The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-11-08
BATH OF BLOOD IN INDIA.
Price of an Heir-An Oriental supersti-
 ton.

PIlce or an I1elf-An Oriental SuperStl- !
 tion At the beginning of June the Punjab Chief Court passed judgment in an ex- traordinary case that had come before it on appeal from the Umbrallan Ses- sions court. A correspondent of the Spectator briefly recalls the facts asI stated in the Sessions court. In the town of Jagadri, about forty miles from Umbalia, there lived d merchant of some position Like all Hindus, he was keenly anxious to have a son, but all the children that his wife bore were born dead. Last year it seemed proba- ble that she might again hope to be a mother, and the merchant sought, ad-r vice from a religious mendicant in or der to secure that the expected child should be born alive. The Jogli told the merchant that if his wife bathed in hu- man blood her child would live This seems to be a very ancient belief, and, revolting as it must have been to Hindu woman, the anxiety of husband and wife for a son brought them to the crime for which they were tried. A boy, Arjan by name, about eight or nine years of age, was Kidnapped, and, after being kept a prisoner for thirty hours, was strangled. His blood was collected in brass vessel, and after certain charms had been repeated the eXpectant mother smeafed the blood over her body and so fulfilled the rite. The boy was soon missed, and the crime came to light through the cor- fesslon of the man who had Kidnapped the child and had received three ru- pees for doing so. To the western mind the whole affair is marked by { cruel folly but the common folk of the Punjab will pass that by, for the mer- chants wife gave birth to d living i'm fant while in jail. All Jagadri will be- liaVe that the spells and the rite have proved potent
 This is the story of the murder and it's sequel as heard in the Sessions court. In the High court the sentence passed by the sessions judge were re- versed on a question of the validity of the evidence and on a point of pro cedure, which to the lay mind does not seem of first importance, and the Higt court judges considered the story of murder on account of the superstition improbable It may De that the sum mary report received does not put the judges position clearly. As stated, Il indicates a want of familiarity witt the thought of the country folk that k surprising. That the accused com mittcd the crime With which they wer charged may or may not be. true Without the full evidence it is inpos sible to arrive at the truth, especiall as the High court judges have declares that they found it quite impossible t get at the truth of the murder. But is widespread belief that in som mysterious way q human life may pur chase or guarantee the favor of the de mon powers that can do most harm and will be constantly hostile unless S propitiated This belief works in man ways, and such cases as the above an that which occurred in the district Q Bellary, in South India, in which was shown that a child had been sacr feed to propitiate deity thought t guard hidden treasure, are proc that in spite of the one hundred an 4000O schools in modern Indis the mind of the common people hold to 1t still-Lond0n Telegraph.