A Suttee

—

A SUTTEE,

[In years past the Latter-day Saints were frequently referred to the suppression of the Suttee in India by act of the British Parliament, as a precedent and justification of certain congressional enactments against some features of the marriage institution of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. In all those years, however, we do not remember to have seen or heard a description of A Suttee by an eye witness. Recently, however, in our casual reading of an old book, we came upon the following description of that once religious rite among the Hindoos; and because of the use that was once made of this practice of Suttee in the controversy which in past years was waged among us, we thought perhaps a description of A Suttee by an eye witness would be of interest to our readers. Editors]

To an Englishman, the religious ceremonies of the Hin- doos are well worthy of attention, from their antiquity, from the strictness with which they are performed, and, some of them, from their peculiar tendency. Amongst the most cur- ious of them, is that which enjoins the wife to burn with her deceased husband. I have had an opportunity of observing this ceremony,

with what I conceive to be unusual advantages, and therefore wish, through the medium of your work, to communicate an exact account of that which I have not hitherto seen so par- ticularly described in any books relating to the manners and customs of the natives of India. I do so at the present moment, because both the Parliament and the public seemed to have turned their attention very particularly to this subject. Having received information that a woman intended to burn

herself with her husband's body, on a particular day, a little beyond Chitpoor, a village in the environs of Calcutta, just beyond the limits to which the authority of the supreme court extends, proceeded to the spot about nine o'clock a. m., I

on the appointed day. The place selected was a quiet se-

432 IMRR O VEMENT ERA .

questered spot, of no very considerable dimensions, and sur- rounded by high trees, except on the side where it was bounded by the Ganges. I found the deceased (a young man

of the Writer caste) placed on a small bedstead near the river side, and attended by some of his male relations. At the distance of a few yards the wife remained in a close palan- quin, accompanied and surrounded by several females, with some of whom she occasionally conversed through the Vene- tian windows of the vehicle. On inquiry, I found that she had been married four years, had but recently cohabited with her husband, and was then but just thirteen years of age. When I saw her shortly after, she seemed to me, from her size and composed matronly manner, to be some years older. A square pile, consisting of dried wood, and sufficiently large to contain with ease the bodies upon was erected it,

just above high-water mark, and between three and four feet from the ground. The man's body, which had been previ- ously taken to the river and washed, and over which a slight covering of a species of gauze had been thrown, was by some of the relations taken up and placed upon the pile. Notice was then sent to the women, to acquaint them that 'all was ready.' As I heard the order given to summon her, I in- stantly approached the palanquin, in which the woman lay, and there being very few persons present, succeeded in get- ting within about three feet of her. When the doors of the palanquin were opened, with much firmness in her general appearance and demeanor, but with a slight degree of hurry in her step, she proceeded towards the river. Her whole ap- pearance was peculiarly interesting, independently of the solemn rite she was then about to perform. She was young; uncommonly fair for a Bengal Hindoo, well formed and grown, and with a very animated and sensible countenance. Her male relations joined hands and made a ring around, but very close to her; and her father, on whose arm she leaned, and in that order proceeded to the river, occasionally called — on God ('Hurree Bhole' God speak!) to evince his satisfac- tion at the act about to be performed, or, 'to receive the sac- rifice propitiously.' As she passed the pile, she stopped for an instant, and looked very earnestly at the body. She pro-

A SUTTEE. 433

ceeded to the river, bathed (surrounded and nearly protected from my view by the other women), and offered to the Gan- ges certain sweet smelling flowers and fruits. She called on several of her female friends or relations to approach, and having taken the bangles (armlets of gold or silver) from her wrists, and other gold and silver ornaments from her neck and different parts of her person, gave to each of the women some one article. Her eye, once or twice, met mine, and she slightly and gently smiled. A Bramin now approached and read to her some passages from the Shaster (the Hindoo Scriptures), the words of which she repeated correctly and calmly after him. She then took off her upper garments, which were of pale yellow muslin, and her father wrapped round her several yards of a dark-colored red silk. Round each of her arms a small packet, containing, as I was in- formed, betel and certain aromatic seeds, was tied. A large quantity of boiled rice, and a sort of comfits, was put into a fold of her dress; and with a cheerful alacrity in her air and manner, and a placid smile on her countenance, she proceed- ed towards the pile, close to which I followed her. On her way to the pile, she dispersed amongst the surrounding spec- tators large handfuls of the rice and comfits. Her father led her round the pile, and after one circuit, whether from eager- ness to finish the ceremony, or from ignorance of its forms, she attempted to get upon it, but was prevented by her father until she had completed seven entire circuits. She then mounted the pile and lay down by her husband. One of the

relations placed her left arm over her husband's neck. Her countenance was still unaltered. They next placed over both bodies several alternate layers of wood, straw, a sort of tow called 'Jute,' and other combustible matters, and concluded the whole by emptying several pots of ghee (clarified butter) or oil, and of pounded resin over the pile. Her face was still visible, and a near relation at this moment gave her some boiled rice to eat! which she apparently swallowed! the dead man's portion being laid down before his mouth on the pile. They next covered the faces of the two bodies, first with a muslin cloth, and then with some tow; and two of the male relations went rapidly round the pile three times with 34

lighted flambeaux in their hands, touching, but not setting corners as they passed. fire to each of the At the conclusion of this ceremony, one of them presented his flambeau to the girl's father, who, with a wild look and unsteady hand, eagerly ran to the windward corner of the pile, and averting his head set the whole on fire, crying out as before 'Hurree Bhole, in which ejaculation he was joined by most of the re- 1

lations, who at the same time continued to throw large quan- tities of pounded resin on those parts of the pile which had

already kindled. The whole in an instant was one sheet of fire; and now, when interference was too late for the preservation of the woman, a circumstance occurred, that made me and the only two other Europeans who were present, bitterly regret that we had not endeavored to prevent this brutal sacrifice to a savage and inhuman superstition. As soon as the pile had been fired, the band of native musicians, chiefly consisting of players on a species of drum, called a Tom-tom, and on cows' horns and other instruments more remarkable for their discordant noises than for any musical quality, struck up a din well calculated to drown all human exclamations. Not- withstanding the uproar, as I stood very near to the pile, I distinctly heard the woman shrieking loudly, and calling for help repeatedly for nearly a minute, when, happily, either the smoke or the flames put an end to her life and dreadful sufferings. From the time of her leaving the palanquin till her death was about fifteen minutes. When the whole pile was con- sumed, and the rising tide had nearly reached the spot where it had stood, the ashes were carefully collected and thrown

into the Holy Ganges. In the foregoing relation, I have most literally adhered to facts; and have only to add that I have not used one epi- thet, throughout the whole, that did not suggest itself during the performance of the ceremony.