Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-08-24


In the I.nnInn ina4s u ILL., otlI i,,et., tI,pI
appears the following letter, from two attend
ants of the Indian princess, the Malaranee
Cor empress) Jeuden Kower, (who died near
London on tine LIST inst,) entreating that this
body of their mistress may be burne accord
ing to the rites of their religion, and not
suffer the Dissertation and ndignity Of bur-
ial =
TO the Editor Of the Times
SIR: Her HighneSs, the Maharanee Jind-
koru, of Lahore, mother of his Ighness the
Maharajah Dhulpeep Singh, died On tie first
current at Abingdon House, Kensington, in
the Hindoo faith, and we understand it is pro-
posed 10 bury her. The practice is contrary
to the religion of the Skins, and as his High
ness the Mahajarah denies our right to dispose
of the body according to our customs, we are
constrained as matter Of conscience, to APP
peal to the country for protection, and beg
you will kindly allow us a place in your spirit
ed Journal to enter a protest against the
intended Dissertation. Agreeaby to our rules
the body ought to be burnt and the ashes Civ
en- to the tfangeS. The thing is simple
enough IN itself, and as it intrnges no moral
or physical law, we cannot believe the wisdom
and intelligence OF the land would oppose our
acting as cur religion directs.
Besides, the belief OF all religionists is that
no funeral is hal owed unless a priest, or in
his absence, Il layman, of the religion of the
DECEASED, oifcidtes at his 0bsequies. Now, it
is not competent to a christian minister to
afford the rites of burial to her IIighness, and
we, on our part, cannot render any assistance
if the remains are to be buried 1t is hard,
then, that her Highness should be deprived
of the offices thA ala nj
throughout the civilized globe, and that we
should be refused the consolation of discharg-
ing the last sad duty for our mistress that is
the right of all, and that is not in the power of
his Highness the Maharai all Or any other chris
tan, to pay.
Her HighnesS was particularly careful about
everything relating to caste; indeed, so much
so, that up to her demise she refused to eat
when his Highness the Maharajah happened
to be on the same carpet with herself, and so
that she might not be compromised, had
separate establishment of Indians, who at
tended to her table and everything connected
with it. In seeking to dispose of her High
ness's remains according to our religion, then,
we feel we are fulfilling her Highnesss wish
es, and are satisfied, had she known her dis
solution was at hand, she would have left def
mite instructions for the disposal of her body
after the forms of the Sikh religion.
Reiterating our protest in the name of the
friends and relations OF her Hghness the
Maharanee of the of the Sikls in general.
both here and abroad, and in the interests of
civil and religious liberty,
We have the honor to be, sir,
Your very obedient servants,
UTCHEEL SINGH, Jageedar,
KIsHEN SINGH, Khutry.
16 Craven Terrace, Lancaster gate, Bays
water, August l.
The story of this Indian Princess is more
wonderful than any Arabian Nights tale;
the strange vicissitudes Of her life, the hor-
rible crimes that blackened it, her sudden rise
TO supreme power, and her fall, as sudden, to
misery and obscurity, form story far sur
passing anything the imagination can conjure
up This strange, weird figure, shawled and
Velied, lying down to die, weary and re-
morsetul, in a strange land, among an alien
people, was once the powerful Empress of
all Northern India, making war, at her own
supreme will, on England; holding the power
OF life and death over millions in those impe-
rious hands; binding men, by her beauty and
her art, to do her bidding,-an oriental Marin
Theresa, for whom all the chivalry of the
land would have drawn their swords borna
by obsequious slaves in palanquin of silver
whenever she travelled, and wearing in her
revels in the gardens OF Lahore, or at her