TRIAL BY ORDEAL. 389 



XXIII. 

 OX THE 



TRIAL by ORDEAL 



A MONO I 



HINDUS. 



By A'LI IBRA'HI'M KHA'X, 



CHIEF MAGISTRATE AT BANARES. 



Co?:. tied by WARREN HASTINGS, Efq. 



THE modes of trying offenders by an appeal to the 

 Deity, which are defcnbed at large in the Mitdc- 

 J/iera, or Comment on the Dhenma Sa/lra, in the Chapter 

 of Oaths, and other ancient books of Hindu Law, are 

 here fufficiently explained, according to the interpreta- 

 tion of learned Pandits, by the well-wiiher to mankind, 

 A'li Ibrahim Khan. 



The word Divya, in Sanfcrii, Ggnifies the fame with 

 Paric/Jid, or Pankhyd, in Bhaflia, Kafam in Arabick, 

 and Saucand in Perfian ; that is, an oath ; or the form 

 of invoking the Supreme Being to atteft the truth of an 

 allegation ; but it is generally underftood to mean the 

 trial by ordeal, or the form of appealing to tht immediate 

 interpofition of the Divine Power. 



Now this trial may be conducted in nine ways. Firft, 

 by the balance; fecondlv, by fire; thirdly, by water; 

 fourthly, by poifon ; fifthly, by the Cqflia, or water in 

 which an idol has been warned; fixthly, by rice; fe- 

 venthly, by boiling oil; eighthly, by red-hot iron; 

 ninthly, by images. 



I. Ordeal 



