DIVINATION.
Ahnung,Wahrsagung,GEn. I Indovinameuto, . . Ir. I Divinacion, . . . Sr.
In all ages there have been seers, prophets, miracle-workers, exorcists, as there aro now Shaivans amongst the Mongols, Payang amongst the Malays, who are resorted to on all occasions of importance,—a.s for instance the fixing on a pro pitious day to commence a Journey or any under taking. The commonest system is analogous to the Roman sortes.' With Mahomedans a Koran is used for this purpose. They have also books filled with sentences and words. The Malay consulting them cuts in with a kris, and the sentence marked by the kris point is interpreted to suit the wants and wishes of all parties. In the Alla ordeal of the Hindus of Gujerat, a cloth or a raw bide is dedicated to one of the forms of Durga. The claimant of a disputed boundary puts it over his shoulders and walks over the contested limits. In Sind, the Son or Sugum is a kind of divi nation by means of the position of birds and beasts,—their cry, the direction of their flight, and other such particulars. The divination by lots, auguries, and omens by flights of birds, as prac tised by the Getic nations, and described by Herodotus, and amongst the Germans by Tacitus, are to be found amongst the Rajputs. Their books on the subject could supply the whole of the augurs and aruspices, German or Roman. The Mahomedans in India often cast lots ; and in Sind is a practice similar to that of the moun taineers of Scotland, called sleinanachd, or read ing the speal-bone,' or the blade-bone of a shoulder of mutton. One very common mode of divination in Persia is called the Ilm-i-shoona, or science of the shoulder-blade,' and practised by cutting out the blade-bone of a sheep newly killed, and examining the lines and marks upon it. This was common in England in old times, and in Scotland till the 18th century. Pennant gives an account of a IIighlander in the Isle of Skye fore telling the event of the battle of Culloden by this means. Confucius gave rules for"this species of sorcery. The poet Drayton alludes to the practice of this amongst the Dutch-made English,' settled about Pembrokeshire, in his Polyalbion, song 5. Camden notic 'the same superstition in Ireland.
The o al of taking a piece of gold out of a 361 ot oil, Karahi lena, is common in India. If the accused do so without being scalded, he is deemed innocent. The ordeal amongst the Hindus called Dibya or Divya, is from a Sanskrit word meaning Divine. In the Tola, or weighing ordeal, the accused is weighed ; then certain ceremonies are performed, and he is again weighed, and if found lighter, he is guilty. In Agni, or fire ordeal, the accused touches fire or heated metal, and if burned, he is guilty. In Jala, or water ordeal, the accused is dipped under water, whilst an arrow is shot, and a person runs and brings it. If the accused be still alive, he is innocent. Or the accused is sewed up in a sack, which is let down into water about three feet deep. If the person in the sack can get his head alaove water, he is a witch. In the poison or Visha ordeal, if the accused swallow it with impunity, he is innocent. Others are the Kosha, or drinking holy water, the Tandula, or chewing grains of rice, the Tapta - masha or taking a masha weight of gold out of a jar of hot oil or butter. In the Dharmarcha or Dharm adharma ordeal, drawings of Dharma andAdharma, virtue and vice, are covered with cow-dung, and put in a covered vessel, from which the accused draws one. In the Tulasi, the leaves of the tulsi and water are swallowed after an oath, the tulsi being sacred to Vishnu. In the Kach'a ghara, or unbaked pot, snch a pot is filled with water and carried to some distance without spilling. B(1 bhandna is swearing by the leaves of the bel, which is sacred to Siva. Gangajalla, swearing on the Ganges water. Devala or Devalaya, sweating in a temple, before au image. Gao, cow, swearing while holding a cow's tail. Brah man, swearing while touching the feet of a Brahman. Sinta or Siniba, the ceremony, after religious rites, of pointing out a boundary. In Hinduism nine ordeals were recognised. In trivial eases, a few grains of rice that have been weighed with the Salagrama are put into the mouth of the suspected or accused person, who chews them and spits them out on a pipal leaf. If the person be innocent, the grain appears as if stained with blood ; if guilty, the rice is dry. In the trial by Kosha, or image water, the accused person drinks some of the water with which an idol has bceu washed, and if the accused survive free front calamity through the next fortnight, he is inno cent. The Tola, or ordeal of the balance, is applied to women, children, the aged, blind, lame, and sick men, and to Brahmans. After a fast of 21 hours, both of the accused and the priest, the accused bathes in holy water, prayers are offered up, and oblations are presented to fire. The
beam of the balance is then adjusted, the cord fixed, and the accuracy of the scales ascertained. The accused then sits in the scale, and, while being weighed, the priests prostrate themselves, repeat certain incantations, and, after an interval of six minutes, the accusation paper with the written accusation is bound around the head of the accused, who invokes the balance thus : Thou, 0 balance, art the mansion of truth ; thou wast anciently contrived by the deities : declare the truth, therefore, 0 giver of success, and clear me from all suspicion. If I am guilty, oh ! venerable as my own mother, then sink me down ; but if innocent, then raise me aloft.' The accused is then re-weighed; if he then weigh heavier, be is found g-uilty, but if lighter, he goes free. In the Agni, trial by fire, the accused, in India, walks barefoot into a mass of burning pipal leaves (Ficus religiosa) ; in Siam, over a pit filled with burning charcoal. In the ordeal by boiling oil, the accused has to thrust the hand into the scald ing fluid. In the hot iron ordeal, nine circles are drawn, each 16 fingers in diameter, and each the same distance of 16 fingers apart. The hands of the accused are rubbed with unhusked rice (paddy), and all marks on them carefully noted; seven pipal leaves are then bound with seven threads on each hand, and the priest gives him a red-hot ball to carry a.s he steps from circle to circle, keeping his feet within each, until he reaches the eighth, when he throws the ball on a heap of dried grass inside the circle. If his hands, which are then examined, be not burned, he is pro nounced innocent. In Japan, a reputed thief bears on his hand a piece of thin paper having the figures of time deities. On this a piece of red hot iron is placed, and if his hand escape, he is pronounced free. The Hejaz Arab licks red-hot iron as an ordeal. In other forms, the Jala or water ordeal is invogue in India, in Burma, and in Borneo. In India, the accused stands in water nearly up to his waist, attended by a, Brahman, staff in hand. A person near shoots three arrows frorn a bamboo bow, and a man hurries_to pick up the further Inost sltaft. As ho takes it from the ground, another person runs towards him from the water's edge ; nt the samo moment the accused grasps the Brahman's staff and dives beneath the water. If he remain there till the two arrow-fetchers retum, ho is innocent ; but if any part of his body appear, he is guilty. In Burma, a stake is driven into the water ; the accuser and accused take hold and together plunge beneath the water, and ho who remains longer subnierged is declared t,o have truth on his side. In I3ustar, the Leaf-ordeal is followed by sewing up the accused in a sack, and letting him down into water waist-deep ; if he manage in his struggles for life to raise his head above water, ho is finally adjudged to be guilty. Then comes the punishment of extracting the teeth. This is said in BusMr to be effected with the idea of preventing the witch from muttering charms, but in Kamaon the object of the operation is rather to prevent her from doing mischief under the form of a tigress, which is the Indian equivalent of the loup-garou of Europe. In the Poisun ordeal, white arsenic and butter in a mixture is administered. In the snake ordeal, a cobm and a ring are placed in an earthen pot, and the accused has to with draw the ring. In the idol ordeal, two images, one called Dharma, or Justice, the other A dhartna, or Injustice aro placed in a jar, and the accused is allowed 'to draw. If the dharma image be withdrawn, he is innocent. The Borneo Dyaks place two pieces of &tit in the water, to represent the accuser and accused, and tho owner of the piece dissolving the first loses the cause. Also, two shells are placed on a plate and lime-juiee squeezed over them, and he whose shell moves first is pronounced guilty or innocent, as may have been resolved on. I3ut the more common mode amongst the Dyaks is for the accuser and the accused to plunge their heads beneath the water, and Ile who remains longer is free. The 13injari people use the branch of a itim tree, the Azadarachta Indica. A husband throws it on the ground, and, turning to his wife, says, If thott be a true woman to me, lift that nim branch.' Arrows aro sometimes used in North-1Vestern India as tests of innocence. Tho opposite ends of two arrows are held by a rattan laid upon the hands by two persons placed opposite to each other ; they are parallel to and just sufficiently apart to allow of the suspected person's hand being ' held between them. The ends of the arrows merely rest upon the fingers. The arrows are supposed to move towards and close upon the guilty hand.