414 
THE OATH OR SAPATtf. 
character which respects veracity; and joined to the graduated seale 
of punishments for breaches of it, according to the rank of the per¬ 
son who suffers by the breach, is not calculated to impress us with 
a belief that they adhere to the truth unless for the sake of conve¬ 
nience or when actuated by fear. 
It appears likewise that parts only of the Oath are deemed suffi¬ 
cient in particular cases. 
THE OATH or SAPATH. 
X . . . . ..... ■ -- who have been brought here as an evidence in this 
matter, do now in presence of the divine PJira P,hoott,hee rop 
[meaning Budd,ha] declare that I am wholly unprejudiced against 
either party, and uninfluenced in any way by the opinions or advice 
of others, and that no prospects of pecuniary advantage or of ad¬ 
vancement to office have been held out to me. I also declare that I 
have not received any bribe on this occasion. If what I have now 
spoken be false, or if in my further averments, I should color or pre¬ 
vert the truth so as to lead the judgment of others astray, may the 
three holy existences viz., Budd,ha, the Bali [personified] and the 
Hierarchy , before whom I now stand, together with the glorious 
Devattas of the twenty two firmaments, punish me. 
If I have not seen, yet shall say that I have seen, if I shall say 
that I know that which I do not know, then may I be thus punished. 
Should innumerable descents of the deity happen for the regenera¬ 
tion and salvation of mankind may my erring and migrating soul be 
found beyond the pale of their mercy. Wherever I go may I be en¬ 
compassed with dangers, and not escape from them, whether arising 
from murderers, robbers, spirits of the ground, of the wood, of wa¬ 
ter, or of air, or from all the T,hewatda or Divinities who adore 
Buddha, or from the Gods of the four elements, and all other spirits. 
May blood flow out of every pore of my body that my crime may 
be made manifest to the world. May all or any of these evils over¬ 
take me three days hence. Or may I never stir from the spot on 
which I now stand ; or may the (Hatsanee) “lash of the sky ” [viz., 
lightening] cut me in twain, so that I may be exposed to the deri- 
