Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/1027

 VII,] BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. 981 customs of her country, and her sense of conjugal duty, excluded from her mind the natural emotions of personal dread; and never did a martyr to a true cause, go to the stake with more constancy and firmness than did this delicate and gentle woman prepare to become the victim of a deli- berate sacrifice to the tenets of her heathen creed. Accompanied by the officiating Brahmin, the widow walked seven times round the pyre, repeat- ing the usual mantras or prayers, strewing rice and cowries on the ground, and sprinkling water from her hand over the bystanders, who believed this to be efficacious in preventing disease and explating committed sins. She then removed her jewels, and presented them to her relations, saying a few words to each with calm soft smile of en- couragement and hope. The Brahmins then pre- sented her with a lighted torch, bearing which “Fresh as a flower just blown, And warm with life, her youthful pulses playing,” she stepped through the fatal door, and sat within the pile. The body of her husband wrapped in rich £znkaubs, was then carried seven times round the pile and finally laid across her knees. Thorns and grass were piled over the door; and again it was insisted that free space should be left, as it was hoped that the poor victim might yet relent, and rush from her fiery prison for the protection so freely offered. The command was _ readily obeyed; the strength of a child would have sufh- ced to burst the frail barrier which confined her, and a breathless pause succeeded; but the wo- man’s constancy was faithful to the last. Nota