Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.206

c8.206

Confirming and manumitting a slave. Among other ways of confirming slavery one is this : a free man gives himself up to anybody with the words tavāham "I am yours." At the manumission of a slave his master pours out a pot of water with unshelled grains and flowers on the head of the slave and during the process thrice declares him to be a free man ; the pot is then dashed to the ground so that it is broken (Nār. 5, 27, 34, 43 f.). Against a stubborn debtor the creditor may use the methods of compulsion known as Prāya, Prāyopaveśana and Ācarita which signify that he sits and fasts before the house of his debtor as long as his demand is not satisfied ; if the creditor dies in this way the debtor is considered to be his murderer (M. 8, 49 etc.).¹ Promises and assertions on oath, the binding power of which is enhanced