£0,3 ON THE TRIAL 



I. Ordeal by the balance is thus performed. The 

 beam having been previoufly adj lifted, the cord fixed, 

 and both fcales made perfectly even, the perfon accufed 

 and a Pandit faft a whole day; then, after the accufed 

 has been bathed in facred water, the kdma, or oblation, 

 prefented to fire, and the deities worfhipped, he is care- 

 fully weighed; and, when he is taken out of the fcale, 

 the Pandits proftrate themfelves before it, pronounce a 

 certain mentra, or incantation, agreeably to the Sdfiras, 

 and, having written the fubftanceof the accufation on a 

 piece of paper, bind it on his head. Six minutes after 

 they place him again in the fcale; and if he weigh more 

 than before, he is held guilty; if lefs, innocent: if ex- 

 actly the fame, he muft be weighed a third time; when, 

 as it is written in the Mitdc/Jierd, there will certainly be 

 a difference in his weight. Should the balance, though 

 well fixed, break down, this would be confidered as a 

 proof of his guilt. 



I I . For the fire-ordeal an excavation, nine hands long, 

 two fpans broad, and one fpan deep, is made in the 

 ground, and filled with a fire of pippal wood : into this 

 the perfon accufed muft walk barefooted ; and if his 

 foot be unhurt, they hold him blamelefs ; if burned, 

 guilty. 



III. Water-ordeal h performed by caufing the perfon 

 accufed to (land in a fufficient depth of water, either 

 flowing or ftagnant, to reach his navel; but care fhould 

 be taken that no ravenous animal be in it, and that it 

 be not moved by much air. A Brahman is then di- 

 rected to go into the water, holding a ftafF in his hand ; 

 and a foldier fhoots three arrows on dry ground from a 

 bow of cane. A man is next difpatched to bring the 

 arrow which has been fhot farthelt; and, after he has 

 taken it up, another is ordered to run from the edge of 

 the water; at which inftant the perfon accufed is told 

 to grafp the foot or the ftafF of the Brahman, who ftands 

 near him in the water, and immediately to dive into it. 



He 



