Witchcraft Among the Hindus. 13 



to the boiling point; a ring is then dropped in which must be 

 found and brought out by the hand, while the person invokes 

 the deity for protection from burning. 



The use of fire has been believed in by nearly all races as a 

 test for witchcraft, the supposition being that the deity protects 

 the innocent by a miracle. The Hindus are no exception to the 

 rule. One fire-test was to require the magician to carry two 

 pounds and three-quarters of red-hot iron in the hands across 

 seven circles, each sixteen finger-breadths broader than the pre- 

 ceding, and then throw it into a ninth, where it must burn some 

 grass. If he is burned he is guilty of causing the sickness and 

 must cure the person or die. The M a n a v a - D h a r m a- 

 9 a s t r a (VII, 108), says that when a witness falls sick or 

 has a loss from fire within a week, it is because he has perjured 

 himself in his testimony. The same law-book (VIII, 114-16, 

 190) says: 'Let the judge cause him who is under trial to take 

 fire in his hand, or plunge into water, or touch separately the 

 heads of his children and his wife, and he whom the fire burns 

 not, whom the water does not reject from its depths, whom mis- 

 fortune does not speedily overtake, shall have his oath received 

 undoubted.' 



The common water-test is to fix a bamboo rod in a pond, 

 send the person to it, and require him to descend to the bottom 

 while an arrow is shot and brought back by a runner. If he 

 emerges before the arrow is returned, he is guilty. Another 

 test is to put the accused into one sack, a stone in another, and 

 throw the two tied together into running water. If the stone 

 rises whila he sinks, he is guilty. The simple original method 

 which corresponds to the European, is to see whether the 

 accused will float or sink, the latter indicating guilt. The pun- 

 ishment, especially as a result of the first method, is very severe. 

 If the guilty person is a woman, she may be roped up to a tree, 

 have a bandage of red-pepper tied over her eyes, and then be 

 swung to and fro in the air, or she may even be beaten to death 

 with rods from the castor-oil tree, which is supposed to be excel- 



