Chap. III.] HINDOO GOVEENMENT. 95
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soul itself is its own witness ; the soul itself is its ow^n refuge ; offend not thy a.d. - conscious soul, the supreme internal witness of men. The sinful have said in their hearts, 'None sees us.' Yes; the gods distinctly see them, and so does the spirit within their breasts. Tlie guardian deities of the firmament, of the Taking of
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earth, of the waters, of the human heart, of the moon, of the sun, and of fire, of punishment after death, of the winds, of nighf, of both twilights, and of justice, perfectly know the state of all spirits clothed with bodies.' " After this address the examination takes place, and is conducted in a manner in which the defer- ence paid to the different classes is curiously marked. To a Brahmin, the judge must begin with simply saying, "Declare;" to a Cshatriya, with saying, "De- clare the truth;" to a Vaisya, with comparing perjmy to the crime of stealing kine, grain, or gold ; to a Sudra, with comparing it to every crime that men can commit, and addressing him in such language as the following: — "Headlong, in utter darkness, shall the impious wretch tumble into hell, who, being inter- rogated in a judicial inquiry, answers one question falsely." " Marking well all the murders which are comprehended in the crime of perjury, declare thou the whole truth with precision as heard and seen by thee." Such adjurations go far to prove the prevalence of perjury in native Hindoo courts in very early times; and indeed what else could be expected, when the code itself, imme- diately after inserting these adjurations, neutralizes them by adding — " In some cases, a giver of false evidence from a })ious motive, even though he know the truth, shall not lose a seat in heaven ; such evidence wise men call the speech of the gods. Whenever the death of a man, either of the servile, the commercial, the military, or the sacerdotal class would be occasioned by true evidence, false- hood may be spoken ; it is even preferable to truth. Such witnesses must offer, as oblations to Saraswati, cakes of rice and milk, addi-essed to the goddess of speech ; and thus will they fully expiate that venial sin of benevolent falsehood." Commentators endeavour to qualify this lax morality by assuming that the falsehood sanctioned is only to favour a man " who had not been a grievous offender," and to deceive a king notorious for rigour, "even though the fault arose from inadvertence or error." While a false witness might avail himself of the above lax permission, a true witness might be subjected to gross injustice in consequence of the following absurd and superstitious provision: — "The wit- ness who has given evidence, and to whom, within seven days after, happens disease, fire, or the death of a kinsman, shall be condemned to pay the debt and a fine."
Where no witness could be had, the judge might "acquire a knowledge of oathof the truth by the oath of the parties." Here the great danger to be guarded against was false swearing ; and hence, in order to maintain the sacredness of an oath, it is properly said — "Let no man of sense take an oath in vain; for the man who takes an oath in vain, shall be punished in this life and the next."
Unfortunately, as in the former case, however, the effect of the injunction is
