Alaska sentinel., 1907-06-06
BATH OF BLOOD IN INDIA.
Price of an Heir-An Oriental Super
 stifiOn.

Price of an Heir-An Oriental Super
 stition.
 At the beginning of June the Punjab chief court passed judgment In an ex- traordinary case that had come before 1t on appeal from the Umballa sessions court, says the London Telegraph. A correspondent of the Spectator briefly recalls the facts as stated In the ses sions court In the town of Jagadri, about forty miles from Umballa, there lived a merchant of some position. Like all Hindoos, he was keenly anxious to have son, but all the children that his wife bore were born dead. Last year 1t seemed probable that she might again hope to be a mother and the merchant sought advice from a relig lous mendicant In order to secure that the expected child should be born alive. The jogi told the merchant that If his wife bathed in human blood her child would live. This seems to be a very ancient belief, and, revolting as 1t must have been to a Hindoo woman, the anx- iety of husband and wife for a son brought them to assent to the crime for which they were tried. A boy, Arjan by name, about or 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 moth CT smeared the blood over her body and so fulfilled the rite. The boy was soon missed and the crime came to light through the confession of the man who had Kidnapped the child and had re ceiyed 3 rupees for doing so. To the Western mind the whole affair Is mark ed by cruel folly, but the common folk of the Punjab will pass that by, for the merchants wife gave birth to liv- ing infant while In jail. All Jagadri will believe that the spells and the rite have proven potent.
 This Is the story of the murder and its sequel as heard in the sessions court. In the high court the sentences passed by the sessions judge were reversed on question of the validity of the eyi- dence and on point of I-ocedure which to the lay mind does not seem of first importance, and the high court judges considered the story of murder on account of the superstition improb, able. It may be that the summary re- port received does not put the judges position clearly. As stated, 1t indicates a want of familiarity with the thought of the country folk that Is surprising. That the accused committed the crime with which they were charged may or may not be true Without the full evidence 1t Is impossible to arrive at the truth, especially as the high court judges have declared that they found 1t quite impossible to get at the truth of the murder. But 1t Is a wide spread belief that in some mysterious way a human life may purchase or guarantee the favor of the demon pow CTS that can do most harm, and will be constantly hostile unless so propi- tiated. This belief works In many ways, and such cases as the above and that which occurred in the district of Bellary, in south India, In which 1t was shown that a child had been sacri- fled to propitiate deity thought to guard a hidden treasure, are proof that, In spite of the 10000 schools In modern India, the mind of the common people holds to 1t still.