Administrative System of the Marathas c25.s4.10

c25.s4.10

Ordeal as a means of ascertaining truth has been in practice from very old times. Gledner suggests that ordeal by a red-hot axe is referred to in the Rig Veda. Griffith discovered in another passage of the Rig Veda reference to fire and water ordeals. According to Weber, Tula or the balance ordeal is referred to in the Satapatha Brahmana. Macdonnel and Keith do not agree with any of these scholars. Schlagintweit, Weber, Ludwig, Zimmer and others thought that fire ordeal was mentioned in the Atharva Veda, but Bloomfield and Whitney have disproved their contention. Macdonnel and Keith are of opinion that although the term *divya* or ordeal is not found in the Vedas proper, the practice is referred to in the Vedic literature, for instance in the Panchavimsha Brahmana and the Chhandogya Upanishad.⁴⁴