85 0 The Conclufion of the Travels through India, Book!, 
nour and more Advantages than they enjoyed be- 
fore. 
Thefe are the Motives that caufe the Women to burn 
with their Hufbands *, befides that, the Priefts flatter them 
with Hopes, that while they are in the midft of the Flame, 
before they expire, Ram will appear, and reveal wonderful 
Vifions to them ; and that after their Souls have tranfmi- 
grated into various Bodies, they fhall at length obtain a 
high Degree of Honour to Eternity. Elowever, there is 
no Woman that can burn with her Hufband’s Body, till 
Ihe has the Leave of the Governor of the Place where ftie 
inhabits, who being a Mohammedan , and abhorring the 
execrable Crime of Self-murder, is very flay to permit them. 
Befides, there are none but Widows that have no Children 
that lie under the Reproach that forces them to violent 
Deaths : For, as for the Widows that have Children, they 
are by no means permitted to burn themfelves, but quite 
the contrary. They are commanded to live for the Edu- 
cation of the Children. Thefe Women, whom the Go- 
vernor will not permit to burn themfelves, fpencl the reft 
of their Lives in doing Pennance, and performing Works 
of Charity. Some make it their Bufmefs to fit upon the 
Road to boil certain Pulfe in Water, and to give the Li- 
quor to Travellers to drink *, others fit with Fire always 
ready for them to light their Tobacco others make Vows 
to eat nothing but the undigefted Grains which they find 
in Cow-dunm 
O 
The Governor, finding no Perfuafion will alter the Wo- 
mens Refolution, but more efpecially, perceiving by the 
Sign which his Secretary makes him, that he has received 
the Coin, in a furly manner gives the Woman Leave, bid- 
ding the Devii take her and all her Kindred. When they 
have got this Leave, their Mufick begins to ftrike up, and 
away they march to the Eloufe of the Deceafed, with Drums 
beating, and Flutes playing before them, and in that man- 
ner they accompany the Perfon that is to be burnt to the 
Place appointed. All the Kindred and Friends of the 
Widow that is to die come to her and congratulate her on 
the Happinefs lhe is to enjoy in the other World, and for 
the Honour which the Caft fhe is of receives by her gene- 
rous Refolution. She dreffes herfelf as if fhe w r ere going 
to be married, and fhe is conducted in Triumph to the 
Place of Execution ; for the Noife is loud of mufical In- 
ftruments, and Womens Voices, that follow her, finging 
Songs in Honour of the miferable Creature that is going to 
die. The Bramins alfo accompany her, to give publick 
Teftimonies of her Conftancy and Courage, and many of 
our Europeans , are of Opinion, that to take away the Fears 
of Death, which naturally terrify Humanity, the Priefts 
give her a certain Beveridge to ftupify and diforder the 
Senfes, which takes from her all Apprehenfions of her 
approaching Death. ’Tis for the Bramin’s Intereft that 
the poor miferable Creatures fhould continue in their Refo- 
lutions ; for all their Bracelets, as well about their Legs as 
their Arms, the Pendants in their Ears, fometimes of Gold, 
fometimes of Silver (for the Poor wear only of Copper and 
Tin) all thefe belong to the Bramins, who rake for them 
among the Afhes when the Party is burned. 
I have feen Women burned after three different Man- 
ners, according to the Difference of the Country. In the 
Kingdom of Guzurat , as far as Agra and Dehli , they fee 
up a little Hut, about twelve Feet fquare, upon the Bank 
of a Pond or River ; it is made of Reeds and all forts of 
frnall Wood, with which they mingle certain Pots of Oil, 
and other Drugs, to make it burn more vehemently. The 
Woman is placed in the Middle of the Hut, in a half-ly- 
Ing-down-pofture, leaning her Plead upon a kind of 
a wooden Bolfter, and refting her Back againft a Pillar, 
to which the Bramin ties her about the Middle, for fear 
ftie fhould run away when fhe feels the Fire. In this’Po- 
fture fhe holds the Body of her deceafed Plufband upon 
her Knees, chewing Beetel all the while ; and when fhe 
has continued in this Pofture about half an Hour, the Bra- 
min goes out, and the Woman bids them fet Fire to the 
Hut, which is immediately done by the Bramins, and the 
Kindred and Friends of the Woman, who caft alfo feve- 
ral Pots of Oil and Ointment into the Fire, to put the Wo- 
man the former out of her Pain. After the Woman is 
burnt, the Bramins fearch the Allies for the Bracelets,. Pen- 
dants, and Rings, whether Gold, Silver, Copper, or Tin, 
which is all free Booty to themfelves. 
In Bengal they burn the Women after another Fafliion. 
In that Country a Woman muft be very poor, that does 
not accompany the Body of her deceafed Hufband to the 
Ganges , to wafh his Body, and to be walked herfelf be- 
fore ftie is burnt. I have feen dead CarcafTes brought to 
the Ganges above twenty Days Journey off from the 
Place, and fmek them to boot ^ for the Scent of them has 
been intolerable noifom. There was one that came from 
the northern Mountains, near the Frontiers of the King- 
dom of Boutan , with the Body of her Hufband carried 
in a Waggon. She travelled twenty Days on Foot, and 
never eat nor drank for fifteen or fixteen Days together, 
till fhe came to the Ganges , where, after ftie had wafhed 
the Body that ftank abominably, and had afterwards 
waftied herfelf, fhe was burnt with him with admirable 
Conftancy. 
Before the Woman that is to be burnt goes the Mufick, 
confifting of Drums, Flutes, and Hautboys, whom the 
Woman, in her beft Accoutrements, follows, dancing up 
to the very funeral Pile, upon which fhe gets, and places 
herfelf as if fhe were fitting up in her Bed ; and then they 
lay a-crofs her the Body of her Hufband ; and, when this 
is done, her Kindred and Friends, fome bring her a Let- 
ter, Lome Pieces of Callicut, and others Pieces of Silver 
and Copper, and defire her to deliver them to their Mo- 
ther, or Brother, or fome other Kinftnan, or Friend. 
When the Woman fees they have all done, ftie afks the 
Standers by, three Times, if they have nothing more of 
Services to command her ; if they make no Anfwer, fhe 
ties up all fhe has got in a Piece of Taffety, which ftie 
puts between her own Belly and the Body of her Kuf- 
band, bidding them fet Fire to the Pile, which is pre- 
fently done by the Bramins and her Kindred. 1 have ob- 
ferved, becaufe there is Scarcity of Wood in Bengal , that 
when thofe poor Creatures are half grilled, they caft their 
Bodies into the Ganges , where the Remains are devoured 
by the Crocodiles. I muft not forget a wicked Cuftom 
pra&ifed by the Idolaters of Bengal. 
When a Woman is brought to Bed, and the Child will 
not take to the Teat, they carry it out of the Village, and 
putting it into a Linnen-cloth, which they faften by the 
four Corners to the Boughs of a Tree, there leave it 
from Morning till Evening ; by this Means the poor In- 
fant is expofed to be tormented by the Crows, infomuch 
that there are fome who have their Eyes picked out of 
their Heads ; which is the Reafon, that, jn Bengal , you 
fhall fee many of thofe Idolaters that have but one Eye, and 
fome that have loft both. In the Evening they fetch the 
Child away, to try whether he will fuck the next Night, 
and, if he ftill refufes the Teat, they then carry him again 
to the fame Place the next Morning, which they do for 
three Days together. After which, if the Infant ftill re- 
fufes to fuck, they believe him to be a Devil, and throw 
him into the Ganges , or any the next Pond or River. In 
the Places where the Apes breed, thefe poor Infants are not 
fo expofed to the Crows ; for where the Apes difeover a 
Neft of thefe Birds, fhe climbs the Tree, and throws the 
Neft one Way, and the Eggs another. Some charitable 
People among the Englijh , Dutch , and Portugueze , com- 
paftionating the Misfortune of thofe Children, will take 
them away from the Tree, and give them good Edu- 
cation. 
All along the Coaft of Corromandel , when the Women 
are to be burnt with their Hufbands, they make a great 
Hole in the Ground nine or ten Foot deep, and twenty- 
five or thirty Foot fquare, into which they throw a great 
.Quantity of Wood and Drugs, to make the Fire burn 
more fiercely ; when the Fire is kindled, they fet the Body 
of the Man upon the Brink, and then, prefently up comes 
the Woman dancing, and chewing Beetel, accompanied 
by her Friends and Kindred, with Drums beating, and 
Flutes founding j then the Woman takes three Turns 
round the Hole, and every Time ftie has gone the Round, 
fhe kiffes her Friends and Kindred after the third Time 
the Bramins caft on the Carcafe of her Hufband, the Wo- 
man finding with her Back to the Fire, is pufhed in by 
the Bramins alfo, and tumbles backward ; then her Kin- 
dred 
