ABSTRACT
The essential features of the proceedings described in pars. 2'71-284 may be summarized as follows: I. The person to be tested by this ordeal should be placed in the one scale, and a basket filled with stones and sand placed in the other scale, as an equivalent. 2. Th~ basket having been made prccioely equal in weight to the man with the help of goldsmiths and other persons skilled in the practice of weighing, the position of the beam should be marked on each of the two arches. 3. After that, the man should be allowed to descend from the scale. The judge should admonish him, and he should get into the scalI! again, after a bill recounting the charge raised against him has been fastened on his head. 4. A Brahman should address the halance with prayers. 5. The man having des€ended once more from the scale, t~sult of the second weighing should be· compared with the result of the first weighing. If he has risen, i.e. if he has .proved lighter than the first time, he shall be acquitted; if the scale has gone down, or if it has remained in the same place as before, he must be pronounced guilty. 6. If any part of the balance has broken during the proceeding, he has to be acquitted.
