404 THE INDIAN LAW OF ORDEAL. 



14. If, having cafl away the hot ball, he fhall again 

 have his hands rubbed with rice in the hufk, and fhall 

 fhow them unburned, he will prove his innocence. 

 Should the iron fall during the trial, or mould a doubt 

 arife (on the regularity of the proceedings) he mufl be 

 tried again. . 



15. " Preferve me, O, Varuna, by declaring the 

 truth." Thus having invoked the God of Waters, the 

 accufed fhall plunge his head into the river or pool, 

 and hold both thighs of a man, who fhall fland in it up 

 to his navel. 



16. A fwift runner fhall then haften to fetch an ar- 

 row fliot at the moment of his plunging ; and if, 

 while the runner is gone, the prieft fhall fee the head 

 of the accufed under water, he mufl be difcharged as 

 innocent. 



17. " Thou, O poifon, art the child of Brahma, fted- 

 " faft in juflice and in truth: clear me then from this 

 " heavy charge, and, if I have fpoken truly, become 

 * 4 neftar to me." 



18. Saying this, he fhall fwallow the poifon Sdr?iga, 

 from the tree which grows on the mountain Himalaya ; 

 and if he digefl it without any inflammation, the prince 

 fhall pronounce him guiltlefs. 



19. Or the priefl fhall perform rites to the image of 

 fome tremendous deity, and, having bathed the idol, 

 fhall make the accufed to drink three handfuls of the 

 water that has dropped from it: 



20. If, in fourteen days after, he fufFer no dreadful 

 calamity from the act of the deity, or of the king, he 

 mufl indubitably be acquitted. 



XXIV. 



