History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.416

v4.c63.416

gods and brāhmaṇas. The poison to be selected is *śārṅga* (derived from the *śṛṅga* plant) or *vatsanābha* (aconite) or *haimavata* (Viṣṇu Dh. S. XIII. 3, Nār. IV. 322 &c.). Pitāmaha (q. by Aparārka p. 712) treats the three as distinct, while Yāj. II. 111 appears to prescribe *śārṅga* growing on the Himālaya as the poison to be selected. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (XIII. 2–3) also does the same. In the rains the quantity of poison is to be six *yavas* in weight, in summer five, in hemanta (and śiśira) seven or eight and in śarad (autumn) less than the latter (i. e. six yavas acc. to Mit. and three acc. to V. Mayūkha). Poison is to be administered in the last watch of the night and never in the noon or afternoon or twilight; it was to be mixed with ghee thirty times as much. It may be administered to any one except a brāhmaṇa. Viṣṇu Dh. S. XIII. 6–7 and Nār. IV. 325 are mantras with which the judge invokes poison and Yāj. II. 110 is the mantra which the *śodhya* repeats before taking poison viz. ‘O poison! thou art the son of Brahmā, thou art firm in the duty of (deciding) the truth. Save me from this accusation and be like nectar to me by truth (if I be innocent)’. Nār. IV. 326 states that then the śodhya should eat the poison, should be kept in shade without food and guarded the rest of the day and if he discloses no signs of the effect of poison should be declared innocent. If the dose of poison is large, the Mit. (on Yāj. II. 111) says that when the śodhya shows no change till five hundred clappings of hands then he should be declared to be innocent and medical treatment should be resorted to. Pitāmaha says that, in order to prevent fraud, for three or five nights before the ordeal the intending śodhya should be kept under the supervision of the king’s servants and an examination should be made whether medicines, incantations or precious stones that are antidotes are secretly employed.