Peeps at Many Lands: Siam/Chapter 18

by Ernest Young

A religious water procession.

Chapter XVIII

Trial by Ordeal

It is a long time since anyone in England had to undergo "trial by ordeal," but amongst the Early English it was no uncommon thing for a man to try and prove his innocence when charged with crime by plunging his hand into boiling water or by holding a red-hot piece of iron. This was done in the church and before the priest. After a certain number of days the wound was examined. If it had healed, the accused was innocent; if it had not healed, he was guilty.

Trial by ordeal in Siamese law-courts lasted down to quite recent times, and even now ordeals are practised privately for various purposes.

In one of the fire ordeals the accuser and the accused had to walk with bare feet over a layer of live coals ten inches thick. The fire was made in a ditch, ten feet long by twenty inches wide and twenty inches deep. As the competitors walked over the red-hot coals, an official pressed heavily on their shoulders to make them go slowly. At the end of the trial the feet of the men were examined, and he who had no blisters, either then or during the next fifteen days, won the case. If both were unhurt, they had to undergo another ordeal by water; if both were burnt, they were both fined. Only about forty years ago a trial of this kind occurred at a law-court in one of the smaller towns of the interior.

In the ordeal by diving, use was made of a pond or of the river itself. Two stakes were fixed about ten feet away from each other. The parties first said their prayers, and then entered the water with safety-ropes fastened round their waists. They walked into the water until it reached to their necks. Each laid hold of his stake, and then a long pole was placed so that it was supported by the shoulders of both competitors. A signal was given on a gong, and an official leant heavily on the pole and pushed the heads of the parties under the water. He who remained under the water the longer of the two was the winner. If both remained under water longer than a fixed time, they were hauled up by the safety-ropes and the case was dismissed. If the people who had quarrelled were rich, they could employ people to dive for them, instead of getting wet and breathless themselves; and there is a story told of a man who once engaged a pearl-diver to represent him, and so won easily. A trial of this kind occurred at the northern town of Chiengmai as late as January, 1882.

Phya Tak, the man whom we spoke about in the first chapter of this book, once defeated the army of a rebel who was also a priest. When the rebel was captured, a large number of yellow-robed brethren were taken with him. The King called them all together, and as he could not tell the innocent from the guilty, he said to them: "Those of you who confess your guilt must leave the priesthood, but I will give you other clothes, and set you free without punishment. Those who say they are innocent must prove their innocence by the diving-test. If you fail in this test, you will be executed."

Many priests confessed at once that they had been helping the rebel host. They were released as the King had promised. But many others swore that they were innocent. The King sat on a chair on the river-bank and watched the priests go down into the water one by one. Some of them stayed under the water the proper length of time, and so proved themselves not guilty; but others who failed were stripped of their robes and executed on the spot. Their bodies were burnt; their ashes were mixed with lime, and used to whitewash a part of a temple structure.

Sometimes melted lead was used in trial by ordeal. The contending parties thrust their hands into molten lead, and he who was not burnt won the case. Molten tin or boiling oil were used occasionally instead of the molten lead.

A regular method of settling disputes about money that had been lent was the trial by swimming. The parties had to swim either across a stream or against the current for a certain distance. The loser had to pay double the sum in dispute. Half the amount paid was given to the winner, while the other half was handed over to the Government as a fine.

Trial by means of candles was more comfortable than trial by fire and water. Two candles of exactly the same kind of wax, of the same weight, and with wicks containing the same number of threads, were lit and placed on suitable stands. The man whose candle burnt away first was the loser. It is related of a certain nobleman that he was once asked to seize the throne and get rid of a usurper who was reigning at the time. He took two candles, one for himself and one for the usurper, and watched them burn. His own candle won. Taking this to mean that he would be successful, he raised an army, attacked the sovereign, defeated him, and reigned in his stead.

Then there were trials connected with eating and drinking. One of these consisted in drinking water in which a sacred image had been bathed. If any misfortune happened to the person within a fortnight after the day he took the water he was declared guilty. In other cases rice was eaten; this was given by the priest, and was mixed with drugs and other nasty things. If the accused person was made sick by the dose, that proved him to be guilty. This form of trial was practised until quite recently for the detection of various small offences. A similar form of ordeal existed in England as late as the middle of the thirteenth century. A morsel of bread and cheese had to be eaten. It did no harm if the person were innocent, but gave him convulsions if he were guilty.

Tree-climbing was also indulged in for the discovery of culprits. For this purpose a particular kind of tree was stripped of its bark, leaving a very slippery stem underneath. A man could prove his innocence of the charge brought against him by successfully "climbing the greasy pole."

Before any of the diving-trials that we have mentioned take place, the recorder reads out a long address to the "gods of all mountains, streams, lakes, and creeks," for which he is paid about five shillings. There is a similar address and a similar fee before any one of any of the trials by fire. In this latter address the deities are asked to take vengeance on the guilty. Amongst other pleasant things that the recorder reads are the following words:

"May the deities cause all the sinful, ferocious beasts who molest man on this earth to arise and appear before the eyes of him who has said what is false, making him shake and shiver with fright; may his skin blister and his hair bristle on his head; may the terror of the approaching danger appear on his countenance, and his limbs tremble as he sees the glare of the brisk flames!

"O God of Fire, so gloriously shining and mighty! scorch and blister him as he enters the flames!

"O God of Fire, radiant and mighty in these accumulated embers, scald, blister, burn him, so that his guilt may appear evident before every eye!"

The end

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