chap, ix THE BURNING OF WIDOWS 165
death might occasion.1 It is for the interest of the
Brahmans that these unhappy women maintain the resolution they have
taken to burn themselves, for all the bracelets which they wear, both
on arms and legs, with their earrings and rings, belong of right to the
Brahmans, who search for them in the ashes after the women are burnt.
According to the station and wealth of the women, the bracelets,
earrings, and rings are either of gold or silver ; the poorest wear
them of copper and tin ; but as for precious stones, they do not wear
them at all when going to be burnt.2
I
have seen women burnt in three different ways, according to the customs
of different countries. In the Kingdom of Gujarat, and as far as Agra
and Delhi, this is how it takes place : On the margin of a river or
tank, a kind of small hut, about 12 feet square, is built of reeds and
all kinds of faggots, with which some pots of oil and other drugs are
placed in order to make it burn quickly. The woman is seated in a
half-reclining position in the middle of the hut, her head reposes on a
kind of pillow of wood, and she rests her back against a post, to which
she is tied by her waist by one of the Brahmans, for fear lest she
should escape on feeling the flame. In this position she holds the dead
body of her husband on her knees, chewing betel all the time ; and
after having been about half an hour in this condition, the Brahman who
has been by her side in the hut goes outside, and she calls out to the
priests to apply the Are ; this the Brahmans, and the relatives and
friends of the woman who are present immediately do, throwing into the
fire some pots of oil, so that the woman may suffer less by being
quickly consumed. After the bodies have been reduced to ashes, the
Brahmans take whatÂever is found in the way of melted gold, silver,
tin, or copper, derived from the bracelets, earrings, and rings which
1
Preparations of bhang, or Indian hemp, used to be given for this
purpose, but in many cases the excitement alone, in all probability,
produced an insensibility to pain. In a case which occurred in Cutch,
it was suspected that the woman had been dosed with opium, but when she
was examined by two doctors, this was found not to be the case (Mrs. M.
Postans, Cutch, 65).
* For some contemporary accounts see Bowrey, 36 ff., 86, 203 f; Fryer, i. 95 f., ii. 18, 117.
