Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/102

74 to the fire and press their burning lips upon those of their lords." Valerius Maximus, who flourished in Italy during the first Christian century, had to recognize, like Cicero, the undaunted courage of the Indian women, "who, although several are married to one man according to the custom of their country, nevertheless engage in a struggle and contest, when their husband dies, as to which of them he loved the most. The victress, jubilant with exultation and escorted by her relatives, who wear a glad countenance, throws herself into the flames of her husband's pyre and, as if exceedingly happy, is burned along with him; while those who are defeated remain in life with sadness and grief."

WOMEN AT THE VILLAGE POND.