Ordeals
“divyas”
event · 8 works · 10 mentions · 24 anchored passages
divine ordeal · ordeal · ordeal of consecrated water · ordeal of rice grains · balance ordeal · consecrated water ordeal · dhata · divine evidence · divine ordeal of eating rice grains · divya
spoken of as
3 expressionsDivine Ordeal4 mentions
Kātyāyana Smṛti (Sanskrit) · Bṛhaspati Smṛti (Sanskrit)
And one should administer non-capital divine ordeals to royal servants.
Trial by Ordeal“Judgments of God”3 mentions
An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (English) · An Essay on the Trial by Jury (English) · The Genius of the Common Law (English)
This infamous test of truth is a remaining monument of that ancient and savage legislation, in which trials by fire, by boiling water, or the uncertainty of combats, were called judgments of God;
Ordeal“divine evidence”2 mentions
Nāradasmṛti (Sanskrit) · An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (English)
When a legal matter is conducted in the daytime, in villages or cities, and when witnesses are available, divine evidence is not to be used.
in the texts
Kātyāyana Smṛti
A form of divine proof (by poison, fire, water, balance, consecrated water, or rice grains) used to establish truth when human proof is unavailable or insufficient, governed by detailed procedural, caste-based, and situational rules.
And one should administer non-capital divine ordeals to royal servants.
When witnesses are available, a wise man should avoid a divine ordeal.
A divine ordeal should be administered to the accused by those skilled in ordeals.
An Essay on Crimes and Punishments
Ancient ordeal practices—trial by fire, boiling water, or combat—once believed to reveal divine judgment, compared to torture.
This infamous test of truth is a remaining monument of that ancient and savage legislation, in which trials by fire, by boiling water, or the uncertainty of combats, were called judgments of God;
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
A mode of trial by physical trial (hot iron, water, etc.), argued to have been an appeal from, not a substitute for, jury verdict.
Hallam says, “It appears as if the ordeal were permitted to persons already convicted by the verdict of a jury.
I apprehend that this trial was never forced upon accused persons, but was only allowed to them, as an appeal to God, from the judgment of a jury.
This idea is corroborated by the fact that the trial by ordeal was specially prohibited only four years after Magna Carta, “by act of Parliament in 3 Henry III.
The Genius of the Common Law
Archaic 'judgment of God' by fire or water, given to a suspect already presumed guilty as a last chance of escape.
Neither ordeal nor trial by battle could be reduced to strictly ceremonial proceedings.
What has been said about proof not being a burden but an advantage does not apply to trial by battle, nor to the other kinds of ‘judgment of God,’ namely ordeal by fire or water.
Bṛhaspati Smṛti
A ritual trial invoked as proof in disputes lacking ordinary evidence, such as secretly deposited treasure.
Where a dispute arises over a treasure given in secret, a divine ordeal is remembered as the means of proof for both.
Nāradasmṛti
A ritual trial (such as the ordeal by balance) used as 'divine evidence' when ordinary human evidence is unavailable, restricted to specific circumstances like remote or dangerous settings.
When a legal matter is conducted in the daytime, in villages or cities, and when witnesses are available, divine evidence is not to be used.
In a forest, in a deserted place, at night, inside a house, in cases of violence, and in the denial of a deposit, divine evidence is possible.
divine evidence is remembered as the ordeal by balance and so on.
Viṣṇu Smṛti
Judicial ordeals used to determine guilt or innocence when normal proof is insufficient, including the balance, fire, water, poison, and consecrated water ordeals
Beyond that, one of the ordeals of the balance, fire, water, or poison, as appropriate.
The ordeal of consecrated water shall not be administered to atheists.
One shall not administer the ordeal of consecrated water to a Brāhmaṇa.
Yājñavalkya Smṛti
A ritual trial by balance, fire, water, poison, or sacred libation used to determine truth in grave legal accusations.
The balance, fire, water, poison, and sacred libation are the ordeals here for purification;
Having summoned the person, who has fasted, to come bathed and in his clothes at sunrise, the king should have all ordeals performed in the presence of himself and of Brāhmaṇas.
if, upon his return, the accused is still seen submerged, he attains purity.