texts which treat of ceremonies and their fruits, and entice by promises of enjoyment. Such people can have no real confidence in the Supreme Being.' "Observers of rites, after the completion of their rewards, return to earth. Therefore they, for the sake of rewards, repeatedly ascend to heaven and return to the world, and cannot obtain eternal bliss."† (1) * यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त विपश्चितः । वेदवादरताः पार्थ नान्यदस्तीतिवादिनः ॥ कानात्मानः स्वर्गपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदां । क्रियाविशेषबहुला भांगे श्वय्यं गतिं प्रति ॥ भोगैश्वर्य्यप्रसक्तानां तथापहृतचेतसां । व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः समाधौ न विधीयते ॥ + ते तं भुक्वा स्वगंलाकी विशाल चोणे पुष्य मर्त्यलोक विशन्ति । एवं वयधमनुप्रपन्ना गनागत कामकामा लभन्त ॥ (1) We give below the text of Rughoonundun describing how the ceremony of Concremation should be performed, with the solemn declaration' referred to above, which the widow had to make before ascending the pyre : . पुचादिना स्वग्गृह्योक्तविधिना भनौ दत्ते ज्वलितायां भर्तृचितायां महगन्धो साध्वी नाता परिहितधौतवासोयुगा कणहस्ता प्राङमुखौ उदङभुखी वा देवतीर्थेनाचान्ता तिलजलकुशत्रयमादाय ओम् तत्सदिति ब्राह्मणैरुञ्चारिते नारायण' संात्य नमोद्या मुके मासि अमुके पचेऽमुकतिथौ अमुकगोवा श्रीमतो असुको देवो अरुन्धती समाचारत्व पूर्वक स्वर्गं लोक महोयमानत्वमानवाधिकरणकलोम समसंख्या ब्दावच्छिन्न स्वर्गवासमत सहितभोदमानत्वमातृपितृश्वश्वरकुल वय पूतत्व चतुईशेन्द्रावच्छिन्न कालाधिकरणका प्सरोगणस्तूयमानत्वपतिसहितकौड़मानत्वब्रह्मन्नकृतघ्नमिवन्नपतितत्वकामा भर्तृ ज्वलचितारोहणमचं करिष इति अनुमरणे तु भर्तृ ज्वलचितारोहण मित्यव ज्वलचिताप्रवेशेन भर्तृनुमरण निति सङ्कल्प अष्टौ लोकपाला बादित्यचन्द्रानिला ग्न्या का मभूमिजल हृदयावस्थितान्तव्यमिपुरुषयमदिनराविसध्याधमा यूयं साक्षिणो भवन ज्वनश्चितारोहणेन भर्तृशरीरानु गमनमह ं करोमोति च्यनुमरणे तु भर्त्त शरीरानुगमनमित्यच भर्तृनुसरणमिताचार्य ज्वलञ्चिताग्नि ं विःप्रदक्षिणौक्कृत्य श्रीम् इमा नारीरविधवाः सुपनोराञ्जनेन सर्पिषा सन्मशन्तां अनश्रवो अनमौवाः सुशेवा आरोहन्तु जनयो योनिमग्रे इति ऋग्वेदोक्तमन्तं श्रम् इमाः पतिव्रताः पुण्याः स्त्रियो या याः सुशोभनाः सहभत्त शरीरेण संविशन्त विभावसुभ् इति पौराणिके मत्रच ब्राह्मणेन पठिते नमोनम इतुाच्चाय्यं ज्वलच्चितां समारोहेत् । शुङ्खितत्त्वम् । Fire having been applied by the son or other relation according to the rules laid down in the Grihya rituals followed by the family, and the funeral pyre having blazed forth, the virtuous widow, wishing to accompany her husband, having bathed, and having put on a pair of cloths washed clean, with the kusa grass in her hand, having sipped water by the tips of her 1 Munoo repeats the same. "Whatever act is performed for the sake of gratification in this world or the next, is called Pruvurtuk, as leading to the temporary enjoyment of the mansions of gods; and those which are performed according to the knowledge respecting God are called Nivurtuk, as means to procure release from the five elements of this body; that is, they obtain eternal bliss."* The author of the Mitakshura, a work which is considered इह बालुच वा काम्य ं प्रद्वत्तं कर्म कीर्त्यते । निष्कामं ज्ञानपूर्वन्त, निवृत्तमुपदिश्यते । 987 aù dâæ 211a1Ħfa erf¶'at |_ fazd Banıag yaraâfa q¤ à fingers with her face turned towards the east or the north, and having taken in her hand the tila seed, water and three kusa grass, when the Brahmins have pronounced Om Tut Sat, meditating on Narayana, should say, 'Namo today, this month, this day of full or new moon, I, of such a gotra, of this name, desiring to attain the glory of the heavens to be obtained by acting like Aroondhatee, to dwell in the regions of bliss, rejoicing with my husband as many years as there are hairs in the human body, to purify the three families of my mother, father, and father-inlaw, to be glorified by the Apsaras as long as fourteen Indras last, to enjoy the company of my husband and to purify my husband from the sins of Brahmin-murder, ingratitude and betrayal of friends, do ascend the flaming funeral pyre of my husband: (in the case of postcremation instead of 'I ascend the flaming funeral pyre of my husband' the widow should say 'I follow my husband in death by entering the flaming pyre' :) With this solemn declaration she should then make the following invocation, "O ye eight Lokapalas! O thou the sun, the moon, the air, the fire, the atmosphere, the earth, the water, the Being who resides in the heart and knows it, the death, the day, the night, the twilights both evening and morning, and the religion! be ye witness, I follow the body of my husband by ascending the flaming funeral pyre", (in the case of postcremation, instead of 'I follow the body of my husband' the widow should say I follow my husband in death',) and go three times round the fire of the flaming pyre, and then, while the Brahmins recite the following mantra of the Rig Veda-" Let these women, not widowed, having good husbands, having applied clarified butter in the eyes for collyrium, without tears on their eyes, without any disease. fit for all attentions, being wives, ascend, after this, their proper place,” and also the following mantra from the Pooran," Let these women who are pious, devoted to their husbands, and handsome, enter the fire with the body of their husbands," she uttering yea yea (to these recitations) should ascend the flaming funeral pyre. -ED. as a standard of Hindoo Law throughout Hindoostan, referring on one hand to the authority of Munoo, Yagnuvulkyu, the Bhugvudgeeta, and similar sacred writings, and to the passages of Ungira, Hareet, and Vyas on the other hand, and after having weighed both sides of the question, declares that "The widow who is not desirous of eternal beatitude, but who wishes only for a perishable and small degree of future fruition, is authorized to accompany her husband."* So that the Smarttu Rughoonundun, the modern expounder of law in Bengal, classes Concremation among the rites holding out promises of fruition; and this author thus inculcates: "Learned men should not endeavour to persuade the ignorant to perform rites holding out promises of fruition." Hence, Concremation, in their opinion, is the least virtuous act that a widow can perform.‡ The third and the last point to be ascertained is, whether or not the mode of Concremation prescribed by Hareet and others was ever duly observed. The passages recommending Concremation, as quoted by these expounders of law, require that a widow, resolving to die after the demise of her husband, should अतश्च मोचमनिच्छन्ता पनित्यारूप सुखरुपवर्गार्थिन्याः सह मरणानुमरणयोरधिकार इतरकाम्यानुष्ठानवत् । † afœânıfa qu: aınî adfo a gadígaa: 1 Hindoos are persuaded to believe that Vyas, considered as an inspired writer among the ancients, composed and left behind him numerous and voluminous works under different titles, as Muha-poorans, Itihashes, Sunhitas, Smriti, &c. &c. to an extent that no man, during the ordinary course of life, could prepare. These, however, with a few exceptions, exist merely in name, and those that are genuine bear the commentaries of celebrated authors. So the Tuntrus, or works ascribed to Shivu as their author, are esteemed as consisting of innumerable millions of volumes, though only a very few, comparatively, are to the found. Debased characters among this unhappy people, taking advantage of this circumstance, have secretly composed forged works and passages, and published them as if they were genuine, with the view of introducing new doctrines, new rites, or new prescripts of secular law. Although they have frequently succeeded by these means in working on the minds of the ignorant, yet the learned have never admitted the authority of any passage or work alleged to be sacred, unless it has been quoted or expounded by one of the acknowledged and authoritative commentators. It is now unhappily reported, that some advocates for the destruction of widows, finding their cause unsupported by the passages cited by the author of the Mitakshura, by the Smarttu Rughoonundun, or by other expounders of Hindoo law, have dis voluntarily ascend* and enter the flamest to destroy her existence; allowing her, at the same time, an opportunity of retracting her resolution, should her courage fail from the alarming sight or effect of the flames, and of returning to her relatives, performing a penance for abandoning the sacrifice, or bestowing the value of a cow on a Brahmun.§ Hence, as voluntarily ascending upon and entering into the flames are described as indispensably necessary for a widow in the performance of this rite, the violation of one of these provisions renders the act mere suicide, and implicates, in the guilt of female murder, those that assist in its perpetration, even according to the above quoted authorities, which are themselves of an inferior order. But no one will venture to assert, that the provisions, prescribed in the passages adduced, have ever been observed; that is, no widow ever voluntarily ascended on and entered into the flames in the fulfilment of this rite. The advocates for Concremation have been consequently driven to the necessity of taking refuge in usage, as justifying both suicide and female murder, the most heinous of crimes. We should not omit the present opportunity of offering up thanks to Heaven, whose protecting arm has rescued our weaker sex from cruel murder, under the cloak of religion, and our character, as a people, from the contempt and pity with which it has been regarded, on account of this custom, by all civilized nations on the surface of the globe. gracefully adopted the trick of coining passages in the name of the Poorans or Tuntrus, conveying doctrines not only directly opposed to the decisive expositions of these celebrated teachers of law, but also evidently at variance with the purport of the genuine sacred passages which they have quoted. The passages thus forged are said to be calculated to give a preferance to Concremation over virtuous life. I regret to understand that some persons belonging to the party opposing this practice, are reported to have had recourse to the same unworthy artifice, unler the erroneous plea that stratagem justifies stratagem. • BarÛÉg_ana' | Ungira. + पतिव्रता संप्रदोप्त' प्रविवेश हुताशनं । Vyas. fafauer gar ardì dìçıfeafaat xâą i प्राजापत्येन गुडेस तस्माद्धि पापकर्मणः ॥ § प्राजापत्यव्रताशक्तौ धेनु दद्यात् gafant 1 |