enough fires on the gun deck to know the man whose clothes caught
always panicked.
If I can reach her in time I can smother the robe before she's burned
and maimed. Her legs . . .
Before he could move, the woman suddenly turned and poised herself at
the edge of the roaring pit. She emitted one long intense wail, then
threw herself directly into the fire. At that moment the robes of a
second woman caught, and she too turned and plunged head-first into the
flames.
Merciful God! What are they doing!
The three remaining women paused for a moment. Then they clasped hands,
and, as though on a private signal, plunged over the edge into the
inferno, their hair and robes igniting like dry tinder in a furnace.
The women all clung together as the flames enveloped them.
Hawksworth tried to look again into the pit, but turned away in
revulsion.
"What in hell is happening?"
Vasant Rao's eyes were flooded with disbelief.
"They must have been his concubines. Or his other wives. Only his first
wife was allowed to have the place of honor beside his body. I've. . ."
The Rajput struggled for composure. "I've never seen so many women die
in a _sati_. It's . . ." He seemed unable to find words. "It's almost
too much."
"How did such a murderous custom begin?" Hawksworth's eyes were seared
now from the smoke and the smell of burning flesh. "It's unworthy of
humanity."
"We believe aristocratic Rajput women have always wished to do it. To
honor their brave warriors. The Moghul has tried to stop it, however.
He claims it began only a few centuries ago, when a Rajput raja
suspected the women in his palace were trying to poison him and his
ministers. Some believe the raja decreed that custom as protection for
his own life, and then others followed. But I don't think that's true.
I believe women in India have always done it, from ancient times. But
what does it matter when it began. Now all rani, the wives of rajas,
follow their husbands in death, and consider it a great honor. Today it
seems his other women also insisted on joining her. I think it was
against her wishes. She did not want to share her moment of glory.
_Sati_ is a noble custom, Captain Hawksworth, part of that Rajput
strength of character wanting in other races."
A hand seized Hawksworth's arm roughly and jerked him back through the
crowd, a sea of eyes burning with contempt. Amid the drifting smoke he
caught a glimpse of the bullock carts of the caravan, lined along the
far end of the road leading into the fortress. The drivers were nowhere
to be seen, but near the carts were cattle sheds for the bullocks.
If they can send innocent women to their death, life means nothing
here. They'll kill us for sure.
He turned to Vasant Rao, whose face showed no trace of fear. The Rajput
seemed oblivious to the smell of death as smoke from the fire engulfed
the palms that lined the village roads. They were approaching the porch
of the great house where the head of the dynasty had lived.
Two guards shoved Hawksworth roughly to his knees. He looked up to see,
standing on the porch of the house, the young man who had tossed the
torch into the pit. He began speaking to them, in the tones of an
announcement.
"He's the son of the man you killed. He has claimed leadership of the
dynasty, and calls himself Raj Singh." Vasant Rao translated rapidly,
as the man continued speaking. "He says that tomorrow there will be an
eclipse of the sun here. It is predicted in the Panjika, the Hindu
manual of astrology. His father, the leader of this dynasty of the sun,
has died, and tomorrow the sun will die also for a time. The Brahmins
have said it is fitting that you die with it. For high castes in India
the death of the sun is an evil time, a time when the two great powers
of the sky are in conflict. On the day of an eclipse no fires are lit
in our homes. Food is discarded and all open earthenware pots are
smashed. No one who wears the sacred thread of the twice-born can be
out of doors during an eclipse. The Brahmin astrologers have judged it
is the proper time for you to pay for your cowardly act. You will be
left on a pike to die in the center of the square."