THE INDIAN LAW OF ORDEAL. 4O3 



6. He who has recourfe to the balance, mull be at- 

 tended by perfons experienced in weighing, and go 

 down into one fcale, with an equal weight placed in 

 the other, and a groove (with water in it} marked On 

 the beam. 



7. " Thou, O balance, art the manfion of truth ; 

 " thou waft anciently contrived by deities : declare the 

 " truth, therefore, O giver of fuccefs, and clear me 

 ct from all fufpicion. 



8. " If I am guilty, O venerable as my own mother, 

 then fink me down ; but if innocent, raife me aloft." 

 Thus (hall he addrefs the balance. 



9. If he fink, he is convicted, or if the fcales be 

 broken ; but if the firing be not broken, and he rife 

 aloft, he muft be acquitted. 



10. On the trial by fire, let both hands of the ac- 

 cufed be rubbed with rice in the hulk, and well examin- 

 ed: then let feven leaves of the Afwatt'ha (the religious 

 fig-tree) be placed on them, and bound with feven 

 threads. 



11. "Thou, O fire, peivadefl all beings; O caufe 

 of purity, who giveft evidence of virtue and of fin, 

 declare the truth in this my hand." 



12. When he has pronounced this, the prieft fhall 

 place in both hands an iron ball, red hot, and weigh- 

 ing fifty * palas. 



13. Having taken it, he fhall ftep gradually into 

 (even circles, each with a diameter of fixteen fingers, 

 and feparated from the next by the fame fpace. 



14. If, 



* A pala is four carsha's, and a carska, eighty racticd' 

 of the Gunjd creeper, each weighing above a grain an< 

 or cerrcctly, Igr. 5-ldths. 



