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

60 VYAVAHĀRAMAYŪKHA
time the innocence or guilt should be examined by pure brāhmaṇas and
should be communicated to the king and the sabhyas (members of the
court) Then the (person charged) should get down from it (the
balance) and should please the judge, the brāhmaṇas and the priests with
fees (dakṣiṇā) according to his means Then having taken leave of
the deities with the mantra arise Oh Brahmaṇaspati (Rg I 40 1)
and with the words may the tribes of gods depart he should hand
over everything to the judge
Now (begins) the method of the fire (ordeal)*
Pitāmaha says
I shall proclaim the method of fire (ordeal) as laid down by the
śāstras He should prepare eight maṇḍalas and a ninth in front
(or to the east of them) Those who know the vedas declare that the
first maṇḍala (circle) is that of Agni the second of Varuṇa, the
third of the god Vāyu, the fourth of god Yama the fifth of Indra
the sixth of Kubera the seventh of Soma the eighth of Savitṛ (the
Sun) and the ninth of all the gods
Madana ¹ however, read (the passage) as the eighth is of all the gods
while the ninth that is to their east is a large one and belongs to the
Earth. The maṇḍalas should be constructed with cowdung and should
be sprinkled with water The same author (Pitāmaha) declares the
extent of the circles (Nārada p 109 vv 235-236)
The distance of one circle from (the beginning of) another is declared
to be thirty two aṅgulas In this way the eight circles would come
up to two hundred aṅgulas plus fifty-six This is the way in which
the ground is to be divided
The word maṇḍalāt means from the beginning of a circle The meaning
is that the ground covered by one circle and by the space intervening
(between it and the next circle) would together come up to thirty two
aṅgulas Here each circle is to be of sixteen aṅgulas (finger-breadth) and the
space between two circles is also to be the same as Yājñavalkya says
(II 106)
A circle is to be known to be sixteen aṅgulas (in extent) and
the intervening space was to be the same

1. For Madana, the author of the encyclopaedic work on dharma called Madana
   ratna, vide my History of Dharmaśāstra pp. 389-393. He flourished between 1350-1460 A.D.
   P 62 (text)