6 



HINDU LAW IN 



memory of ancient customs being preserved in that town, 

 Hiouen Thsang lias shown that in his time Conjeveram was 

 the capital of the Drdvida (Tamil) country, so that there 

 would be nothing strange in copper-plate grants and monu- 

 ments in abundance being stored in its pagodas. And 

 instances are not wanting of decisions of disputes about 

 matters of caste being recorded on stone or copper. For 

 example, in the Madura Country, at Part III, p. 171, it is 

 mentioned that the Ndyakkan himself had decided a dispute 

 between a caste of Tamil weavers and another caste as to 

 which was entitled to precedence in receiving betel-nut at 

 public entertainments ; and I remember that the information 

 was gotten from an inscription on stone found under a 

 Gopura. Again, at Yol. IX, p. 270, Bengal Asiatic Researches, 

 will be found an inscription commemorating the settlement 

 by Bukha Rayer of a dispute between the Bhahtds and the 

 Jains. 



One is reminded of Macaulay's wonderful school-boy by 

 the following observation : " Eien n'est plus connu que ces 

 coutumes. J'ai vu des enfans de dix ou douze ans qui les 

 scavoient a merveille, et quand on exigeoit d'eux quelque 

 chose qui y fut contraire, ils repondoient aussitost, Ajaratoucou 

 Virodam, cela est contre la coutume." 



Father Bouchet goes on to describe the qualifications proper 

 for a judge, and it is somewhat amusing to find that the first 

 of them is the knowledge, possessed by " every school-boy," 

 of all the maxims that serve for law. Next, the judge should 

 be opulent. Lastly, he should be over twenty and under 

 sixty years of age. His principal duty was held to be the 

 patient examination of witnesses. Careful judges would 

 write down the evidence and dismiss the witnesses, and 

 recall and re-examine and cross-examine them after an inter- 

 val of two or three days. The faces of deponents would be 

 carefully watched for signs of shame, anger, fear and the 



