Ganges; or, the crime is committed after a vow, at the time of making which the person prayed for some favour in the next birth, as riches, freedom from sorrow, &c. Sick persons sometimes abstain from food for several days while sitting near the river, that life may thus depart from them in sight of the holy stream; but the greater number drown themselves in the presence of relations; and instances are mentioned, in which persons in the act of self-murder have been forcibly pushed back into the stream by their own offspring! There are different places of the Ganges where it is considered as most desirable for persons thus to murder themselves, and in some cases auspicious days are chosen on which to perform this work of religious merit; but a person's drowning himself in any part of the river is supposed to be followed with immediate happiness. At Saguru island it is accounted an auspicious sign if the person is speedily seized by a shark, or an alligator; but his future happiness is supposed to be very doubtful if he should remain long in the water before he is drowned. The British Government, for some years past, has sent a guard of sepoys to prevent persons from murdering themselves and their children at this junction of the Ganges with the sea, at the annual festivals held in this place.*

Some years ago, as Shivŭ-Shiromůnee,† a bramhŭn, was returning from bathing with Kashee-nat'hŭ, another bramhun, at Shantee-poorů, they saw a poor old man sitting on the bank of the river, and asked him what he was doing there. He replied, that he was destitute of friends, and was about to renounce his life in the Ganges. Kashee-nat'hu urged him not to delay then, if he was come to die ;-but the man seemed to hesitate, and replied, that it was very cold. The bramhun, (hinting to his companion that he wished to see the sport before he returned home), reproached the poor trembling wretch for his cowardice, and seizing his hand, dragged him to the edge of the bank, where he made him sit down, rubbed over him the purifying clay of the river, and ordered him to repeat the proper incantations. While he was thus, with his eyes closed, repeating these forms, he slipped down, and sunk into the water, which was very deep, and perished!

* In the year 1806, at this place, I saw a bramhůnëë (dripping with wet, and shivering with cold), who had just been prevented by the sepoys from drowning herself ;---and during my continuance there I heard of several mothers who had been prevented from murdering their children.

+ This man related the fact to me himself.

About the year 1790, a young man of the order of dundees, took up his abode at Kakshalee, a village near Nudeeya, for a few months, and began to grow very corpulent. Reflecting that a person of his order was bound to a life of mortification, and feeling his passions grow stronger and stronger, he resolved to renounce his life in the Ganges. He requested his friends to assist him in this act of self-murder, and they supplied him with a boat, some cord, and two water pans. He then proceeded on the boat into the middle of the stream, and, filling the pans with water, fastened one to his neck, and the other round his loins, and in this manner descended into the water-to rise no more! in the presence of a great multitude of applauding spectators. A few years after this another dundee, while suffering under a fever, renounced his life in the Ganges at Nudeeya; and nearly at the same time, a dundee at Ariyaduh, about four miles from Calcutta, in a state of indisposition, refusing all medical aid (in which indeed he acted according to the rules of his order), cast himself into the river from a boat, and thus renounced life.

Gunga-dhŭrů-shastree, a learned bramhŭn, informed me, that in the year 1806 he spent near two months at Priyagi, during which time he saw about thirty persons drown themselves! Almost every day he saw or heard of one or more sunnyasecs who thus terminated their existence; and several instances occurred in which a man and his wife, having no children, drowned themselves together, praying for some blessing in the next birth.

Π

A friend, in a letter written in the year 1813, says, 'The circumstance which you 'heard me relate of the poor leper, took place at Futwa, a little more than a year 'ago. On hearing the people of my boat declare that a man was going to be drown‘ed, I looked out, and saw the poor creature, who had been deprived by disease of 'his fingers and toes, but who in other respects appeared healthy, eating very hear'tily in the presence of his friends. The bank being high, I could not leave the boat 'till we had proceeded to a considerable distance from the place where the man sat. 'As I was running towards the spot, I heard the people on the top of the boat call 'out, 'He is drowned! he is drowned!' His attendants, who appeared to be his re

*latives, had assisted him to descend the bank, but whether they pushed him in, or 'whether he went into the water of his own accord, I cannot tell. He made great 'efforts to resist the stream, and reach the side, and struggled much before he sunk. -I endeavoured to impress on the spectators the heinousness of this crime, but they ❝ smiled at my concern, and said, they had only complied with the wishes of the deceased, who had been deprived by disease of his hands and feet.'

Another friend, in a letter written at Cutwa in the year 1812, says, 'Last week I * witnessed the burning of a leper. A pit, about ten cubits in depth was dug, and *a fire placed at the bottom of it. The poor man rolled himself into it, but instant"ly on feeling the fire begged to be taken out, and struggled hard for that purpose. 'His mother and sister, however, thrust him in again; and thus, a man who to all ' appearance might have survived several years, was cruelly burnt to death. I find 'that the practice is not uncommon in these parts.' This poor wretch died with the notion, that by thus purifying his body in the fire, he should receive a happy transmigration into a healthful body: whereas, if he had died by the disease, he would, after four births, have appeared on earth again as a leper.

Mr. C. in a letter from Agra, dated in the year 1812, says, I went out a few mornings ago, and came to an enclosed place, which, on enquiry, I found had been ' rendered sacred by ten persons having been buried alive there: I am informed, that 'many persons visit the place every Monday afternoon for worship; and that once or 'twice a year large crowds assemble here, and at another similar place near the city. There is great reason to fear that this practice is very common in these parts. At 'Allahabad many drown themselves every year; and at Vrinda-vănŭ many are bu'ried alive or drowned every year, probably every month.'

The Hindoos relate that there existed formerly at Ksheerů, a village near Nudeeya, an instrument called kůrăvăt, which was used by devotees to cut off their own heads.

The instrument was made in the shape of a half moon, with a sharp edge,

and was placed at the back of the neck, having chains fastened at the two extremi. The infatuated devotee, placing his feet in the stirrups, gave a violent jerk,

ties.

and severed his head from his body.

SECTION XXX.

Persons casting themselves from precipices, &c.

ANOTHER way in which the Hindoo shastrus allow a person to renounce life, is by throwing himself from a mountain, or some other eminence. Bengal is a perfect plain; and I have not learnt how far this permission of the shastri is acted upon in the mountainous parts of Hindoost'hană.

SECTION XXXI.

Dying under the wheels of Jugunnat’hŭ's car.

AMONGST the immense multitudes assembled at the drawing of this car, are numbers afflicted with diseases, and others involved in worldly troubles, or worn out with age and neglect. It often happens that such persons, after offering up a prayer to the idol, that they may obtain happiness, or riches in the next birth, cast themselves under the wheels of the car, and are instantly crushed to death. Great numbers of these cars are to be seen in Bengal, and every year, in some place or other, persons thus destroy themselves. At Jugünnat’hü-kshétrů, in Orissa, several perish annually. Many are accidentally thrown down by the pressure of the crowd, and are crushed to death. The victims who devote themselves to death in these forms have an entire confidence that they shall, by this meritorious act of selfmurder, attain to happiness.

I beg leave here to insert the following extract of a letter from an officer, to a friend, to confirm the facts related in this and the two preceding sections: 'I have

'known a woman, whose courage failed her on the pile, bludgeoned by her own dear 'kindred. This I have told the author of "The Vindication of the Hindoos.".

'I have taken a Gentoo out of the Ganges: I perceived him at night, and called

out to the boat-men.-Sir, he is gone; he belongs to god. Yes, but take him up, ' and God will get him hereafter. We got him up at the last gasp: 1 gave him some brandy and called it physic. O Sir, my cast is gone! No, it is physic. It is 'not that, Sir ! but my family will never receive me. I am an outcast! What! for 'saving your life? Yes. Never mind such a family.- -I let above one hundred 'men out of limbo at Jugŭnnat'hu: there were a thousand dead and dying,—all in 'limbo starving, to extort money from them.*

SECTION XXXII.

Infanticide.

THE people in some parts of India, particularly the inhabitants of Orissa, and of the Eastern parts of Bengal, frequently offer their children to the goddess Gunga. The following reason is assigned for this practice: When a woman has been long married, and has no children, it is common for the man, or his wife, or both of them, to make a vow to the goddess Gunga, that if she will bestow the blessing of children upon them, they will devote the first-born to her. If after this vow they have children, the eldest is nourished till a proper age, which may be three, four, or more years, according to circumstances, when, on a particular day appointed for bathing in any holy part of the river, they take the child with them, and offer it to this goddess: the child is encouraged to go farther and farther into the water till it is carried away by the stream, or is pushed off by its inhuman parents. Sometimes a stranger seizes the child, and brings it up, but it is abandoned by its parents from the moment it floats in the water, and if no one be found more humane than they, it infallibly perishes. The principal places in Bengal where this species of murder

* I have not the authority of this gentleman for inserting this extract; but I rely on his known benevolence to excuse the freedom I have thus taken.