PUNISHMENT BY TORTURE 659
accused of them. A poor Pariah was put to death in Tanjore for having hurled a stone at and killed a bull dedicated to Siva, which was devastating all the rice-fields in the neighbourhood. I knew another man of the same caste whose hand was cut off for having killed, also with a stone,
a calf which was trespassing on his field. He too would have certainly lost his life had he not been able to prove that the offence was unintentional, and had not several persons of note interceded in his behalf *.
A person condemned to capital punishment is either shot, hanged, or beheaded. There are many forms of punishment and torture prevalent in India. For instance, the offender may be banished from the country, severely flogged, or rolled naked on burning hot stones; or he may be condemned to carry a heavy weight on his head or shoulders until he faints from exhaustion; or hemay be tied to a stake and exposed to the burning rays of the sun with bare head and naked body
; or his hands and feet may be put into fetters tightened till they almost dislocate the joints: needles may be inserted under his nails; the pungent and acrid juice of the pepper-plant may be injected into his eyes and nostrils; or large bodkins may be plunged into the most sensitive and fleshy parts of his body, and on their withdrawal the parts be rubbed with salt and vinegar or
burning acids. These are only a few of the horrors invented as punishments by the Hindus. It is not on murderers, thieves, and offenders of that class that these terrible
punishments fall. They are much more likely to be inflicted on Government officials guilty of malpractices or malversation of public moneys, or on anybody who is known to be well off, but who declines to allow himself to be fleeced.
In those provinces which are still under native government, and especially in those where the rulers are Mahomedans, no man ' s fortune is safe, however honestly it may have been acquired. Government agents, aided by a highly organized system of espionage, contrive to obtain most accurate information respecting the amount of every person ' s fortune; and whenever an unhappy individual is ascertained to have saved enough to attract the prince ' s
1
The Indian Penal Code effectually provides against such sentences nowadays. Ed.