Hindoo Widows.
The Times, 1824-09-15T00:00:00

Some papers have been printed by order of the louse of Com- mons on the Suttees, or the sacrifices of women on the funeral piles of their husbands, which have been toleratedI by the Christian Go. vernment of the East Inlia Company in ifindostan. The papers in ituestion are " Copies and Extracts of all Communications and Cerrespondence on this subject since farch, 1823.3 A return is made from the seven listricts, Calcutta, C(ultak, Dacca, AMoor. shedlabad, Patnalb, Bareilly, and Benares, of the number of widows burned in five vears: in 1817, 707; in 1818, 839; ins 1810, 605; in 1820, 597; in 1821, 654. The practice seems to flourish to the greatest extent in thc immediate vicinity, and, as it were, under the very eyes of the central Government, as the SuLtees in the Calcuitta district are in all theseyears more than half the whole nimber, viz., 1817, 428; 1818, 533; i1lJ. 388; 1820,337; 1821, 364. It is always more easy tor official personis to tolerate any existing abuse than to removeit;and weconsequently find representations from thefunctiona- ries in some parts of Intlia against "attempting to lop off one branch of the superstition" of the Hidoos ; but we shiould ; ruii the risk of interrupting the progress of those causes whicih are already consum- ing it at thc root." We agree, hiowever, with a respectable con- temporary, that nothiing would be more safe and easy than to (destrov altogether this practice, than w hici tin tsage, in proportion to its ext:nt, can be attentled with more dreatiful suffcring and terror. It is quite a misconception of the fact to considler tiiese sacrifices as the spontancous acts of the widows. The true state of the case is, that t!hesc unhappy victims are sacrificed to the convenienc of the relia- tives of the deceased hlusbantl, just as the daughters of noble fami- lies usctl to be driven into convents for the advantage of their bro- thers. Thiey are assailed by the joint influenre of superstition, and all the arts of fatmily persecittion, at a moment wheni life appears least valiuable to them ; and after a consent has been once dravn from thiem, they are forced by shame to persist till they approach thc fatal pile, where they are kept tlown by force, and wnere, in in- stances in which they hiave attenr-ited to escape, they have been dragged. sliricking, bacl into the flames. Allr. Plowilen, a magistrate, who witnessed one of these Suttees so recently as last ycir, gives the follorviig holrribile picture of the vio- lence used on these occasions, which is as repugnant, it appears, to the religious books in wlich this sort of mttrder has beCn defended, as it is to the idea of a voluntary sacrificc:- i The Shaster, which sanctions burning, cnoins, I am told, the jullut chectaarohimn-that is, the victim mtrinting and ttro%ving her- self UPnpi the funcral-pile when it has bumrt out into flanics: thbis feature of tire ceremoiny, anid a remarkable ot1e it is, fronm its offering a momentary incitement to shakc the strongest resolutions of human nature, was wvholly dispensed with. Il the case of this suttee, the victim was laid tlown by the side of her deccased liusbatit ; and if she was not hounid by her clothes with the deceased, yet they were so wrappcd about her and the deceased, that it woul(d have been dlif- ficult for her to disentangle herself front thetmt ; tipon hier was then laid logs of wool, sontc of thern of a size and weight such as but one nian could lift andt carry: a mintuttc or two elapsed in this portion of the ceremony (which, from the manifest mcaning of the ter jullut chectasrohill, mrist liave been contrary to the injunctions of the -hiastr), when the pile wias set fire to, and immediately after a large creen bamboo wais placed across, and livId down by two meCIt on each 3ide, so that it rentceredI arty effort on thc part of the victim to escape wholly uaVatiling. Scarcely had the funcral pile been lighted; when she made a most violeIi efflort tn escape from the flantes, but the na- wure antd construction of thc pile renidered any immediate effort to re. lease her from the flames, with thie chance of escaping ivitli her life, luite itmipracticable." It is atbsurd to suppose that the prevention of murder so -ruel as this, devisedi for the purpose of robbing the victim, anti often tiAC :hefencecless chii(dren), of tneir property, couild dangerously shock the religious feelings of any people. The returns shovw that thcsc mur. lers bear no great proportion to the liopulation, and the acuteitess of tine natives inust show them the base motives inder which they are perpetrated. 'lhe mnot Icatiled natives have declared that thle practice is not ienjoined by their religion ; atid in thiosc instatces in which, from the decision of' the magistrates, the victiims liaveubeCi rescued, Ito evil consequectees have occurrel. Al very trifling exer- cise of ttat (lecisioit which the ftilian Government lias boasted of in thc undertaking of expensiive wars, or in violent anti arbitrary nica- sures ton-ar-Is British Bil,jects,woulrl, it is probable, remove this ii- famy, which, by all tliinking men, muse be charged upon those who tolerate it. I 23S Letter from theo Governior irn Couttelt of lionibay, dtated Julite 23, Yeaterdlay evening a Coron*'s inquest was heldI at the * b]e, tn Shirc-1ane, on tlc body of Thomas Rlaw, who came by his deah lby fallinF dlown a ellar, about 10 tbct in depth. le wvas im- diat aely pickdl upl andl con iveyedl to a sttrgeon, b.t, notvithst4:ld- ~ rcndercd, he cxpircd in a few houirs after. HINDOO WIDOWS.