Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/183

The law of the state is sometimes violated by base persons, and plots are made against the ruler. When the matter has been fully sifted, the offenders are imprisoned for life. There is no infliction of corporal punishment; they are simply left to live or die, and are not counted among men. When the rules of propriety or justice are violated, or when a man fails in loyalty or filial piety, they cut off his nose or his ears, or his hands and feet, or expel him from the country, or drive him out into the desert wilds. For other faults, except these, a small payment of money will commute the punishment. In the investigation of criminal cases there is no use of rod or staff to obtain proofs (of guilt). In questioning an accused person, if he replies with frankness, the punishment is proportioned accordingly; but if the accused obstinately denies his fault, or in spite of it attempts to excuse himself, then in searching out the truth to the bottom, when it is necessary to pass sentence, there are four kinds of ordeal used – ordeal by water, by fire, by weighing, and by poison.

When the ordeal is by water, the accused is placed in a sack connected with a stone vessel and thrown into deep water. They then judge of his innocence or guilt in this way – if the man sinks and the stone floats, he is guilty; but if the man floats and the stone sinks, he is pronounced innocent.

Secondly, by fire. They heat some iron and make the accused kneel on it and then tread on it, and apply it to the palms of his hands; moreover, he is made to