Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/432

124 The Governor was much struck with the reasoning of the merchant's clever wife and filling the cloth, in which the woman had brought the eggs, with gold mohurs sent her back to her husband.

Method of Invoking Vengeance.

, June 8.—In connexion with the recently published reports of the collision between officials and villagers in Sirohi State, the Government of India has issued a statement giving the real facts.

The statement reveals an amazing instance of the survival of the custom of human sacrifice. It appears that certain villages, including Morvada, are held by an ancient sect called Charans, or hereditary musicians, but, whereas the other villages paid the usual revenue contributions, the Charans of Morvada claimed exemption on the ground of their hereditary occupation.

When the present spring crops were ready for harvesting, fifty State Sepoys were sent to Morvada to assist in the collection of the revenue. They remained outside the village while attempts were made to induce the Charans to pay. The Charans refused to yield. Half an hour later smoke was seen rising from the village, and it was found that the Charans had decided to have recourse to the traditional method of bringing down the vengeance of Heaven on the State by burning an old woman alive. An aged widow had been placed on a pyre which her nearest relatives set afire.

The troops attempted to rescue the victim, but the villagers, determined to complete the sacrifice, opposed the efforts of the troops with knives, daggers, and swords, wounding several of them. The troops were compelled to fire in self-defence, and killed seven and wounded ten. They dispersed the mob, but were too late to save the woman's life.—Reuter.

The Times, 14th June, 1921.