{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe33/sbe3333.htm","path":"hin/sbe33/sbe3333.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe33/sbe3333.htm","text":"The Minor Law Books (SBE33), by Julius Jolly, [1889]\n343. 343 Now I shall give a description of the ordeal of the hot piece of gold, which has been ordained by Brahman himself for the purpose of distinguishing virtue from vice.\n* 344. (The judge), after having cleansed himself, shall quickly pour clarified butter into a golden, silver, iron, or earthen vessel, and shall place the vessel on the fire.\n* 345. He shall throw into it a shining coin, made k of gold, silver, copper, or iron, after having washed it in water more than once.\n* 346. 346 Should (the coin) ever drop into the boiling (mixture), it would be a very dangerous thing to touch him (the fire?). Therefore he must address the clarified butter with the following prayer:\n* 347. \u2018Thou art the best instrument of purification, O clarified butter, and (comparable to) Ambrosia\nat a sacrifice. Burn this man at once if he is criminal, and be as cold as ice to him if he is innocent.\u2019\n* 348. 348 If, on touching and examining the forefinger (of the defendant) it is found to be unhurt and to show no boils, he is innocent. Otherwise, he is not (innocent).\n119:343 343-348. The ordeal of the hot piece of gold (Taptam\u00e2sha) derives its name from the gold coin (m\u00e2sha) or signet-ring (mudrik\u00e2), which those who are tried by this ordeal are required to pick out of a vessel filled with a boiling liquid, with the thumb and forefinger. They are declared innocent, if the hand remains unhurt.\n119:346 The reading of the first half of this paragraph is quite uncertain, and the above rendering conjectural.\n120:348 Some writers refer to two further ordeals, besides the seven kinds mentioned by N\u00e2rada. One of them is the ordeal of the red-hot ploughshare, which the defendant is made to lick. The other consists of drawing lots.","title":"The Minor Law Books (SBE33): First Title: The Law of Debt: 26. The Ordeal of the Hot Piece of Gold","type":"page"}