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I, 305.
* 302. If it does not appear whether (either of) the two hands is burnt, he shall take and seven times crush grains of rice in his hand, with all his might.
303. The grains having been crushed by him, if the members of the court should declare him to be unburnt, he shall be honourably released as being innocent. If he is burnt, he shall receive due punishment.
*
ORDEALS BY FIRE AND WATER.
*
22. The Ordeal by Water.
304. I will now proclaim the excellent law regarding the (ordeal by) water, (which may be performed at all seasons) one after the other, excepting the winter and dewy seasons.
305. (This ordeal may be performed) in streams
III
302, 303. The crushing of grains of rice serves the purpose of making visible such wounds as might have been overlooked previously. Here ends the section of the ordeal by fire. A.
305-317. Vishnu XII; Yâgñavalkya II, 108, 109.
The ordeal by water may be briefly described as follows: 1. This ordeal should be either performed in a tank or in a river which has no swift current. 2. Three arrows should be discharged from a bow of middling size. 3. After that, a strong man should enter the water as far as his navel. The defendant should seize him by the thigh and dive under water. 4. A swift runner should be sent after the second arrow. When he has reached the place where it has fallen, another equally swift runner should be sent back with it to the place where the defendant has entered the water. 5. The defendant is declared innocent, if he has remained under water till the arrow has been brought back. He is declared guilty, if any one of his limbs have been seen, or if he were to emerge from the water in a different spot from that where he entered it. 6. During the proceeding, a prayer is addressed to the deity of water, in which it is asserted, that fire arose from water, and that the water ordeal is superior therefore to the ordeal by fire.
305. The winter season comprises the months Agrahâyana and
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