History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.299.2

v4.c63.299.2

73) prescribe that witnesses⁵⁰⁸ should face the east or north, are to be examined in the presence of the images of gods and brāhmaṇas in the first half of the day and should be exhorted to tell the truth by being bound with oaths. This examination in the public and after an oath went a long way in checking the tendency to depose falsely. The oath consisted of two parts, viz. (1) the requirement to tell the truth and (2) the exhortatory and imprecatory part. Both were administered by the presiding judge. Gaut. (XIII. 12-13) appears to prescribe that an oath (*śapatha*) was not to be administered to brāhmaṇa witness, but Manu VIII. 113 (= Nār. IV. 199) does not make this distinction. Gaut. (XIII. 14-23), Manu VIII. 81-86, 89-101, Viṣṇu Dh. S. VIII. 24-37, Nār. IV. 201-228 contain very long exhortations addressed by the judge to the witnesses relating to the importance and high worth of truth, stating how the conscience of a man pricks him, what rewards await the truthful witness here and in the next world and what sin and terrible torments in Hell are the lot of an untruthful witness, what evil befalls even the deceased ancestors of an untruthful witness and how he is liable to be punished by the king. They are too long to be cited here⁵⁰⁹. Shorter exhortations are found in Yāj. II. 73-75, Vas 16. 32-34, Baud. Dh. S. I. 10. 19. 9-12 (S. B. E. vol. XIV p. 203), Bṛ. (S. B. E. vol. 33 p. 301 verses 19-22), Kāt. 343. Nār. IV.