398 ON THE TRIAL 



had prevented their being burned; befides that the 

 time was but fhort between his taking the ball and 

 throwing it down ; yet it is pofitivefy declared in the 

 Dherma Sdjlra, and in the written opinions of the moft 

 refpefrable Pandits, that the hand of a man who fpeaks 

 truth cannot be burned ; and Ali Ibrahim Khan cer- 

 tainly faw with his own eyes, as many others alfo faw 

 with theirs, that the hands of the appellee in this caufe 

 were unhurt by the fire. He was confequently dif- 

 charged. But, that men might in future be deterred 

 from demanding the trial by ordeal, the appellor was 

 committed for a week. After all, if fuch a trial could 

 be feen once or twice by feveral intelligent men, ac- 

 quainted with natural philofophy, they might be able 

 to afTign the true reafon why a man's hand may be 

 burned in fome cafes, and not in others. 



Ordeal by the veflel of hot oil, according to the 

 Comment on the Dherma Sdftra, is thus performed. 

 The ground appointed for the trial is cleared, and rub- 

 bed with cow-dung; and the next day, at fun-rife, the 

 Pandit worfhips Ganeja, prefents his oblations, and 

 pays adoration to other deities, conformably to the 

 Sdjlra ; then, having read the incantation prefcribed, 

 he places a round pan of gold, filver, copper, iron, or 

 clay, with a diameter of fixteen fingers, and four 

 fingers deep; and throws into it one ser, or eighty 

 Jicca weight, of clarified butter, or oil of fefamum. 

 After this a ring of gold, or filver, or iron, is cleaned, 

 and warned with water, and caft into the oil, which 

 they proceed to heat; and when it is very hot, put 

 into it a frefh leaf of pippala, or of bilwa : when the 

 leaf is burned, the oil is known to be fufficiently hot. 

 Then, having pronounced a mentra over the oil, they 

 order the party accufed to take the ring out of the 

 pan ; and if he take it out without being burned, or 

 without a blMler on his'hand', his innocence is confi- 

 dent as proved; if not, his guilt. 



A Brahman, 



