The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-10-13
Our Olio.
HUMAN SACRIFICE IN INDIA.

In what may be called the Brahminical
period of Hindooisn,, human sacrifice must
must have prevailed 1t is even believed
by many that the sects called Saktas form
erly ate portions of the flesh and drank
the blood Of the victims sacrificed at the
secret orgies. The first idea of sacrifice
seems to have been that of supplying the
deities with nourishment Gods and men
all feasted together Then succeeded the
notion of the need of vicarious suffering,
or life for life, blood for blood. Some
deities were believed to thirst for human
blood, and the blood of animals was sub.
stituted for that Of men. Other forms of
immolatiOn were once common in India.
The Thugs maintained that they sacrificed
their victims to the goddess Kali. Now
that Thuggism has been suppressed, good
deal of datura poisoning is practised by
the same class of people. The killing of
female infants once prevailed extensively
in the Panjab and Rajputana, owing to
the difficulty Of providing daughters with
suitable husbands and the immense ex-
penses entaied by nuptial festivities.
Again, in former days self-immolation
was common. Many inundated them
selves at the great car festivals, voluntari-
ly throwing themselves under the enor.
nous wheels, not only of the car of Jagan.
nath at Puri in Orissa, but of other idol
cars also. found similar cars attached
to every large pngoda in the south of India.
Some of them are SO large and heavy that
they require to be supported on sixteen
wheels, and on a particular day once
year they are drawn through the streets
by thousands of people. Every now and
then persons arc crushed under the wheels.
Self-immolation, in other ways, was
once extensively pravelent. There are
some sand hills in the Satpura range dedi-
Gated to the god Siva--supposed to delight
in destruction-from rock on which
many youths have precipitated themselves,
because their mothers, being without chill.
dren, have dedicated their first born sons
to the god. With regard to the immola-
tiOn of the faithful wife Commonly called
Suttee-Sati) who followed her husband
in death, and burned herself in his funeral
pile, everywhere in India | saw scattered
about in various places monuments erected
over the ashes of Salts, and everywhere
such monuments are still regarded with
the greatest veneration by the people.
Happily we put a stop to this in 1929,
though we had previously sanctioned it
under certain regulations, believing that
we ought not to interfere with an ancient
religious custom. In one year an official
report Of 800 widows burnt was received
at Calcutta. Between 1915 and 1928
the average varied from 800 to 600 per
annum.
OF course, leprosy in India, as in other
Eastern countries, is a kind of living
death. Lepers are excluded from society,
and can get no employment; and they often
gave themselves up of their own accord to
be buried alive, the motive simply being
desire to be released from physical suf-
fering This was called performing sa-
madh (Sanskrit, Samadhi, suspending the
connection between soul and body by re-
ligious abstraction.)
A very respectable Hindoo gentleman
came to the river Narbada, attended by
a large retinue, to perform samadh, in con-
sequence of an incurable disease under
which he labored. After taking leave Of
his family, he entered boat, which con-
veyed him to the deepest part of the river.
He then loaded himself with sand, and
stepping into the water disappeared.
The population is increasing in de.
gree which threatens to become wholly
manageable. Their widows never marry
again; not even if their boy husbands die,
leaving them widows at the age of 6. A
woman is supposed to be sacramently uni.
ted to one husband, and belongs to him
forever. Every town, every village, a.
most every house, is full of widows who
are debarred from all amusements, and
converted into household drudges. They
often lead bad lives. Their life, like that
of the lepers, is a kind of living death, and
they would often cheerfully give them
selves up to be burned alive if the law
would let them. Only the other day in
Nepal, where our supremacy is still barely
recognized, the widows Of Sir Jung BAHIA
dur became Salts, and burned themselves
with their husband.
Then, again, the increase in the num-
Der Of girls who cannot find suitable hus-
bands is now causing much embarrass-
ment in some districts; and even the lep-
ers, whose lives we preserve, involve us in
peculiar difficulties. These unfortunate
creatures often roam about the country
exacting food from the people by threat
ening to touch their children. Here and
there we have built leper villages--rows
of cottages under trees devoted 10 their
usei and we make the towns contribute
from local funds to support them, while
charity ekes out the miserable pittance
they receive.
Formerly, il was possible for devotees
with the object Of exciting admiration
or extorting aims, or under the delusion
that their self.torture was an act Of roli-
gious merit--to swing in the air attached
to Ioily pole by means Of rope and
hook passed through the muscles of the
back. Such self.inflicted mutilation Il
now prohibited Yet, even 10 the present
day, to acquire reputation for sanctity,
Or to receive homage and offerings from
the multitude, or under the idea Of aeon,
mulating store Of merit, all sorts Of bodi.
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