The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-01-02
Auasraan gutslltgenfer.
BURNING THE DEAD.
Rev. Dr. Telmage Discourses on
the Hindoo Custom.

Rofutation of SANDERS Upon tho Mission
aries to India, and q Contrast Be-
tween Christianity and Idol
atory Drawn.
The following discourse by Rev. 7.
Dewitt Talmage, being the third OF his
round-the-world press series, is on the
subject of Burning the Dead" and is
based on the text:
They have hands but they handlec not, leet
have they but they walk not. neither speak
they through their throat They tnat mahe
them are like unto them.-Psalm, CIV, 7-s.
The life of missionary is luxu-
rious and iudolent life. Hindooism is
a religion that ought not to be inter.
fered with. Christianity is guilty OF
an impertinence when it invades
heathendom; you must put in the same
line of reverence Brahma, Buddha,
Mohammed and Christ. To refute
these ISLANDERS and blasphemies now so
prevalent, and to spread out before
the Christian world the contrast be-
tween idolatrous and Christian coun-
tries, I preach this sermon in my
'sround-the-world" series.
In this discourse I take you to the
very headquarters of heathendom, to
the very capital of Hindooism; for what
Mecca is to the Mohammedan, and
what Jerusalem is to- the Christian,
Benares, India, is to the Hindoo. We
arrived there in the evening, and the
next morning we started out early,
among other things to see the burning
of the dead. We saw it, cremation,
not as many good people in America
and England are now advocating IT,
namely the burning of the dead in
clean, and orderly, and refined
crematory, the hot furnace soon
reducing the human form to q
powder to be carefully preserved
in an urn; but cremation as the Hin
docs practice it. We got into boat
and were rowed down the River Ganges
until we came opposite to where five
dead bodies lay, four of them women
wrapped in red garments, and man
wrapped in white. Our boat fastened,
we waited and watched. High piles OF
wood were on the bank, and this wood
is carefully weighed on large scales,
according as the friends Of the de-
ceased can afford to pay for it.
In many cases only q few sticks
can be afforded, and the dead
body is burned only a little, and then
thrown into the Ganges. But where
the relatives of the deceased are we'll
to-do, an abundance of wood in pieces
four to five feet long is purchased.
Two or three layers of sticks are then
put on the ground to receive the dead
form. Small pieces of sandal-wood are
inserted to produce fragrance. The
deceased is lifted from the resting
place and put upon this wood. Then
the cover is removed from the face OF
the corpse and it is bathed with water
Of the Ganges. Then several more
layers ofswood are put upon the body,
and other sticks are placed on both
sides of it, but the head and feet are
left exposed. Then q quantity OF
grease sufficient to make everything
infammable is put on the wood, and
into the mouth of the dead. Then one
of the richest men in Benares, his fort
une made in this way, furnishes the
fire, and, after the priest has mumbled
few words, the eldest son walks
three times around the sacred pile, and
then applies the torch, and the lire
blazes up, and in o short time the body
has become the ashes which the rela-
tives throw into t he Ganges.
We saw floating past us on the
Ganges the body of child which had
been only partly burned, because the
parents could not afford enough wood.
While we watched the floating form OF
the child crow alighted upon it. In
the meantime hundreds of Hindoos
were bathing in the river, dipping
their heads, filing their mouths, sup
plying their brass cups, muttering
words of so-called prayer. Such a
mingling of superstition and loath-
someness, and inhumanity I had
never before seen. The Ganges is
to the Hindoo the best river of all the
earth, but to me it is the vilest stream
that ever rolled its stencil in horror to
the sea. Hooked along the banks for
the mourners for the dead. saw in
two of the cities nine cremations, but
in no case q a.sad look or a tear. l
said to friends: "How is this? Have
the living no grief for the dead?" I
found that the women did not come
forth on such occasions, but that does
not account for the absence of all
signs of grief. There is another
reason more potent. Men do not see
the faces of their wives until after m~f-
riage. They take them on recon-
mendation. Marriages thus formed,
of course, have not much affection in
them. Women are married at seven
and ten years OF age, and are grand
mothers at thirty. Such unwisely-
formed family associations do not i'm
ply much ardor OF love. The family
so poorly put together-who wonders
that it is easily taken apart? And so
account for the absence of all signs
of grief at the cremation OF the Him
docs.
Benares is imposing in the distance
as you look at it from the other side OF
the Ganges. The forty-seven CHATS, or
fights of stone steps reaching from the
waters edge to the building high up on
the banks, mark place for ascent and
descent of the sublimities. The eye is
lost in the bewilderment OF tombs,
shrines, minarets, palaces and temples.
It is the gloriAcation of steps, the tri-
umph of stairways. But looked at
close by, the temples, though large
and expensive, are anything but at
tractive. The seeming gold in many
cases turns out to be brass. The pre-
cious stones in the wall turn out to be
paint. The marble is stucco. The
Slippery and disgusting steps lead you
to images OF horrible visage, and the
flowers put upon the altar have their
fragrance submerged by that which is
the opposite of aromatics.
The god of the Golden temple is SiVa'
or the poison god. Devils wait upon
him. He is the god of war, OF famine
OF pestnence. He is tho destroyer.
He has around his neck string OF
skulls. Before him bow men whose
hair never knew comb. They eat
carrion and that which is worse. Bells
o,J 4 bara nm o1fot Pill