ORDEAL. Divya, SANSK. The earliest men tion of the trial by ordeal is contained in the 5th chapter of the book of Numbers, from the eleventh verse, iu which the priest gave holy water to a woman to drink, imprecating her with a curse, that if guilty, her thigh should rot and her belly should swell. Trial by ordeal, though forbidden by the Koran, is to be found in some form or other throughout the Muhanunadan world. In Sind it is called Toro, and there are several forms in which it is practised. In Hinduism ten ordeals were recognised:— 1. Tola, the balance.
2. Agni, fire.
3. Jala, water.
4. Vishn, poison.
5. Koehn, drinking water in which an idol has been washed.
G. Tandula, chewing grains of rico.
7. Tapta masha, taking a masha weight of gold out of heated oil.
8. Phala, holding a hot ploughshare.
0. Marina, drawing concealed images of virtue and vice out of a vessel filled with earth.
10. Tulasi, holding the leaves of tho holy basil, sacred to Vishnu.
Even now, in trivial cases, a few grains of rice that have been weighed with the saligrami are put into the mouth of the suspected or accused person, who is to chew them and spit them out on a pipal leaf. If the person be innocent, the grain appears as if stained with blood, or simply mois tened with the natural saliva ; 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 been washed, and if the accused survive free from calamity through the next fort night, he is innocent. Also in an idol ordeal, two images, one called Dharma or Justice, the other Adhanna or Injustice, are placed in a jar, and the accused is allowed to draw. If Dbanna, image be withdrawn, he is innocent. The ordeal of the balance is applied to women, children, the aged, blind, lame, and sick men, and to Brahmans. After a fast of twenty-four hours, both of the ammod 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 paper with the writer's accusation is bound around the head of the accused, who invokes the balance thus : 'Thou, 0 balance, art the mansion of truth ; thou mutt anciently contrived by the deities: declare the truth, therefore, 0 giver of success, and clear mo from all suspicion. If I am guilty, (I vener able as my own mother, then sink me down ; but if innocent, then raise me aloft.' l'he accused is then re-weighed ; if he then weigh heavier, he is found guilty, but if lighter, he goes free.
In the trial by fire, the accused, in India, walks barefoot into a heap 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 his hand into the scalding fluid.
The hot iron ordeal is practised among Hindus, and the Buddhists of Pep. and Siam. Nine circles are drawn, each sixteen fingers in diameter, and each the same distance of sixteen 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 saying these worths Thou, 0 fire, pervadest all beings ; 0 cause of purity, who givest evidence of virtue and of sin, declare the truth in this my hand.' The priest gives him a red-hot ball to carry ns be steps from circle to circle, keeping his feet within each, until he reach the eighth, when he throws the ball on a heap of dry grass inside the ninth. If his hands, which arc then examined, be not burned, he is pronounced innocent.
In Japan, a reputed thief bears on his hand a piece of thin paper having the figures of three deities. On this a piece of red-hot iron is placed, and if his band escape, he is pronounced free.