The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

196 THE OCEAN OF STORY
Having said so much, the king sent off Indumati with
his ministers. She went with them and informed Trailo-
kyamalin of what was being done, and as he approved of
her proceedings she went in the same way to Patala, and she
brought there Svayamprabha and the others, and the water
of ordeal, and she made them all do in the presence of the
king's ministers all that he had prescribed. And when King
Trailokyamalin had in this way given security, King Merudhvaja
set him free from prison with his suite. And he had
him brought to his own palace with his family and his attendants,
and courteously entertained him ; and then he took
possession of all the jewels of the Asuras, and sent Trailokyamalin
back to his kingdom. And Trailokyamalin returned
to Rasatala, his home, and, having recovered his kingdom,
rejoiced with his servants and relations. And Merudhvaja
school (c. fourth century a.d.). The other four ordeals were: (1) the balance,
where the defendant is weighed twice, and must be of lighter weight the
second time ; (2) fire, where he must walk across seven circles carrying a piece
of red-hot iron in his hand ; (3) water, in which he must keep immersed while
a runner fetches an arrow shot from a bow, and returns ; (4) poison, usually
made from aconite, is drunk, and must show no ill effects during the day.
The ordeal of sacred libation consists in drinking three mouthfuls of water
in which images either of dread deities or of the man's special deity have
been bathed. The test of innocence is the freedom in the following seven,
fourteen or twenty-one days from any calamity such as illness, fire, death
of kin, punishment by the king the latter provision affording considerable
room for unfair treatment of the accused. The codes of Brihaspati and
Pitamaha (c. a.d. 600) omit this latter detail. See A. B. Keith, "Ordeal
(Hindu)," Hastings' Ency. Rel. Eth., vol. ix, p. 524 ; and J. Jolly, Recht und
Sitte, p. 144. Four further ordeals are added by Brihaspati and Pitamaha, the
first of which somewhat resembles the ordeal of sacred libation. It consists
in chewing unhusked rice-grains mixed with water in which an image of the
sun has been bathed. The accused states the charge and faces east i.e.
towards the sun as he eats; injury to the gums, the appearance of blood
when he spits out the grains on a leaf, or trembling, is a proof of guilt.
The other ordeals consist in removing a hot piece of gold or a ring from a
pot of boiling ghi, licking a red-hot ploughshare, and the last consists of
drawing lots from a jar. For further details see Keith, op. cit., sup. Cf.
with the above the ordeal of the adulterous woman in Numbers vi, 15-31,
and also the Mohammedan practice of charming away sickness and disease
by writing passages of the Quran on the inner surface of a bowl and pouring
water until the writing is washed off. The concoction is then drunk. See
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, 5th edit., p. 253. n.m.p.