120 ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF 



resort is had to ordeal. So it is in cases where the casual writing is in 

 the hand of a third party, and not that of the defendant ; if the parties 

 cannot agree as to the authenticity of the note, and there is no other evi- 

 dence in the cause, the decision of the case is referred to ordeal. 



Tradesmen are allowed to adduce their entries in their books to prove 

 debts to them. In general all mercantile affairs are referred to a Panchdyat 

 of merchants, whose judgment is decisive upon conflicting entries, &c. 



§ 15. Ordeal. 



The ordeal is called Nydya,^' and the form of it is as follows : 

 Upon two bits of paper the names of the parties are respective- 

 ly inscribed ; the papers are rolled up into balls ; the balls have 

 puja offered to them ; and from either party a fine! or fee of one 

 rupee is taken. The balls are then affixed to staffs of reed, whereupon 

 two annas^ more are taken from each party. The reeds are then entrust- 

 ed to two of the Jiavilddrs of the court to take to the Queen's tank,§ and 

 with the havilddrs, a Bichdri of the court, a Brahman, and the parties, 

 proceed to the tank ; as likewise two men of the Chdmdkhalak (or Chumdr) 

 caste. Arrived at the tank, the Bichdri again exhorts the parties to 

 avoid the ordeal by other settlement of the business, the truth of which 

 lies in their own breasts. But if they insist on ordeal, the two havilddrs^ 

 each with a reed, proceed one to the east, and the other to the west 

 side of the tank, entering the water about knee-deep. The brahman, the 

 parties, and the Chdmdkhalahs, at this moment, all enter the water a 

 little way, when the brahman performs puj a to Varuna, in the name of 

 the parties, and repeats a sacred text, the meaning of which is, that man- 

 kind know not what passes in the minds of each other, but that all 



* The word " Nydya" " justice, right" is teclinically applied solely to ordeal. H. 

 f Called Gola. % Called Narkauli. 



§ This dipping in the Queen's tank is the most popular ordeal at present : but there are 

 many others, similar to those formerly in use below, and indeed, all over the world. H. 



