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"on feeing her error and fet fire to windward and refumed her station. Enfign Daniel with his cane feparated the grass and leaves on the windward "fide, by which means we had a diftinct view of her as fhe fat. With what dignity and how undaunted a countenance he fet fire to the pile the last "time and refumed her feat, can only be conceived; for words cannot convey "a just idea of her. The pile being of combuftible matter, the supporters of "the roof were presently confumed and it tumbled upon her."-" We have "been present (fays the fame writer) at many of these sacrifices. In fome of "the victims we have obferved a pitiable dread, tremor and reluctance that ftrongly spoke repentance for their declared [M] refolution; but it was now too late to retract or to retreat; Bistnou was waiting for the fpirit. If the "felf-doomed victim difcovers want of courage and fortitude, fhe is with gentle force obliged to afcend the pile, where fhe is held down with long poles by men on each fide of the pile, till the flames reach her; her screams "and cries in the mean time being drowned. amid the deafening noife of loud "mufic and the acclamations of the multitude. Others we have seen (as in "the above instance) go through this fiery trial with most amazing calmness, "refolution and joyous fortitude [N]."

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[M] The wife has twenty-four hours given her to determine (for there is no compulfion in the cafe); but if her resolution of burning be then declared, fhe cannot afterwards retract.

[N] "Every one knows, that the Indian women fometimes demand to be burned with the corpfe of "their dead husbands. Travellers, both ancient and modern, generally astonished at the tranquillity " of these women in this terrible moment, have prefumed, that their faculties were stupified by a " ftrong dofe of opium. It is true of fome, who have repented too late, but.in vain, having inconfi-"derately announced their refolution: but it is certain that drunkenness, constraint, or even the tears ❝ of the victim, deftroy the merit of the facrifice. Seduced by applaufe, by custom, and the hope of "an happy futurity, a delicate and fenfible female, fometimes almost in the state of infancy, will freely "tear herself from every thing the holds moft dear, to deliver herself to the flames and partake the "fate of an inanimate corpfe, which perhaps fhe detefted living. In 1763 at Tanjour, one of these women, while she held the head of her late husband on her knee, perceived her only child, to whom "fhe gave fuck, and asked to kiss him once more. While the preffed him to her bofom,, her heart "began to melt; when afhamed of her weakness, she put him away, feized the fatal torch and fet "the pile on fire. No religious law or precept has ordained this barbarous facrifice. They pretend "it was originally without oftentation, infpired and perhaps authorised by love;. and fuperftition or "rather pride has fince confirmed the rite. Though the Mahometan administration does not perfecute any kind of worship, yet it forcibly forbids this atrocity. Permiffions therefore are difficult to "obtain, and only from thofe governors, who are wicked enough to fell them. Shall I dare avow it?• European

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Various are the opinions concerning the origin of this facrifice, but all of them equally involved in obfcurity and conjecture. Some Greek writers mention [o], "that the Indian women being betrothed very young, and not "with their own confent, frequently used the means of poifon to rid them"felves of a difagreeable partner; and that this fecret deftruction of the "hufband having arifen to a formidable height, the expedient of burning the "wives, together with their deceafed hufbands, was adopted by law, as a "precaution, whereby to render the hufband's life equally precious in the "eftimation of the wife, as her own."

This account however is highly fabulous and affords no fatisfaction to the rational inquirer; neither does Strabo himself give it much credit. Diodorus indeed seems more difpofed to belief. He fays further; "that the law excufed "fuch wives as were pregnant or had children living; but that others, who "refused it, were to remain widows, and to be excommunicated from a par"European commanders have been known to receive the price of blood from these victims, and by, "futile pretexts have endeavoured to divert the indignation of their own countrymen.' D'OBSONVILLE's Philofophical Effays, &c. tranflated by Holcroft, 1784.

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The following account was communicated to the author by a lady now living in England, but formerly refident in India. "That about twenty-three years ago, fhe went to fee a woman burn herself " on her husband's funeral pile. This facrifice of herself was made about 200 miles from Calcutta, "within ten miles of the Marad Bog. The funeral pile of wood was about ten feet high, and underneath it was a hole or pit filled with combuftibles. On the top of the pile on its back lay the corple of her deceafed husband, covered with a white garment. The woman was brought forth "accompanied by a number of Bramins, and all her relations and friends furrounding her, and a great "number of inftruments playing. She was dreffed in the most coftly manner, with a quantity of "jewels and other ornaments. She was brought in a carriage, and did not make her appearance, " till she came near to the pile; where leaving the carriage, fhe took leave of her relations without << any feeming difcomposure or appearance of being at all affected, till fhe took her final leave of her "youngest child, seven or eight months old. Then after having laid aside her jewels and ornaments, and distributed them among her relations, she with great eagerness mounted the ladder fixt before the "pile; and when she had reached the top, fhe ftrewed among the spectators, who were all defirous "of catching fome of them, a great number of flowers, which had been before placed upon the pile in "baskets. Then making a speech of about five minutes length, the threw herself down upon the "corpfe, which fhe embraced with great vehemence, and immediately the pile was fet on fire, and "the people made a great fhout, and all the inftruments founded, in order to drown her fhrieks, while "consuming in the flames."

[o] See Strabo, Lib. XV. and Diod. Sic. Lib. XVII. and XIX.

ticipation

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ticipation of all facred rites and legal poffeffions; that these marks of reprobation ftuck fo faft by the women, that they foon eagerly and voluntsrily demanded to be burned, and thought themselves ftigmatized by a refufal, though the law was reftricted to the burning of one: that this avidity of following the husband, and thus fteering clear of all future reproach, gave "rife to the contest between the two wives of Ceteus," &c. abovementioned. But this account of its origin is too full of abfurdity to need refutation; neither is Diodorus's ftatement of the laws of burning confiftent with our prefent degree of information on that head; as in the inftances lately noticed, the Children" of the widows are exprefsly mentioned as attending their mother on this most folemn occafion. The cafe of pregnancy is indeed an exception, and that for a very obvious reason, because it is not allowed to facrifice "two" lives on this occafion; the degree of ftigma incurred by a refusal will appear hereafter.

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Mr. Holwell fays, "that the beft account he was able to procure on the fpot, after much pains of investigation was the following. At the demife of the mortal part of the great Gentoo-lawgiver and prophet Bramah, his "wives inconfolable for his lofs, refolved not to furvive; and accordingly offered "themselves voluntary victims on his funeral pile. The wives of the chief Rajahs, the first officers of state, being unwilling to have it thought that they were deficient in fidelity and affection, followed the heroic example fet "them by the wives of Bramah. The Bramans (a tribe then newly confti"tuted by their great legiflator) pronounced and declared "that the delinquent fpirits of thefe heroines, immediately ceased from their tranfiigrations and "entered the firft or higheft boboon of purification." Hence it followed, "that "their" wives claimed a right of making the fame facrifice of their "mortal forms to God and the manes of their deceased husbands. The wives of << every Gentoo caught the enthufiaftic (now pious) flame. Thus the heroic "acts of a few women brought about a general custom; the Bramans had given it the stamp of religion; they foisted it into the Chatah and Aughtorrah "Bhades Shaftah, and instituted the forms and ceremonials that were to accompany the facrifice. They ftrained fome obfcure paffages of Bramah's "Chatah Bhade, to countenance the declared fenfe of the action, and established "it as a religious tenet throughout Indoftan, fubject to the restrictions before 6 "recited,

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“recited, which leaves it a voluntary act of glory, piety and fortitude. "Whether the Bramans were fincere in their declared fenfe and confecration of "this act, or had a view to the fecuring the fidelity of their own wives, or "were actuated by any other motives, we will not determine." Indeed all attempts at precisely ascertaining the origin of fo ancient a custom must be deemed nugatory; fome general ideas only can be entertained on the subject, and the following are fubmitted with deference to the reader's judgment.

It is well known, that in the most ancient times and among nations not far emerged out of the clouds of ignorance and barbariím, very confused notions prevailed (but ftill there were fome) of an existence after death. As thefe notions were not very fpiritualized, it was no wonder, that the ideas entertained of a future ftage of existence, fhould entirely correfpond with those of their present lives; and that these very ignorant and unenlightened people could have no more exalted conceptions of futurity, than as a ftate, in which they were to enjoy every delight of their heart on earth in an enlarged degree and an uninterrupted fruition. It was therefore very natural to conceive, that what had contributed highly to their gratifications on earth, muft do the fame in their future existence. From hence a general cuftom arose among all unenlightened nations, (and the fame is still to be found among those, who continue in their ignorance and darkness) of not fuffering their friends to go into the other world unaccompanied with whatever was neceffary for their comfortable or pleasurable fubfiftence in this: hence the furnishing of their deceased friend with provifions, clothes and arms, as well as animals of various forts [P] for

[P] Go, like the Indian, in another life,
Expect thy dog, thy bottle and thy wife.-

Lo the poor Indian! whofe untutor❜d mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His foul proud science never taught to ftray,
Far as the folar walk or milky way;

-POPE.

Yet fimple nature to his hope has given
Behind the cloud-topt hill an humbler Heaven;
Some fafer world in depth of woods embraced,
Some happier island in the watry waste;
Where flaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Chriftians thirst for gold.

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his better accommodation in his new ftation. But the idea was carried further on the fame principle; and it was conceived, that thofe friends, thofe relations and domeftics, who had been beft beloved by the deceafed party, and most useful to him on earth, would also be able to continue their fervices and to contribute to his happiness in [Q] his new life. Hence followed a defire and readiness on most occafions in beloved wives, in favourite flaves, voluntarily to deprive themselves of that life, which was now become useless here, by the demise of their lord, but which might continue to be ferviceable to him, where he was gone. Where this was not done voluntarily, it was generally required and executed by the customs of the country; and thus it naturally became a matter of shame and reproach, not to be willing to pay this last tribute of refpect and duty. From hence then a very fair and probable origin may be traced of an immolation of wives to the manes of their hufbands;-an immo-. lation partly voluntary and partly forced; in which a diversity of rites and customs were observed according to the different fentiments and religious ufages of the nations, among whom it prevailed. The Indian facrifice on these occafions was much circumfcribed to what it was in other nations; being confined to one wife and unaccompanied with any thing else. This was owing to their doctrine of the metempfychofis, which takes away the idea of having the fame pursuits and paffions in the next stage of existence. In India it was confidered as a matter of religion, and rather for the benefit of the woman burning than to be of any ufe to the deceased. But whether these practices

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[] The doctrine of the immortality of the foul, falfely understood, has almoft throughout all nations and in every age, engaged women, flaves, fubjects, friends, to murder themselves; that they might go and serve in the other world the object of their respect and love in this. Thus it was in the Weft-Indies and among the Danes; and thus it is at prefent in Japan, in Macaffar, and many other places. These customs do not so directly proceed from the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, as from that of the refurrection of the body; from whence they have drawn this confequence, that after death the fame individual will have the fame wants, the fame fentiments, the fame paffions. In this point of view, the doctrine of the immortality of the foul has a prodigious effect on mankind, because the idea of only a fimple change of habitation is more within the reach of the human understanding, and more adapted to flatter the heart, than the idea of a new modification."- MONTESQUIEU, Spirit of Laws, Vol. II. B. xxiv. c. xix.

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