92 
THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
tions rests with the bigoted followers of Mohummed, 
who took possession of Benares during the reign of 
Aurungzebe, and left marks of their zealous fury 
upon all the sacred buildings. 
The revolting crime of infanticide was at one time 
carried to a great height in Benares and the adjacent 
districts ; and there can be little doubt, by the account 
of the Mussulmen, that it is still occasionally practised, 
in defiance of the active measures for its prevention 
adopted by the government. The police of course deny 
this statement, but they have no access to the zenanas 
and private apartments of the Rajas and petty princes, 
and therefore can have no assurance of its total discon- 
tinuance. It is true that numerous chiefs, among whom 
the daughters were formerly destroyed immediately 
after birth, have in many instances reared them, in 
compliance with their agreement with the British go- 
vernment ; but in nearly all these families the female 
children form but a very few in comparison with the 
males, which alone is sufficient ground for suspicion. 
The great supporters of this iniquitous practice were 
formerly the Rajhpoots, the Rajhkomars, and the 
Rajhvansis, among whom a single female infant was 
never permitted to exist, nor did they consider their 
destruction as an act of sin or cruelty, though I am 
unable to believe, as many have affirmed, that they 
regarded the sacrifice as an acceptable offering to the 
gods. It appears rather to have originated in conve- 
nience, on account of the ruinous expense attending 
