SELF-TORTURES OF THE HINDOOS.
My dear Children--As the heathen have no Bible to direct them, they have
devised various means by which they expect to obtain the favor of their
gods, and get to heaven. I will mention some of these.
Some burn a lamp in a temple. They think that this is a very meritorious
act. Some roll on the ground after the god, as he is carried in a great
car or chariot around the temple. It is customary for the people to
build very high cars or chariots, and cover them with very beautiful
cloths. They also tie the cocoa-nut blossom and plantain-tree within
them, and attach great ropes to them. When they are ready to drag these
cars, or chariots, they bring their gods of gold or of brass from the
temples, and place them on them. Then one, two, three, six, nine
hundred, and even a thousand persons, when the cars are very large,
catch hold of these ropes and drag them around the temple. While they
are doing this, many of the heathen, to fulfil vows which they made when
in sickness, and at other times of distress, throw themselves on the
ground, and roll over from side to side, and frequently much injure
themselves.
Some swing on great hooks, which are passed through the tender parts of
their backs. Sometimes they swing for half an hour; sometimes an hour.
The longer they can bear the torture of the swinging, the more
acceptable they suppose it will be to their goddess. It occasionally
happens, that the flesh in which the hooks are fastened gives way, in
which case the poor creature is dashed to the ground. When this occurs,
the people hold him in the greatest abhorrence. They judge him to be a
great criminal, and suppose that he has met a violent death in
consequence of sins which he committed in a former birth.
Not long since, I attended one of these hook-swingings, not far from the
city of Madura. It took place on the morning of June 8th, 1848, just
twenty-nine years after I first left America for India. It should have
taken place on the preceding afternoon; but one of the axle-trees of the
car, which was to support the machine on which the man was to be
elevated in the air, was broken. Nothing, of course, could be done until
it was repaired. The carpenters and others worked with great diligence
until about eleven o'clock at night, when every thing was prepared for
the swinging. I expected immediately after this to witness the ceremony.
It however did not take place until the morning. While waiting for the
man who was to be swung to make his appearance, I took a pencil and made
a drawing of the machine to which he was to be fastened. The picture on
the first page of the book will give you some idea of it.
Yon have, perhaps, often seen a well-sweep. The long beam in the picture
is swung in the same manner as is the well-sweep, with a single
exception. In addition to its usual motion, it is made to turn
horizontally. The cuts which you may have seen, in two or three of my
little books, differ much from the above; of course different machines
are used at different times. There are stationary swingings, as well as
swingings of the kind to which I just alluded.
Between six and seven o'clock in the morning, the man who was to be
swung made his appearance for a few moments, and then disappeared. The
hooks by which he was to be swung, as well as the iron rods with which a
number of devotees were immediately to pierce their sides, were carried
through the streets, and held up that they might be seen by the people.
Soon afterwards the man again appeared with the hooks in his back, and
went up to the end of the beam to which he was to be fastened. This, of
course, was lowered. Notwithstanding the dense multitudes of people, I
made my way to the same spot, determined to be satisfied whether or not
there was any deception in the application of the hooks. There was no
deception. They passed through the skin, on the sides of the backbone.
To these hooks were attached yellow ropes, by which he was fastened to
the beam, as you will perceive in the picture. This being done, the men,
five or six in number, who had hold of the ropes fastened to the end of
the beam which you see resting on the ground, and which was then, of
course, high in the air, drew him up until the beam lay horizontally.
Then, after making him perform one circular motion around the car, they
elevated him, as you see in the picture. When thus elevated, it was
thought that he was forty feet from the ground. All being ready, the
people seized the ropes which you see in front of the car, and began to
draw it. Mr. Chandler and myself accompanied it through the streets,
until it came to the place from which it set out. The distance of ground
passed over was at least half a mile, and the time in which the journey
was accomplished exceeded an hour. Of course he was swinging more than
an hour. As the car passed through the streets, the people threw
plantains from the tops of the houses to the crowds below.
The man who was swung was adorned with flowers and other ornaments. He
had a tinselled turban on his head. His body was rubbed over with a
yellow paste, made, most probably, from the sandal-wood. Around his
ankles were rings, hung with little bells, which he made to tinkle, as
he was swinging, by striking his legs together. He wore a dark or black
pair of pantaloons, which came a little below the knees, and which had
a border of gold around them. He held a handkerchief in one hand, and a
knife somewhat resembling a dagger, in the other. These he kept in
constant motion, by moving his arms. On one occasion, a bunch of
plantains was tied to one of the long ropes which you see hanging down
by the side of the swinger. These he drew up, and afterwards scattered
over the people on a house opposite to him. [Illustration.]
After following the car for a quarter of a mile or more, we went before
it, and there witnessed another appalling sight. There were five or six
men, who had the rods of iron which I just mentioned passed through the
skin of their sides. They were dancing along, and, as they danced, they
made these rods go backward and forward through the skin.
After the car had reached the place from which it set out, the end of
the beam from which the man was swinging was then lowered and he was
untied. Again I looked very carefully at the hooks in the back. The
people say that no blood is shed by their introduction, and consider
this to be a miracle. The falsity of this assertion was shown by the
blood which I saw on the side of one of the wounds.
I have been long in this country, and consequently have become so
familiarized with heathenism, that my feelings, though deeply wounded at
this sight, were not so keenly affected as were those of my new
associate, Mr. Chandler. He has been on heathen ground but a short time.
When they tied the man to the beam, he was unnerved and wellnigh
overcome; and he told me, that during all the time he was following the
car, he felt like shedding tears.
While following the car, the young men of America came into my mind.
They refuse to come, said I, to help these miserable creatures. O, they
will not come--they will not come. I thought, that if many of the dear
children of that land--children to whom I lately preached, as well as
others, could witness this poor creature swinging from the end of a long
beam, far above the tops of the trees, and that, too, by hooks passing
through the tender parts of his back, they would say, we will, by and
by, become missionaries, and, by the help of God, proclaim to the
heathen that there is a Saviour.
On the evening of the day on which the swinging takes place, another act
of great cruelty is practised. Devotees throw themselves from, the top
of a high wall, or a scaffold of twenty or thirty feet in height, upon a
bed of iron spikes, or on bags of straw with knives in them. Many are
often mangled and torn. Others are quickly killed.
At night, many of the devotees sit down in the open air, and pierce the
skin of their foreheads, by inserting a small rod of iron. To this is
suspended a lamp, which is kept burning till daylight.
Sometimes bundles of thorns are collected before the temple, among which
the devotees roll themselves without any covering. These thorns are then
set on fire, when they briskly dance over the flames.
Other devotees swing before a slow fire; some stand between two fires,
as you see in this picture.
[Illustration:]
Some have their breasts, arms, and other parts stuck entirely full of
pins, about the thickness of small nails, or packing needles.
Another very cruel torture is practised. Some of the devotees make a
vow. With one hand they cover their under lip with wet earth or mud. On
this, with the other hand, they place some small grains, usually of
mustard-seed They then stretch themselves flat on their backs, exposed
to the dews of night, and the blazing and scorching sun by day. Their
vow is, that from this position they will not stir, that they will not
move nor turn, nor eat nor drink, till the seeds planted on their lips
begin to sprout. This usually takes place on the third or fourth day.
After this they arise, and then think that they are very holy.
There is a class of devotees in this country called Yogis, whose object
it is to root out every human feeling. Some live in holes and caves.
Some drag around a heavy chain attached to them. Some make the circuit
of an empire, creeping on their hands and knees. Some roll their bodies
from the shores of the Indus to the Ganges.
The Rev. Mr. Heyer, in one of his letters from India, says, that an
Indian devotee has spent more than nine years on a journey from Benares
to Cape Comorin, that is, from the 27th to the 7th degree of north
latitude. The whole journey is made by rolling on the bare ground, from
side to side. When he comes to a river, of course he cannot roll over
it. He therefore fords it, or passes over it in a boat, and then rolls
on the banks of the river just as far as the river is wide. By doing
this, he supposes that his determination to roll all the way is fully
carried out.
[Illustration]
Some devotees hold up one or both arms, until the muscles become rigid,
and their limbs become shrivelled into stumps. In the above cut, you
have a representation of a man with one of these shrivelled arms. See
how long his finger-nails have grown. One has run through his hand and
back through his arm. Some stretch themselves on beds of iron spikes.
Some wear great square irons on their necks. I have seen not only a man,
but a woman, with these great square irons around their necks, each
nearly two feet in length and two feet in breadth. These they put on for
the purpose of fulfilling some vow which they have made. For instance,
if a mother has a very sick little boy, she will say, "Now, Swammie, if
you will cure my little boy, I will have a square iron put on my neck,
and wear it all my life." After this vow is made, if the little boy gets
well, the mother thinks that her Swammie has cured him, and to fulfil
her engagement she will have one of these irons put on her neck.
[Illustration:]
[Illustration:]
Other devotees throw themselves from the tops of precipices, and are
dashed to pieces; some bury themselves alive in holes, which their own
relatives have dug; some bind themselves with ropes or chains to trees,
until they die; some keep gazing so long and so constantly at the
heavens, that the muscles of their neck become contracted, and no
aliment but liquids can pass into the stomach.
But I will not continue this subject. You perceive, my dear children,
what a wretched religion that must be which encourages its followers to
perform such acts. And how vain are all these acts--how utterly
destitute are they of any merit. Those who practise them are not made
better by them, and they are just as far from the kingdom of heaven
after having performed them, as they were before. The Christian religion
encourages no such things. It tells us to perform no pilgrimages to holy
places, to inflict no self-tortures. But it has its requirements, and
these are very simple, and may easily be performed by all who are
willing to do their duty. These requirements are, repentance, forsaking
sin, faith in Christ, and a supreme devotedness to his service. Have
you, my dear children, attended to these requirements? If not, you are
in a much worse condition than these poor heathen of whom you have been
reading. They are not as guilty before God as you are. They know not
their Master's will. Still, they must perish, unless the Gospel is sent
to them. But though they perish, their punishment will be lighter than
the punishment of those who refuse to love and obey the Saviour. That
servant who knows his Lord's will, and prepares not himself, neither
does according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he
that knows not, and does commit things worthy of stripes, shall be
beaten with few stripes. Should it be your sad lot to perish at last, it
would be far better for you to go down to hell enveloped in all the
darkness of a heathen land, than to go down to hell from a land of such
gospel light and privileges as you enjoy.