On my asking
whether or no this was the case, my guide threw off the clothes, and
I saw the poor wretches move. I think they must have been half-
smothered under the mass of covering. Inside, on the floor, lay a
poor old woman, the death-rattle in whose throat proclaimed that her
end was fast approaching. The four bedsteads were likewise
occupied. I did not observe that the mouths and noses of these poor
creatures were stopped up with mud from the Ganges: this may,
perhaps, be the case in some other districts. Near the dying
persons were seated their relations, quietly and silently waiting to
receive their last breath. On my inquiring whether nothing was ever
given to them, I was told that if they did not die immediately, a
small draught of water from the Ganges was handed to them from time
to time, but always decreasing in quantity and at longer intervals,
for when once brought to these places, they must die at any price.
As soon as they are dead, and almost before they are cold, they are
taken to the place where they are burnt, and which is separated from
the high road by a wall. In this place I saw one corpse and one
person at the point of death, while on six funeral-piles were six
corpses with the flames flaring on high all around them. A number
of birds, larger than turkeys, and called here philosophers, {153}
small vultures, and ravens were seated upon the neighbouring trees
and house-tops, in anxious expectation of the half-burnt corpses. I
was horrified. I hurried away, and it was long before I could
efface the impression made upon my mind by this hideous spectacle.
In the case of rich people, the burning of the body sometimes costs
more than a thousand rupees; the most costly wood, such as rose and
sandal wood, being employed for that purpose. Besides this, a
Brahmin, music, and female mourners, are necessary parts of the
ceremony.
After the body has been burnt, the bones are collected, laid in a
vase, and thrown into the Ganges, or some other holy river. The
nearest relation is obliged to set fire to the pile.
There are naturally none of these ceremonies among poor people.
They simply burn their dead on common wood or cow-dung; and if they
cannot even buy these materials, they fasten a stone to the corpse
and throw it into the river.
I will here relate a short anecdote that I had from a very
trustworthy person. It may serve as an example of the atrocities
that are often committed from false ideas of religion.
Mr. N - - was once, during his travels, not far from the Ganges, and
was accompanied by several servants and a dog.
