'dévő, the head queen, of her own accord, being prepared to be burnt with the body, 'a pit was dug, and quantities of wood piled up in it, upon which the corpse was laid, 'and upon this more faggots: when the fire blazed with the greatest fury, the head 'queen cast herself into the flames and perished. The two other wives of the raja 'were unwilling to follow this example; but they were seized by force, and thrown "into the pit, and consumed. This happened about the year 1793.' The widows of the yogees, a description of weavers, are sometimes buried alive with their deceased husbands. If the person have died near the Ganges, the grave is dug by the side of the river; at the bottom of which they spread a new cloth, and on it lay the dead body. The widow then bathes, puts on new clothes and paints her feet, and after various ceremonies, descends into the pit that is to swallow her up: in this living tomb she sits down, and places the head of her deceased husband on her knee, having a lamp near her. The priest (not a bramhun) sits by the side of the grave, and repeats certain ceremonies, while the friends of the deceased walk round the grave several times repeating 'Huree bul! Huree bul!' that is, literally, 'Repeat the name of Huree;' but in its common use it is equivalent to Huzza! Huzza! The friends (if rich) cast into the grave garments, sweetmeats, sandal wood, roopees, milk, curds, clarified butter, or something of this kind; and the widow directs a few trifles to be given to her friends or children. The son also casts a new garment into the grave, with flowers, sandal wood, &c. after which earth is carefully thrown all round the widow, till it has arisen as high as her shoulders, when the relations throw earth in as fast as possible, till they have raised a mound of earth on the grave, when they tread it down with their feet, and thus bury the miserable wretch alive. They place on the grave, sandal wood, rice, curds, a lamp, &c. and then, walking round the grave three times, return home. Among the voishnuvůs also are instances of widows being buried alive with the dead bodies of their husbands. On enquiring among the bramhuns and other Hindoos employed in the Serampore printing-office, I found that these murders were much more frequently practised than I had supposed: almost every one had seen widows thus buried alive, or had heard of them from undoubted authority. I could easily increase the number of these accounts so as to form a volume; but I am not anxious to swell this work with more facts of this nature: these are sufficient to fill the mind of the benevolent with the deepest compassion for the miserable victims of this shocking superstition. The Hindoo shastrus permit a woman to alter her resolution, even on the funeral pile, and command such a person to observe a severe fast as an atonement. This fast, however, may be commuted by gifts to bramhŭns. The Vishnoo poorană directs such a female to become a brumhucharee, which profession obliges the person to abstain from every pleasure, from chewing betle or other exhilirating herbs, from anointing herself with oil,* &c. Notwithstanding this provision of the shastră, I am informed that at present a widow, if she go to the dead body, declaring that she will be burnt with it, is never permitted to return: or, should such a case occur, she is delivered up to persons of the lowest cast to do what they will with her she never goes back to her relations. : The desire of Hindoo women to die with their husbands; and the calmness of many in going through the ceremonies which precede this terrible death, are circumstances almost, if not altogether, unparalleled. It is another proof of the amazing power which this superstition has over the minds of its votaries.+ Among other circumstances which urge them to this dreadful deed we may rank the following: First, the védüs, and other shastrus, recommend it, and promise the widow that she shall deliver her husband from hell, and enjoy a long happiness with him in heaven; secondly, long custom has familiarized their minds to the deed; thirdly, *This anointing is called übhishékŏ: when oil is applied to the crown of the head, and reaches to all the limbs, it is called übhyungă." There seems to be a strong affinity betwixt the Jewish and Hindoo methods of anointing in this respect: "It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments." + Such a widow reflects thus: It is right that the wife leave the world with her husband; a son can never be to a mother what a husband is to a wife; the extinction of life is the work of a minute; by strangling, by drowning, how soon does the soul leave the body; there are no terrors then in the funeral píle, and I shall at once enter on happiness: what multitudes have died in this manner before me; and if I live, I have nothing but sorrow to expect. by this act they escape the disgrace of widowhood, and their names are recorded aniong the honourable of their families;* fourthly, they avoid being starved and illtreated by their relations; and lastly, the Hindoos treat the idea of death with comparative indifference, as being only changing one body for another, as the snake changes his skin. If they considered death as introducing a person into an unalterable state of existence, and God, the judge, as requiring purity of heart, no doubt these ideas would make them weigh well a step pregnant with such momentous consequences. The conduct of the bramhuns at the burning of widows is so unfeeling, that those who have represented them to the world as the mildest and most amiable of men, need only attend on one of these occasions to convince them, that they have greatly imposed on mankind. Where a family of bramhuns suppose that the burning of a mother, or their brother's or uncle's wife, or any other female of the family, is necessary to support the credit of the family, the woman knows she must go, and that her death is expected. She is aware also that if she should not burn, she will be treated with the greatest cruelty, and continually reproached, as having entailed disgrace on the family. The bramhun who has greatly assisted me in this work has very seriously assured me, that he believed violence was seldom used to compel a woman to ascend the pile; nay, that after she has declared her resolution, her friends use various arguments to discover whether she be likely to persevere or not, for if she go to the water side, and there refuse to burn, they consider it an indelible disgrace on the family; that it is not uncommon for them to demand a proof of her resolution, by obliging her to hold her finger in the fire; if she be able to endure this, they conclude they are safe, and that she will not alter her resolution. If, however, she should flinch at the sight of the pile, &c. they remain deaf to whatever she says; they hurry her through the preparatory ceremonies, attend closely upon her, and go through the work of murder in the most determined manner. * It is common at Benares to set up by the side of the river, stone monuments to the memory of widows who have been burnt with the bodies of deceased husbands. Persons coming from bathing bow to these stones, and sprinkle water on them, repeating the words Sutee, Sūtēë, i. e. chaste. Some years ago two attempts were made, under the immediate superintendance of Dr. Carey, to ascertain the number of widows burnt alive within a given time. The first attempt was intended to ascertain the number thus burnt within thirty miles of Calcutta, during one year, viz. in 1803. Persons, selected for the purpose, were sent from place to place through that extent, to enquire of the people of each town or village how many had been burnt within the year. The return made a total of FOUR HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT. Yet very few places east or west of the river Hoogly were visited. To ascertain this matter with greater exactness, ten persons were, in the year 1804, stationed in the different places within the abovementioned extent of country; each person's station was marked out, and he continued on the watch for six months, taking account of every instance of a widow's being burnt which came under his observation. Monthly reports were sent in; and the result, though less than the preceding year's report, made the number between TWO AND THREE HUNDRED for the year! —If within so small a space several hundred widows were burnt alive in one year, HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF THESE WIDOWS MUST BE MURDERED IN A YEAR-IN SO EXTENSIVE A COUNTRY AS HINDOOST'HAN!* So that, in fact, the funeral pile devours more than war itself! How truly shocking! Nothing equal to it exists in the whole work of human cruelty. What a tragic history would a complete detail of these burnings make! • It will easily occur to a person familiar with the holy scriptures, what a great difference there is betwixt the commands of these scriptures respecting the widow and the orphan, and the Hindoo shastrus. In the former the Divine Being declares himself to be "the father of the fatherless, the husband of the widow." SECTION XXIX. Voluntary Suicide, (Kamyŭ Můrůnů.)* A NUMBER of expressions in several shastrus countenance the practice of vo luntary suicide ;† and some of the smritees, and pooranus, lay down rules for Kamyumărănă; declaring it, however, a crime in a bramhún; but meritorious in a shōōdru. The person is directed first to offer an atonement for all his sins by making a present of gold to bramhŭns, and honouring them with a feast; afterwards, putting on new apparel and adorning himself with garlands of flowers, he is accompanied to the river by a band of music. If he has any property, he gives it to whom he pleases: then, sitting down by the side of the river, he repeats the name of his idol, and proclaims, that he is now about to renounce his life in this place in order to obtain such or such a benefit. After this, he and his friends proceed on a boat, and, fastening pans of water to his body, he plunges into the stream. The spectators cry out 'Hŭree bŭl! Huree bŭl!' Huzza! Huzza! and then retire. Sometimes a person of property 1. kindly interferes, and offers to relieve the wants of the victim if he will abstain from drowning himself; but the deluded man replies that he wants nothing, as he is going to heaven! When a person is afflicted with a supposed incurable distemper, or is in distress, or despised, it is common for him to form the resolution of parting with life in the + Many modern works in the English language give too much countenance to this dreadful crime. What is it that unites nominal christians and heathens in so many points of doctrine and practice? Minoo says, 'A man*sion infested by age and by sorrow, let its occupier always cheerfully quit.' Mr. Hume says, ' Whenever pain ་ or sorrow so far overcome my patience, as to make me tired of life, I may conclude that I am re-called from 'my station in the plainest and most express terms.' Where is the crime of turning a few ounces of blood from 'their natural channel? These are the opinions of Munoo and Hume. The christian system, in every part, teaches us to say, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." In England, where the idea prevails that self-murder excludes from the hope of mercy in the next world, suicides are very common. What then must they be in a country containing so much unrelieved distress as this, and where the inhabitants are persuaded, that self-murder in the Ganges is the very road to future happiness! NA |