146 ' H I N D O 
did not (how that prepolTelfion will fuperfede the evidence 
of the fenfes. 
The following cuftom of afcertaining difputed property 
in land, is extremely curious. From habitual negleft in 
afcertaining the quantities of land held in leale, and in 
defining with accuracy their refpeftive tenures, frequent 
difputes arife between the inhabitants of different villages 
regarding their boundaries : to determine them, a refer¬ 
ence is ufually made to one or more of the oldeft inhabi¬ 
tants of the adjacent villages; and, if tliefe Ihould not 
agree in their decifion, other men are feletted from the 
inhabitants of the villages claiming the difputed ground ; 
and the trial proceeds as follows. Holes are dug in the 
contefted fpot, and into thefe holes each of the chofen 
men puts a leg, and the earth is then thrown in upon it; 
and in this lituation they remain until one either expreffes 
a with to be releafed, or complains of being bitten or 
flung by fome inl'efl. This decides the conteft, and the 
property of the ground is adjudged to belong to that vil¬ 
lage the inhabitant of which goes through the trial with 
tire molt fortitude, and efcapes unhurt by infefls. 
In cafes of theft, where th$ evidence is defective, the 
proof of guilt or innocence in the accufed party is fre¬ 
quently decided by his chufing to undergo the trial by 
ordeal. Of this there are nine diftinft kinds : viz. Firft, 
by the balance ; fecondly, by fire; thirdly by water; 
fourthly, by poifon ; fifthly, by the colha, or water in 
which an idol has been walhed ; fixthly, by rice ; feventhly, 
by boiling oil; eighthly, by red-hot iron ; ninthly, by 
images. 
Ordeal by the balance is performed as follows: . The 
beam having been previoufly adjufted, the cord fixed, and 
both fcales made perfeftly even, the perfon acculed, and 
a Pundit , or perfon learned in the Sanfkrit, fait a whole 
day ; then, after the accufed has been bathed in facred 
water, the homa, or oblation, prefented to fire, and the 
deities worlhipped, he is carefully weighed ; and, when 
he is taken out of the fcale, the Pundits proftrate them- 
felves before it, pronounce a certain mantra , or incanta¬ 
tion, agreeably to the Sajlras ; and, having written the 
fubftance of the accufation on a piece of paper, they bind 
it on his head. Six minutes after they place him again 
in the fcale ; and if he weigh more than before, he is held 
guilty; if lefs, innocent; if exaftly the fame, he mull 
be weighed a third time ; when, as it is written in the 
Mitaclhera, there will certainly be a difference in his 
weight. Should the balance, though well fixed, break 
down, this would be confidered as a proof of his guilt. 
For the fire-ordeal an excavation, nine hands long, two 
fpans broad, and one fpan deep, is made in the ground, 
and filled with afire of pippal wood ; into this the perfon 
acculed mull walk bare-footed ; and, if his foot be un¬ 
hurt, they hold him blarrtelels ; if burned, guilty. 
Water-ordeal is performed by caufing the perlon accufed 
to Hand in a fufficient depth of water, either flowing or 
ftagnant, to reach his navel ; but care mull be taken that 
no ravenous animal be in it, and that it be not moved by 
much air. A Brahmin is then direfled to go into the 
water, holding a ltaff in his hand ; and a foldier llioots 
three arrows on dry ground from a bow of cane. A man 
is next difpatched to bring the arrow which has been Ihot 
fartheft; and, after he has taken it up, another is ordered 
to run from the edge of the water ; at which inllant the 
perfon accufed is told to grafp the foot or the Half of the 
Brahmin, who (lands near him in the water, and imme¬ 
diately to dive into it. He mull remain under water till 
the two men who went to fetch the arrows have returned ; 
for if he raife his head or body above the furface before 
the arrows are brought back, his guilt is confidered as 
fully proved. In the villages near Benares, it is the prac¬ 
tice for the perfon, who is to be tried by this kind of or¬ 
deal, to Hand in water up to his navel, and then, holding 
the foot of a Brahmin, to dive under it as long as a man 
can walk fifty paces very gently. If, before the man has 
walked- thus far, the accufed rife above the water, he is 
condemned ; if not, acquitted 
a 
O S T A N. 
There are two forts of trial by poifon. Firft, the-Puiv 
dits having performed their homa, and the perfon accufed 
his ablution, two retti's and a half, or feven barley-corns, 
of vi/hanaga, a poifonous root, or of fanc'liya, white ar- 
fenic, are mixed in eight malhas, or fixty-four rettis, of 
clarified butter, which the accufed mull eat from the hand 
of a Brahmin. If the poifon produce no vifible effeft, 
he is abfolved; otherwife, condemned. Secondly, the 
Coluber naja, Linn, moll commonly called the cobra de ca- 
pello , or hooded viper, is thrown into a deep earthen pot, 
into which is dropped a ring, a feal, or a coin. This the 
perfon accufed is ordered to take out with his hand ; and, 
if the ferpent bite him, he is pronounced guilty ; if not, 
innocent. If bit, death is inevitable. See the hillory and 
figure of this dreadful viper, vol. iv. p. 803. 
Trial by the cofia is as follows : The accufed is made to 
drink three draughts of the water in which the images 
of the Sun, of Devi, or any idols, have been walhed for 
that purpofe ; and, if within fourteen days he has any 
ficknefs or indifpolition, his crime is confidered as efta- 
blilhed. 
When feveral perfons are fufpecled of theft, fome dry 
rice is weighed with the facred Hone called falgram ; or 
certain flocas are read over it; after which the fufpefted 
perfons are feverally ordered to chew a quantity of it; as 
foon as they have chewed it, they are to throw it on fome 
leaves of pippal; or, if none be at hand, on fome b'kurja 
patra, or bark of a tree from Nepal, or Calhimere. The 
man from whofe mouth the rice comes dry, or ftained 
with blood, is holden guilty ; the reft are acquitted. 
The ordeal by hot oil is very fimple : when it is brought 
to a boiling heat the accufed thrults his hand into it; and, 
if he be not burned, is held innocent. 
In like manner they make an iron cannon-ball red-hot, 
and place it in the hands of the perfon accufed ; who, if 
it burn him not, is judged guiltlefs. 
To perform the ordeal by dharmarch, which is the name 
of the lloca appropriated to this mode of trial, either an 
image, named Dkarma, or the Genius of Juftice, is made 
of lilver, and another, called Adharma, of clay or iron, 
both of which are thrown into a large earthen jar; and 
the accufed, having thruft his hand into it, is acquitted 
if he bring out the filver image, but condemned if he 
draw forth the iron one. Or the figure of a deity is 
painted on white cloth, and another on black; the firft 
of which they name Dharma, and the fecond, Adharma. 
Thefe are feverally rolled up in cow-dung, and thrown 
into a large jar, without having ever been lhown to the 
accufed ; who mull put his hand into the jar, and is ac¬ 
quitted or convifled, as he draws out the figure on white, 
or on black, cloth. 
It is written in the comment on the Dherma Saftra, 
that each of the four principal calls has a fpecific ordeal 
appropriated to it; that a Brahmin mull be tried by the 
balance, a Clhatriya by fire, a Vail'ya by nvater, and a Sudra 
by poifon : but fome have decided that any ordeal, except 
that by poifon, may be performed by a Brahmin, and 
that a man of any caft may be tried by the balance. It 
has been determined, that a woman may have any trial 
except thole by poifon and by water 
As the fubjefl is curious, we will Hate the particulars 
of the two following trials by ordeal, which were wit- 
neffed by the Engliih at Benares ; in one of which the 
accufer was acquitted ; in the other condemned. 
“In 1783, a man was tried by the hot ball at Benares, 
in the prefence of me Ali Ibrahim Khan, (Mohammedan 
governor, appointed by the Engliih prefidency at Ben¬ 
gal,) on the following occafion. A man had appealed 
one Sancar of larceny, who pleaded that he was not guil¬ 
ty ; and, as the theft could not be proved by legal evi¬ 
dence, the trial by fire-ordeal was tendered to the appellee, 
and accepted by him. This well-wilher to mankind (the 
title affumed by Ali Ibrahim Khan) adviled the learned 
magiftrates and Pundits, or men learned in the Sanlkrit, to 
prevent the decifion of the queftion by a mode not con¬ 
formable to the practice of the company’s government; 
