THE SUTTEE, OR BURNING OF WIDOWS.
My dear children--From what I have already told you, you know that the
Hindoos are a cruel people. But I have not told you of the extent to
which they carry their cruelty. Perhaps it is shown to the highest
degree in their practice of the suttee, or burning of widows. The
British have abolished this rite throughout their dominions in India.
They have also made great exertions to have it abolished in the
territories of the native princes, but I am sorry to say, that in some
of these territories it is still practised. Within the last three years,
twenty-three of the princes just alluded to, have issued orders for its
abolishment throughout their dominions. These orders have probably been
issued solely in consequence of their fear of the British power, for it
is a practice which is riveted in the affections of the people. This
power they know that it will be dangerous to resist.
In my "Sermon to Children, on the Condition of the Heathen," I
mentioned, that the sacred books of the heathen encourage the suttee. I
also mentioned several instances, in which widows had been burned to
death with the corpses of their husbands. Even though you may have seen
that book, it will be well for me to give you two or three other cases,
to impress your minds more fully with the horrors of the Hindoo
religion. The first took place in a village of Tanjore. A merchant
having died, his wife, who was about thirty years old, determined to
burn herself with his corpse. The news of what she was going to do,
quickly spread in every direction, and large numbers of people collected
to witness the burning. After she was adorned with jewels and dressed in
her best clothing, and after her body was tinged with the yellow
infusion of sandal-wood and saffron, bearers arrived to take away the
corpse with the wretched woman. The body of the man was placed on a car,
ornamented with costly stuffs, flowers, etc. There he was seated like a
living man, elegantly decorated with all his jewels, and clothed in rich
attire.
The corpse being carried first, the wife followed in a rich palanquin.
As she went along, the surrounding multitudes of people stretched out
their hands towards her to show how much they admired her conduct. The
women in particular went up to her to wish her joy, apparently desiring
to receive her blessing, or at least, that she would pronounce over them
some pleasing word. She tried to satisfy them all, saying to one, that
she would long continue to enjoy her worldly happiness, and to another,
that she would be the mother of many beautiful children. Another was
informed, that she would soon arrive at great honor in the world. These,
and similar expressions, she made to all who came near her, and they
departed with the full belief that they would enjoy all the blessings of
which she had spoken. She also distributed among them some betel-leaves,
which they gladly received as relics, or something of blessed influence.
During the whole procession, which was very long, her countenance was
serene and even cheerful, until they came to the pile upon which she was
to die. Then she suddenly became pensive. She no longer attended to what
was passing around her. Her looks were wildly fixed upon the pile. Her
face grew pale. She trembled with fear, and seemed ready to faint away.
The Brahmins, who took the lead in this ceremony, with her relations,
seeing her sad condition, ran to her, and endeavored to restore her
spirits, but she seemed not to know what they said, and answered not a
word.
They made her quit the palanquin, and her nearest relatives took her to
a pond of water which was near the pile, where they washed her. They
then attended her to the pile, on which the corpse of her husband had
already been laid. It was surrounded with Brahmins, each with a lighted
torch in one hand, and a bowl of melted butter in the other, all ready,
as soon as the poor victim was placed on the pile, to envelope her in
fire.
The relatives armed with muskets, sabres, and other weapons, stood
closely around in a double line, for the purpose, it was said, of making
her afraid, if she might wish to draw back, or of frightening any body
who might pity her, and endeavor to rescue her.
At length the time for firing the pile being proclaimed, the young widow
was stripped of her jewels, and led on towards the pile. She was then
commanded to walk three times around it, two of her nearest relations
supporting her by the arms. The first round she accomplished with
tottering steps; but in the second, her strength forsook her, and she
fainted away in the arms of those who were holding her. They were
obliged to drag her between them for the third round. Then senseless,
she was thrown upon the corpse of her husband. At that instant, the
multitude made the air to ring with their shouts of gladness, while the
Brahmins poured the butter on the dry wood, and applied the torches.
Instantly the whole pile was in a blaze.
As soon as the flames began to rage, the poor woman, now in the midst of
them, was called upon by name, from all sides; but as insensible as the
corpse on which she lay, she made no answer. She entered eternity,
suffocated at once, most probably, by the flames.
The second case of suttee which I shall mention took place at the death
of the rajah, or king of Tanjore. He left behind him four wives.
The Brahmins having determined that two of these four should be burned
with the corpse of their husband, and having selected the two whom they
thought best to sacrifice, they told them of what awaited them. They
received the information with apparent joy. A refusal would have been
attended with their utter disgrace.
One day only was necessary to get ready for the funeral ceremonies. They
were conducted as follows: In a field somewhat distant from the palace,
the people made a hollow, not very deep, but about twelve or fifteen
feet square. Within it they made a pyramid of the sweet-smelling
sandal-wood. On the middle of the pyramid, a scaffold was built in such
a manner that the posts could easily be taken away, by which means the
scaffold would fall at once. On the four corners of the platform, large
jars were placed, filled with melted butter, to besmear the pyramid,
that it might be the more easily set on fire.
The following was the order of the procession. It was headed by a great
number of soldiers under arms. They were followed by a multitude of
musicians, chiefly trumpeters, who made the air reëcho with their
melancholy sounds. Next came the body of the king upon a splendid
palanquin, richly adorned. This was surrounded by the nearest relations
and by the priest of the king. They were all on foot, and without their
turbans in token of mourning. A large party of Brahmins formed around
them as an immediate escort. The two wives who were to be burned with
the corpse came next, each borne on a palanquin. During the journey they
appeared calm and cheerful. The troops kept off the immense crowds who
were assembled from every direction.
The two queens, loaded with jewels, were attended by their favorite
women, with whom they occasionally conversed, and by their relations of
both sexes. To many of these they had made presents before leaving the
palace. They were also accompanied by thousands of Brahmins, collected
from different quarters. These were followed by an innumerable multitude
of persons of both sexes. When they arrived at the ground where they
were to be burned, the two victims were made to descend from their
palanquins, for the purpose of performing the preparatory ceremonies.
They went through the whole without showing any fear until towards the
close, when their countenances began to change, and their three circuits
around the pile were not performed without considerable effort to
maintain calmness.
In the meantime, the body of the king had been placed on the scaffold
over the platform. The two queens were also laid down beside the corpse,
one on the right hand, and the other on the left, and they joined hands
by stretching them over the body. The astrologer having then declared
that the happy moment was come for firing the pile, the Brahmins
repeated several prayers in a loud voice, and sprinkled the pile with
holy water. When these ceremonies were finished, a signal was given, and
the pillars which supported the pyramid and the scaffold were suddenly
taken away. Immediately the women were covered with the falling mass of
timber, which tumbled over them with a crash. At the same instant the
pile was fired in all its parts. On one side, the nearest relative of
the king applied his torch, and on the other side, the priest; while the
Brahmins, in every quarter, were pouring jars of melted butter on the
flames, creating so intense a heat as must instantly have consumed the
victims. Then the multitude shouted for joy, and the relations
approaching the pile also set up a loud cry, calling them by their
names. They supposed that they heard a voice in answer pronouncing
_Enna?_ that is, _What_? but the fall of the platform, and the immediate
bursting out of the flames, must have stifled them at once.
Such was the miserable cud of these poor unhappy queens--unhappy victims
of the most cruel religion that ever disgraced the earth.
Not unfrequently the sons take a prominent part in destroying their
mothers. This will appear from the following case. A Brahmin died, and
was brought to the place of burning. His wife was fastened to the pile,
and the fire was kindled, but the night was dark and rainy. When the
fire began to scorch the poor woman, she contrived to disentangle
herself from the dead body, and creeping from under the pile, hid
herself among some brushwood. In a little time it was discovered that
there was but one body on the pile. The relations immediately took the
alarm, and searched for the poor creature. The son soon dragged her
forth, and insisted that she should throw herself on the pile again, or
drown or hang herself. She pleaded for her life at the hands of her own
son, and declared that she could not embrace so horrid a death; but she
pleaded in vain. He urged, that he should lose his caste if she were
spared, and added, that either he or she must die. Unable to persuade
her to hang or drown herself, the son and the others present tied her
hands and feet, and threw her on the funeral pile, where she quickly
perished.
[Illustration: BURNING OF WIDOWS]
I observed that the rite of suttee is riveted in the affections of this
people. The following communications from two of the native princes who
lately consented to put a stop to this rite, will show you that this is
the case. The rajah of Oorcha declares, that "no subject of his state
shall in future be permitted to become a suttee, though according to the
Shasters, it is no doubt very meritorious for a widow to die of grief
for the death of her husband." The rajah of Sumpthem says, "The practice
of suttee is so very old, and has been countenanced and encouraged by
the wise men of so many generations that I have never thought myself
justified in interposing to prevent it; but my anxiety to meet the
wishes of the governor-general in this and in all things, is so great,
that I have waived all other considerations, and forbidden suttee."
If the British were to lose their power in India, the suttee would
immediately be rëestablished. Power has put it down, but power alone
will never root it out of the affections of the people. Nothing but the
Gospel can do this. O that Christians would think of this, and hasten,
yea, with great haste, to send this blessed Gospel to them.