^4$ ON SOME EXTRAORDINARY FACTS, CUSTOMS, 



io involve in great sin the person whose conduct 

 force: the constructor of the Koor to this expedient. 

 .An instance of this practice occurred in a district 

 qf the province j&£ JJenarej in the year 17B8. Three 

 Brahmens had erected a Koor, upon which an old wo- 

 man had suffered herself to be placed ; the objecl of 

 temporary intimidation was fully attained by it, and 

 the timely interposition of authority prevented the 

 completion of the sacrifice. It cannot be uninterest- 

 ing to know the cause which urged the three Jlrah- 

 mens to this desperate and cruel resource. Their own 

 explanation is summarily this: That they held. lands in 

 partnerfnip with others, but that the public assessment 

 was unequally imposed upon them; as their partners 

 paid less, whilst they were charged with more than 

 their due proportion ; they therefore refused to dis- 

 charge any part of the revenues whatever, and erected 

 a Koor to intimidate the government's officers from 

 making any demands upon them. Their sole object, 

 as they explicitly declared, was to obtain an equal 

 distribution of the public assessment between them- 

 selves and their partners. 



A woman, nearly blind from age, had in this in- 

 stance been placed upon the Koor: she was summoned 

 to appear before the Englifh superintendent of thepro- 

 vince, but absolutely refused to attend him; declar- 

 ing that she would throw herself into the first well ra- 

 ther than submit. The summons was not enforced. 



This is the only instance of setting up a Koor which 

 had occurred for many years, previous to 1788, al- 

 though the practice is said to have been frequent far- 



merly„ 



