Hindu Administrative Institutions c10.s4.27

c10.s4.27

The Agni Purāṇa lays down that these ordeals are only for high treason or causes involving big sums above 1,000 paṇas. Otherwise oaths were enough to establish one's innocence.³ This is in line with Yājñavalkya's ruling. The practical way of testing by each of these ordeals is explained in the subsequent passages.⁴ And this trial by jury seems to have been limited to criminal causes only. That torture was not the common process of eliciting a confession even before Kauṭalya is evident from the Dharmasūtra of Āpastamba.⁵ He definitely