Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c10.24

c10.24

The king himself was the judge, especially in deciding important cases. Such was the dispute between the Jainas and the Vaishnavas in 1368, in the time of the Vijayanagar king Bukka-Rāya, who, after hearing the evidence of the leaders on both sides, took the hand of the Jainas, and placing it in the hand of the Vaishnavas, delivered a decree reconciling the two (SB 136). Sometimes the mediation of a guru acceptable to both sides was invited (Ht 105). But trial by ordeal is mentioned in several cases. The earliest method consisted in the accused making oath in the presence of the god, holding at the same time the consecrated food. If guilty, it would choke him on partaking of it. Instances of this ordeal appear in 1241 and 1275 (Sb 387, Md 79). In the first the payment of some money was in question; the second was a boundary case. The ordeal of grasping a red-hot iron rod or bar in the presence of the god Hoysalēśvara is recorded in 1309.¹ A later form of ordeal was perhaps a severer test, and consisted of making oath as before, and then plunging the hand into boiling ghī (clarified butter). If no injury resulted, the defendant won his cause. Instances occur in 1580 and 1677 (Yl 2, Ag 2, 3). The first was a protest by the barbers and washermen against the potters paring the toenails and putting on an upper cloth (in wedding ceremonies). The other was regarding the rightful claimant for the office of syānabhāga or village accountant, and the decision was recognised and acted on by the court. But under the Mughal government we find in 1720 a regular magisterial process in the case of a Gauḍa whose village had been taken possession of by some one else during his absence abroad (Si 112).