ORDEAL. 
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pent bite him, he is pronounced guilty ; if not, innocent. — Ordeal by 
red-hot iron : In this trial they make an iron ball, or the head of a 
lance, red-hot, and place it in the hands of the person accused ; who, 
if it burn him not, is judged guiltless. — Ordeal by rice: Wheji 
several persons are suspected of theft, some dry rice is weighed with 
the sacred stone called salgram, or certain slocas are read over it ; 
after which the suspected persons are ordered to chew a quantity of 
it ; they are to throw it on some leaves of pippal, or, if none be at 
hand, on some b’hurja patra, or the bark of a tree from Nepaul or 
Cashmir. The man from whose mouth the rice comes dry, or stained 
with blood, is held guilty ; the rest are acquitted. — Ordeal by the 
Cosha is as follows : The accused is made to drink three draughts of 
the water in which the images of the sun, of Devi, and other deities, 
have been washed for that purpose ; and if within fourteen days he 
has any sickness or indisposition, his crime is considered as proved. 
Ordeal by water, is performed by causing the person accused to 
stand in a sufficient depth of water, either flowing or stagnant, to 
reach his navel ; but care should be taken, that no ravenous beast 
be in it, and that it be not moved by much air ; a brahman is then 
directed to go into the water, holding a staff in his hand, and a 
soldier shoots three arrows on dry ground from a bow of cane ; a 
man is then despatched to bring the arrow that has been shot farthest; 
and, after he has taken it up, another is ordered to run from the 
edge of the water, at which instant the person accused is told to 
grasp the foot or the staff of the brahman who stands near him in 
the water, and immediately to dive into it. He must remain under 
the water till the tw'O men who went to fetch the arrows are 
returned ; for if he raise his head or body above the surface before 
the arrows are brought back, his guilt is considered as fully proved. 
In the villages near Benares, it is the practice for the person who is 
to be tried by this kind of ordeal, to stand in water up to his navel, 
and then, holding the foot of a brahman, to dive under it as long as 
a man can walk fifty paces very gently ; if before the man has 
w'alked thus far, the accused rise above the water, he is condemned ; 
if not, acquitted. A very peculiar species of water ordeal is said to 
be prevalent among the Indians on the coast of Malabar. A person 
accused of an enormous crime is obliged to swim over a large river 
abounding with crocodiles; and if be escapes unhurt, he is esteemed 
innocent. At Searin, besides the usual methods of fire and water 
ordeal, both parties are sometimes exposed to the fury of a tiger let 
loose for that purpose : and if the beast spares either, that person 
is accounted innocent; if neither, both are held to be guilty ; but if he 
spares both, the trial is incomplete, and they proceed to a more 
certain criterion. There were various tricks by w hich persons escaoed 
in ordeal. Upon this subject. Dr. Henry has the following remarks : 
“ If we suppose that few or none escaped conviction who exposed 
themselves to those fiery trials, we shall be very much mistaken. For 
the histories of those times contain innumerable examples of persons 
pliinging their naked arms into boiling water, handling red-hot balls 
of iron, and walking upon burning ploughshares, without receiving 
the least injury. Many learned men have been much puzzled to 
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