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118
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1905.
15.
As to persons who are not by nature credulous, the jégf-spies shall sprinkle over or give a drink of such sacred water to them as is mixed with anesthetic ingredients and attribute their insensibility to the curse of gods. Either may they infuse faith in the minds of the incredulous by causing an outcast person17 to be bitten by a cobra. Thus the king's spies, in the garb of jógis, shall gather, on the pretext of performing religious ceremonies, of showing unusual religious phenomena, or of undertaking remedial measures against impending calamities, sufficient amount of money to fill his empty treasury.
16.
Or else one of the king's spies, in the garb of a merchant, may become a partner to a rich merchant and carry on trade in concert with him. As soon as a considerable amount of money has been gathered by sale, he shall rob the whole and transfer to the king's treasury. Spies in the garb of coiners and goldsmiths may employ similar means to gather gold for the treasury.
17.
Or else a spy, in the garb of a rich merchant or a real rich merchant famous for his vast commerce, may borrow or purchase on credit vast quantities of gold, silver and various commodities on the pretext of exporting them for profitable sale abroad; or attaching his whole commerce, he may not only borrow vast quantities of gold, but also receive value for commodities to be supplied from abroad. After having done this, he may allow himself to be robbed of the same at night.
18.
Prostitute spies, under the garb of chaste women, may cause themselves to be enamoured of persons who are naturally vicious and guilty of various crimes punishable by the Government. No sooner are the guilty persons seen within the abode of the female spies than they shall be seized and their property confiscated to the Government. Or State spies, whose profession is to administer poison to political offenders, may bring about a quarrel between two guilty persons born of the same family, and administer poison to one or the other. The survivor and his party shall be accused of poisoning and their property confiscated and taken to the Government. Or a claimant may be set up against a guilty citizen of wealth to claim a large amount of money professed to have been placed in his custody by the claimant, or a large debt outstanding at the credit of the claimant against the citizen, or a share of parental property. The. king's spy may murder him at night and lay the charge at the door of the citizen. Then the citizen and his party may be arrested and their property confiscated and taken to the Government.
19.
Or an outcast person may be induced to enroll himself as a servant to a rich citizen of unrighteous conduct. The servant may be murdered by a spy at night and the citizen accused of the crime. Consequently his property may be confiscated and taken to the Government.
17 ["The outcast person" was evidently looked on as a mere animal held at the pleasure of persons of "caste."-ED.]
