A certain person about to start on a prolonged pilgrimage to Benares and other holy places, deposited with a merchant for sage custody, during his absence, a valuable ruby, which he did not care either to leave at home, or to carry on his person. On his return from pilgrimage, some four years later, he claimed his ruby back from the merchant, but the latter, wishing to appropriate the jewel to himself, replied that he had already returned the ruby in the presence of three witnesses: and to support him in his falsehood, he hired his own washerman, barber, and potter, who were under obligations to him, and were prepared to support him through thick and thin.
Under these circumstances, the depositor complained to Mariada Ramanna, and explained to him how matters stood. The latter sent for the Defendant and his witnesses and, after recording their statements, causes them all to be placed apart at a considerable distance from one another, with directions to each of them to prepare a separate clay model showing the size and shape of the ruby referred to, and to submit the same for his inspection. The Plaintiff and Defendant had no difficulty in preparing correct models, but the false witnesses who had never seen the gem in question, had to draw entirely on their imagination, and each submitted a model of a different size and shape. That of the washerman was a striking likeness of the stone on which he habitually washed clothes, which the barber's was a replica of the whetstone on which he grounded his razor, and the potter produced a model which bore a salient resemblance to a brick. It was clear from this that none of the witnesses had ever set eyes on the ruby they swore to have seen returned. Mariada Ramanna, accordingly, decreed the return of the gem, and awarded suitable punishment to the merchant and his witnesses for their deliberate mendacity.
