व्यवहारमयूख (नीलकण्ठ भट्ट - पश्चिमी भारत की हिन्दू न्याय-संहिता एवं व्यवहार कोष)

ORDEALS 45
Viṣṇu (Viṣṇu Dh S 9 20 ) says:
Water should not be prescribed for the phlegmatic, for the diseased, for
timid people, for those who suffer from difficulty in breathing and from
cough¹.
Kātyāyana says:
Fire is not (prescribed) for those who work in iron (blacksmiths),
nor water for fishermen nor should poison be ever offered (as ordeal) to
those who know magic spells and yoga (The judge) should not prescribe
the ordeal of rice for one who is observing a vow or one who suffers from
a mouth disease
*Vratī means 'one who observes the vow of subsisting on milk and the like.'
Pitāmaha says:
Kośa should not be offered by the wise to those addicted to wine and
women, to gamblers and to those who are unbelievers (atheists).
Nārada (p 117 v 332) says:
The offering of kośa (as an ordeal) should be avoided as regards him
who has once been found guilty of a grave crime, who is destitute of
dharma, who is ungrateful, who is impotent or who always finds faults,
who is an atheist and who is sinful (or in whom faults exist).
Kātyāyana says:
The determination (of disputes) among the untouchables, among the
lowest people, among slaves, among mlecchas who are evil-doers and
among those who are born of unions in the reverse order of castes (i. e
unions of females of higher castes with males of lower castes) should not
be carried out by the king (in his court); on occasions (of dispute among
them) he should direct them to undergo ordeals well-known among
them.
Tatprasiddhāni means 'balance, serpent and the like' If the person who
should undergo an ordeal is unable to do so, the same author (Kātyāyana (
as quoted in the Divyatattva says:
(The king or judge) should prescribe the proper (ordeal) without
conflict with the time or the place. In case of inability (lit accident,
reverse of fortune) ordeal should be carried out through a substitute. This
is the rule (of law)
Anyena hārayet mean 'the ordeal should be performed by a substitute;'
viparyaye means 'when the person to undergo the ordeal is unable to do

1. This is not in the original a verse but a 'prose sūtra, while Nīlakaṇṭha's reading
   makes it a verse. Viṣṇu reads 'na śleṣmavyādhyarditānām bhīrūṇām ..codakam'.
   *P. 49 (text)