473 
Mhadarow was endowed with uncommon talents, and pos- 
sessed a mind unfettered by the restraints and superstitious tenets 
of the Hindoos: after parting with Narrain Row, he had a last 
interview with his wife, a woman of beauty and virtue; her personal 
charms and engaging manners had beguiled the cares of govern- 
ment, and cheered his retired hours in the haram : his actions now- 
testified the sincerity of his affection. To preserve her dignity, 
and to free her from that degraded state to which the Hindoo 
widows of every rank are subjected, he settled on her a large jag- 
hire, or annual income, with the supreme controul over a rich and 
populous country; to this he added a considerable sum of money, 
and a profusion of jewels. Deprived of such a husband, to her 
this munificence was of no importance; nothing afforded her con- 
solation but the resolution she immediately adopted, to immolate 
herself on his funeral pile. 
One of the causes usually assigned for this extraordinary sacri- 
fice, could have had no influence on Mhadarow's widow, that of 
being reduced to a state of dependance and comparative insigni- 
ficance in her husband's family : this young princess was left her 
own mistress, and enabled to vie in wealth and dignity with the 
first nobles in the realm; but, exalted above all sublunary honours, 
she resolved to add her name to those illustrious females who had 
accompanied their husbands to the upper world. After bequeath- 
ing her property, and dividing her jewels among her friends, she 
followed Mhadarow’s corpse to the spot prepared for its cremation, 
and having performed the prescribed ceremonies, ascended the 
awful eminence with admirable dignity and fortitude, and with 
her own hand set fire to the sandal-pile, which the brahmins fed 
with clarified butter and aromatic oils. 
