170 CASES OF SUTTEE, SATl book iii
The Raja of Vellore,1
of whom I have spoken in the first book of this account of India,
having at the same time lost both this town and his life by the victory
which the General of the King of BIjapur gained over him, there was
great mourning in all his Court. Eleven of the women of his household
were keenly affected by his death, and all resolved to burn themselves
when his body was burnt. The General of the BIjapur army having heard
of this resolve, thought that he would be able to dissuade these
desperate women by flattering them, and promising them all kinds of
good treatment. But seeing that this was of no effect, and that they
were absolutely determined to be burnt with the body of the deceased,
he directed that they should be kept shut up in a room. He who received
this order, on going to execute it, was told by the infuriated women
that it was in vain, that he might do his best, but that it was useless
to keep them prisoners, and that if they were not allowed to do what
they wished, they had resolved that in three hours there would not be
one of them left alive. He jeered at this threat, and would not believe
that it could be carried into effect. But the officer in charge of the
women, on opening the door at the end of three hours, found the eleven
all dead and stretched on the ground, without any apparent indications
that they had hastened their deaths, either by steel, rope, or poison,
nor could anyone see how they had been able to make away with
themselves. On this occasion it was assuredly the case that the evil
spirit had played his game. Let us pass to another history.
Two
of the most powerful Rajas of India, who were brothers came to Agra in
the year 1642 to pay their respects to Shah-jahan, who then reigned. As
they had not behaved themselves properly on this occasion, in the
opinion of the Grand Master of the Emperor's palace, he one day said to
one of the two
1
Velou in the original (see vol. i. 130). This refers to Rama Raja, of
Vijayanagar, who was defeated at the battle of Talikota, 23rd January
1565, by a confederacy of the Kings of Bijapur, Bidar, Ahmadnagar, and
Golkonda, and being captured, was beheaded by Husain Nizam Shah of
Ahmadnagar, with his own hands (Smith, Oxford Hist, of India, 296 f.). No contemporary account of the Sati, which certainly occurred, has been traced.
