When The
Appointed Day Arrives On Which She Is To Be Burnt, She Goeth Out From
Her House Very Early
In the morning, either on horseback or on an
elephant, or on a stage carried by eight men, apparelled like
A bride,
and is carried in triumph all round the city, having her hair hanging
down about her shoulders, garnished with jewels and flowers, according
to her circumstances, and seemingly as joyful as a bride in Venice going
to her nuptials. On this occasion, she carries a mirror in her left
hand, and an arrow in her right, and sings during the procession,
saying, that she is going to sleep with her dear husband. In this manner
she continues, surrounded by her kindred and friends till about one or
two in the afternoon, when the procession goes out of the city to the
side of the river called _Nigondin_ or _Toombuddra_, which runs past the
walls of the city, to a certain spot where this ceremony is usually
performed, where there is prepared a large square pit full of dried
wood, having a little pinnacle or scaffold close to one side four or
five steps up. On her arrival, a great banquet is prepared, where the
victim eats with as much apparent joy as if it were her wedding-day; and
at the end of the feast there is dancing and singing so long as she
thinks fit. At length she gives orders of her own accord to kindle the
dry wood in the square pit; and when told that the fire is kindled, she
takes the nearest kinsman of her husband by the hand, who leads her to
the bank of the river, where she puts off her jewels and all her
clothes, distributing them among her parents or relations; when, putting
on a cloth, that she may not be seen naked by the people, she throweth
herself into the river, saying, O!
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