Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-05-28
Funeral Eyre IN India.

Gated 10 re, aud walked down 70 the rlver
bank, being guided By some FAINT SICILY
fumes. The source and character OF which
leave 10 the readers Imagination.
The cremation CHAT or CHANT proved 10
be an lnclosure sboHI twenty by sixty
feet shut IN by brick wall enc open al
the TOP. This building was provided by
the health authorities Of the municipality,
and there are sumo iron furnaces sci al art
in il for the lncIue- -a:ing Process. But the
Ulndoos prefer 20 use tfeir own primitive
methods, ana 50 the furnaces are unused
TIE bocies are burned IN the opt court
referred to, over hollows scooped IN ihe
ground, When l entered, TIVE fires were
IN progress, but the burning hsd proceeded
so far that only sizzling bones were to be
seen. A third funeral pyre was being
reared, and the prospective victim,
woman, lay beside il in the hot sun, upon
the ground. The corpse was arrayed IN
white winding sheet, upon rude bamboo
ladder of light construction. The woman
had died OF consumption, and was tine
most emac1sted human being / ever looked
upon. | know her weight must have
fallen considerably short OF fifty pounds.
On the walls Of the building half dozen
yultures were perched, watching The oper-
snon with greedy eyes. L YVES told thst
these birds never attacked the bodies. but
| know better than that. Tie fureT,l
pyre was quickly constructed. Ii was
siout two feet high. When the logs had
all been placed the coolies who were per-
forming the work, turned hack the wind
ing eet, and bA:hed the dead woman IN
water down TO her waist. Then they
fixed around her neck the sacred thread
deno;Ing Der caste, and lifting the body
from the shutter upon which 1t lay, put Il
upon the logs. AS they were dong so the
coolie who was handling the heaG turned
to get something, and left the head to twist
over sad hang down rpon its slender AXIS
in q wav which made me grasp 81 the wall
for support. The TelstIves. who sat on
their haunches beside the body, five IN
number. did not seem to mind this revolt
ing incident at all. but pointed at the re-
mains and gosslped as though It were
some exueriment with the body OF brute
animal. which they we're witnessing a.
medical college.
The body was placed on the pile, the
thin arms tossed over the sunken chest,
and then another course Of logs was added,
covering all except the wOmsn's head.
One OF the relatives wss a woman, and at
this point she walled few feeble little
wsls--probsbly because II vas set down
as the proper thing to be done IN the cere-
mopy. Then she and q man arose u
Judge they were the father and mother Of
the dead woman), and taxing some ghee
or sacred butter, rubbed il over the face of
the dead, and placed little Of it, mixed
with rec, IN the mouth After this the
two seized a bundle of fsggots that seemed
10 burn very easily, placed lot OF live
Goals upon the end, and began marching
around the body. Escn time that they
passed the head they dropped 1--we coal
upon the face, beglnnI1g with the mouth.
After a short time the flesh began TO sput-
ter and shrlvel up IN way that made my
knees weak. The babOo who vas In
charge of the work spoke English very
well, and erjoyed the following dialogue
with him:
"dow many bodies do you burn here,
on an average, per day."
swell, when there is no special dlsesse
raging, from sixteen to twenty-five. We
ere very poorly paid, 50 that ii Is all we
can do to get along and live"
SIS this the only cremstory in Cal
cutta?1
s;No; there Is another one further up the
river. l don't know whether they are as
poorly paid or not
slow long does II take you 10 burn a
body7"
"Three or four hours"
'Do you consider It healthfal'"
"Not very; but we wouldn't mind that
Il the pay was only better.
"What do you do with the bones}'
'They are burned TO ashes. Here IS
6 little pile here, you see. We used to
sprinkle these upon the suffice Of the
Ganges, our sacred river; bat that IS now
forbidden. You see there isn't much Of
anything left after thorough burning
We work very hard, and just barely man
age to live by means OF the bits which we
pick up outside Of our regular pay
''Do they burn the widows alive any
where In India now, when they are crema-
ting the dead husbandi'
"You mean Sutteel Not often; the
government has prohibited inst, but il is
occasionally done way up North, despite
the vigilance exercised. You see this hole
where the woman is now going to be
burnedl"
yes"
swell, the famous Brahminlcal re-
former, Chunder Sen, was buried right
there only few weeks ago. We made
httle something out Of that, but We have
got back now into the place where we
have to accept anything that comes along
in order to live"
By this time the mOurners had lighted
the straw under the pile of logs, and ss
the flames shot upward the body began to
hiss and sputter night merrlly. Sickeued
at the sight, | hastily withdrew. The
sudscIty of the mans begging had made
ME mad, and neither he nor the sWeepers
of the place who fiocked about me re-
ceived the douceur for which they clam
ored. l have had enough Of lnuisn Gre
nations. Even al Its best II is he4riless
institution, and judging from the half
burned bodies which lie around N the up
country, 1t cannot be spec,aly heslthful-
The majority of the people are too poor 10
more than give their dead a bit of
scorching, and then leave them on the
river bank. The hulks of human bodies
may be seen floating on the river, while
vultures consume them and then whet
tharr hsalr ~ -