OF A FAITHFUL HINDU WIDOW. 22$ 



u Should the husband die on a journey, holding 

 " his sandals to her breast, let her pass into the flames.' * 



Br ah ME Pur ana. 



The expression is not understood of sandals exclu- 

 sively : for thus Us an as or Sucra. 



44 Except a J"i_pra, the widow may take anything 

 44 that belonged to her husband, and ascend the pi 



44 But a Vipra may not ascend a second pile; this 

 44 practice belongs to other tribes." Sucra. 



In two of the excepted cases, a latitude is allowed 

 for a widow desirous oi offering this token of loyalty, 

 by postponing the obsequies of the deceased : i - 

 Vya'sa directs that, 4S If the loval wife be c:: 

 " less than the journey of a day, and desire to die 

 44 with her husband, his corpse shall not be burnt 

 •* until she arrive. And the Bhav i per- 



44 mits that the corpse be kept one night, if the third 

 /' day of her uncleanness had expired when her husr 

 44 band died." 



Wit h respect to a circumstance of time (?•), wh 

 might en some occasions be objected, the commenta- 

 tors obviate the difficulty, by arguing from several 

 texts, " that to die with or after her husband, is : . 

 44 a widow ISahnittica (s) and Carnya (/), and conse- 

 44 quently allowable in the intercalary month ;" for 

 Dacsha teaches, that u whenever an act both 

 4 * NaimitticA and Cdmya is in hand, it is then to be 

 44 performed without consulting season." They are 

 at the trouble of removing another difficulty : 



(r) Occasional observances are omitted en intercalary clays. 

 (s) Eventual; incumbent when a certain tvenrJnppi 



(0 Optional; donelor. Ua reward, 



44 E 



