Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s3.t6.13

c19.s3.t6.13

Ordeals with boiling water and with burning lamps are also mentioned. In the latter case truth was supposed to be indicated by the period of burning. When an oath in a temple or mosque was taken, a period was fixed within which divine intervention was expected to take place. If the man lied, some illness or other mishap was expected to befall him or his family; but if he was left undisturbed, it was believed that his assertion had been corroborated by the god of the temple. On one occasion a man took an oath on the feet of Shahu Chhatrapati, and as fate would have it, died of cholera within a month.¹⁷ "Then Bhikaji Harpala said that the Maharaja's feet were the Krishna to him and he would take an oath on his (Raja's) feet. Accordingly he swore that the watan in the aforesaid Mauja belonged to him and that Kamthe was a Thalvaik (Mirasi) peasant. Within a day or two of this oath Bhikaji Gaikwad got cholera, he had to be carried back to the village on the back of a bullock and there he died after a month in consequence of that false oath taken on his behalf."