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

pillars) plus the portion of the pared tops thereof (were to remain). The
distance between the pillars was to be two cubits or one cubit and a half.
On those two tops was to be placed (transversely) a beam having in its
middle but on the lower surface a support in the form of an iron hook ring
or catch for holding the (beam of the) balance. From that (transverse)
beam (on the pillars) was to be suspended the beam of the balance by
means of the hook or catch on the upper part of it. At the end of the beam
of the balance were to be tied two pans by means of three ropes each.
To the east of the balance two posts at a distance of two cubits were to be
fixed into the ground towards the north and south and over them is to be
placed a log* with its inside outwards. This is to be the toraṇa (outer
frame arch). And it should be higher by ten aṅgulas than the balance
frame. A similar one should be erected also to the west (of the
balance). Two spherical pendants of clay should be tied with a string sus-
pended from the (two sides of the) frame-work and made to touch the
ends of the (beam of the) balance in order to ascertain the horizontal
position (of the beam). On the two pans should be spread kuśa grass with
their ends turned eastward. Then on a Sunday the judge who has observed
a fast for a day should place in the western pan the person to be cleared (of
his guilt by ordeal) who has taken a bath along with his garments after
sunrise who has observed a fast for a day or for three days in case of ability
to do so and in charges of grave sins, he (the judge) should then put in
the pan to the east stones bricks clay or the like and so weigh that the two
pans stand even. Truthful brāhmaṇas and goldsmiths should examine this
(viz the equipoise of the balance) by means of sprinkling water (on the
beam of the balance). Then in order to make sure of the position (of the
pan in which the person sat) reached at the time of the weighing (by the
pan in relation to the toraṇa) the judge should draw a line (on the toraṇa
with chalk &c.) and should make the person (undergoing ordeal) get down
(from the pan). Then the person to be cleared having named the time
and the place and having declared his intention in the words "I shall perform
such and such an ordeal in order to proclaim my innocence" should
present clothes and and the like to the judge and four priests. The rever-
smārta-bhaṭṭāchārya (i.e. Raghunandana) says that svastivācana¹ and
the like should also be performed. And the judge with folded hands and
to the accompaniment of the beating of drums should invoke dharma (to be
present) in the balance in the following manner:-
Om come come revered dharma and enter this ordeal together with
the Lokapālas, Vasus, Ādityas and tribes of Maruts.
He should then invoke the subsidiary deities. The verse Indrāya svāhā
(Ṛv. I. 11. 1 of which) Mandiṣṭha is Indra and Agne svāhā (are the

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1 This consists in the priest saying "Oṃ svasti"; and the would-be
svasti! and the priest saying "Oṃ svasti" and the like (vide Nirṇayasindhu
p. 63 [text]).