the truth. Save me from this accusation and be like nectar to me by truth (if I be innocent)'. Nāṟ. IV. 326 states that then the śodhya should eat the poison, should be kept in shade without food and guarded the rest of the day and if he discloses no signs of the effect of poison should be declared innocent. If the dose of poison is large, the Mit. (on Yāj II. 111) says that when the śodhya shows no change till five hundred clappings of hands then he should be declared to be innocent and medical treatment should be resorted to. Pitā- maha says that, in order to prevent fraud, for three or five nights before the ordeal the intending śodhya should be kept under the supervision of the king's servants and an examination should be made whether medicines, incantations or precious stones that are antidotes are secretly employeḍ

The ordeal of kośa. The śodhya is made to worship the stern deities (such as Rudra, Durgā, Āditya) with sandal wood paste, flowers etc. and made to bathe the images with water. Then the judge asks the śodhya to invoke the consecrated water with the mantra 'satyena mābhurakṣa' (Yāj. II. 108) and makes him drink three handfuls (prasṛti ) of that water. Pitāmaha gives some special ruleṣ The water may be that of the bath of the image of that god of which the śodhya is a devotee or if he holds all images in equal esteem, then of the Suṇ In the case of Durgā it is her spike (śūla) that is to be bathed, the orb in the case of the Sun and the weapons in the case of other gods The water of the bath of Durgā is to be offered as ordeal to thieves and those who live by the profession of arms and the water of the bath of the Sun is not to be given to brāhmaṇas In other divyas the result is declared immediately, but in the kośa ordeal there is a period of waiting which is more or less according to the value of the claim or the gravity of the offence Acc to Yāj. II 113, Viṣṇu Dh S 14. 4-5, Nār. IV, 330, if within fourteen days of taking the kośa ordeal the śodhya does not suffer any serious calamity due to the king's action or the act of God or does not fall seriously ill or does not lose by death his son or wife or other dear relative or his wealth, then he is to be declared innocent Insignificant loss or illness did not matter as it is unavoidable in this worlḍ Besides, the calamity or illness must not be one common to several people (such as an epidemic). Drinking holy water (kośapāna) was employed not only as an ordeal for proving innocence, but it was resorted to also for assuring another about one's good will and future honesty (vide Rājat V. 326 ).

Ordeal of Tandula (rice grains). It is to be administered in charges of theft or disputes about debts or other monetary matterṣ On the preceding day grains of rice should be made white ( i e. husked ). The judge should perform all the rites on the previous day. The rice grains should be placed in an earthen vessel, exposed to the sun, water of the bath of (the image of) the sun should be poured over them in the vessel and the vessel should be kept in that state the whole night The next day in the morning the śodhya should swallow thrice the rice grains He should be made to spit on a pippala or birch leaf. If blood is found mixed in his saliva he should be declared guilty.

Ordeal of taptamāsa (heated piece of gold). In a vessel of copper, iron or clay sixteen angulas in diameter and four angulas deep, the judge should get twenty palas of ghee and oil poured and heat it to the boiling point. Then the judge should cast into it a golden piece weighing one māsaka (equal to five guñjās). The śodhya should take out the heated golden piece with the thumb and the next two fingerṣ If he does not jerk his fingers or there is no scalded skin he should be declared to be innocent There is another methoḍ Cow's ghee should be poured in a vessel of gold, silver, copper, iron or clay and it should be heated to the boiling point so that when a green leaf is cast into it the sound ‘churu’ is produceḍ Into the boiling ghee he should cast a golden, silver, copper or iron seal ring once washeḍ Then he should invoke the ghee with this mantra ‘O ghee! thou art the holiest thing in sacrifices, thou art nectar; burn him (the śodhya) if he is a sinner; be cool as ice if he be innocent.’ Then the śodhya takes out the ring from the boiling ghee. If there are no marks of scalding on his forefinger he is innocent

Ordeal by phāla (ploughshare). This is described by Bṛhaspati (S. B. E. vol. 33 p. 318 verse 28) quoted by the Smṛ. C. II. p. 119, V. P. p. 218 and otherṣ A ploughshare of iron weighing twelve palas, eight angulas long and four broad should be made red-hot and the thief should be made to lick it once with his tongue. If he is not burnt he establishes his innocence; if otherwise, he is guilty. The Vyavahāratattva (p. 608) mentions that acc. to Maithila writers the thief meant is a cattle-lifter. The ordeal mentioned in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad is a phāla divya.

Ordeal of dharma (i. e. of the images or pictures of Dharma). Men guilty of causing bodily injuries or who have monetary disputes or who desire to undergo this ordeal as an expiation for sins should undergo thiṣ A silver image of Dharma and a leaden or iron one of Adharma should be prepared or the judge should draw on a birch leaf or a piece of cloth figures or pictures of Dharma and Adharma respectively white and dark in colour. Having sprinkled pañcagavya over the two, he should worship them with white and dark flowers respectively. The images or figures should then be placed in two balls of clay or cowdung. The two balls should be then placed inside a new earthen vessel in a cowdunged spot in the presence of images of gods and in the presence of brāhmaṇaṣ Then the judge should perform all the rites from the invocation of Dharma to the placing of the writing on the heaḍ The śodhya should repeat the words ‘ if I am free from guilt may (the image or picture of ) Dharma come to my hands’. Saying this he should take out one ball from the vessel. If he takes out Dharma he is innocent. This resembles the drawing of lotṣ

Ordeals played their part in the judicial systems of most ancient countrieṣ In early England handling of red-hot iron and plunging the hand in boiling water were the commonest ordealṣ In the ordeal of water sinking was a sign of innocence and floating of guilt. Stephens (History of Criminal Law of England, vol I p 73) suggests that the ordeal of water was a form of honourable suicide. The Assize of Northampton (1176 A. D.) prescribed the ordeal of water for murder, robbery, theft, forgery and arson, but ordeals were abolished in England from 1215 A. D. (ibid. vol I p. 300) In India³¹ there is epigra- phic and other evidence to show that ordeals were resorted to till the end of the 18th century and rarely even later. In the Kittur Pillar Inscription (J. B. B R A. S vol IX. pp. 307-309) dated in Kaliyuga era 4289 in the reign of Kadamba king Jayakeśīdeva there is a description of the phaladivya which was administered by mutual agreement on Sunday to an ācārya Śivaśakti who had a dispute about a plot of land with Kalyāna- śakti the ācārya of another shrine and whose hand was examined the next day after he underwent the ordeal by all the bankers of the agrahāra village Degāve In the Silīmpur stone slab Inscription of the time of Jayapāladeva (E. I vol XIII. p. 283 at p. 291-292) there is a reference to the ordeal of balance ³² (about 1200 A. D.). The Vispukundin king Mādhava-varman in the 7th century A. D. (Journal of Andhra Historical Research Society, vol. VI pp. 17, 20, 24) is said to have carried out various ordeals ( avasita-vruddha-divyah ). The E. C. vol. III (Māndya Taluka Inṣ No. 79 p. 47) records that a dispute having arisen about the boundaries of land bestowed by means of a copperplate grant by the Hoysala king Vira-Narasimhadeva, one Kannaya, a descendant of the original donee, performed an ordeal by holding consecrated food in the presence of the God Hoysaleśvara in the capital Dorasamudra and came out successful. E. C. IV. p. 27 (Yelandur Jagir Inṣ No. 2 page 27, about 1580 A. D.) is a charter to potters whose headmen under-went the ordeal of dipping their hands in boiling ghee as against barbers and washermen who denied that potters could pare their toe nails and tie on upper cloth (at the time of marriage). In the Indian Antiquary for 1931 (vol. 60 p 179) an extract is cited from the Archæological Report for Travancore 1930 which describes the balance ordeal undergone by a brāhmaṇa 18 years before and seen by the writer himself in the temple of Śiva at Calicut. For the ordeal of red-hot ploughshare in the case of thefts, vide Report of South Indian Epigraphy for 1907, para. 27.

In the times of the Maratha kings ordeals were resorted to. For example, in ‘Peshwa’s Diaries’ vol. 2 p. 150 (in 1764-65 A. D.) mention is made of taptakaṭāha ordeal (i. e. taking out a coin or ring or a piece of metal from a large vessel in which either water or oil or ghee had been brought to the boiling point) in which the person undergoing it had his right hand burnt up to the middle joints of the fingers and was declared to be false. In a Marathi publication called ‘Vatanpatrem, nivādapatrem &c’ pp. 46-56 edited by P. V. Mavjee and D. B. Parasnis (1909) there is a document which describes in great detail the ordeal of fire undergone in connection with a dispute about the office and emoluments of Deshpande in the district of Kalyan in śake 1666 Pausa bright 11th, Thursday (1745 A. D.). It is stated therein that the ordeal was performed on the tank of the sacred river Godāvari at Kopargaon in accordance with dharmaśāstra in the presence of the Peshwa himself and learned brāhmaṇas and paṇḍitas near the temple of the god Śrī Śukleśvara, that as the opponent was long in possession the ordeal had to be performed by the man claiming title, that an iron ball of 50 palas (i. e. 166 tolas and two māṣas) was heated red-hot and the śodhya carried it across seven circles and threw it in the 8th circle on flour and bundles which began to burn, that his hands were examined in the presence of the opponent and the respectable people and were found unaffected and the opponent was made to pass a document of victory to the śodhya called 'yejtapatra'. The des- cription agrees very closely with that given above. In the same work at pp. 36-41 there is a remarkable description about an ordeal undergone (in 1742 A. D ) by Mahomedan litigants in their own mosque for 15 days by lighting lamps and sitting down in the shrine. There are several other vatanpatras in the same work which refer to ordealṣ

For an informing article on divyas reference may be made to Dr. Dines Chandra Sirkar's 'The successors³³ of the Śāta- vāhanas' Appendix pp 354-376 (Calcutta, 1939) He quotes therein a passage from the 'Asiatic Researches' vol. 1, from which it appears that a magistrate named Ali Ibrahim Khan at Benares tried by phāla divya two cases in 1783 A. D. and reported them to the then Governor-General, Warren Hastingṣ In the 'Trtiya-sammelana-vrata' (pp. 18-26) and in the Caturtha- sammelana-vrata pp 100-154 of the Bhārata-itihāsa-samśodhaka- mandala at Poona (both in Marathi) Mr Bhaskar Vaman Bhat contributes two thoughtful and scholarly papers on the adminis- tration of Justice in the times of the Marathas in which the part played by ordeals is described at some length.