Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/134

 102 THE PEACTICE OF SUTTEE and also her relatives, come by turns to congratulate her on her heroic decision and on the immortal glory which she is about to acquire by such a death a death which will exalt her to the dignity of the gods. All possible means which fanaticism and superstition can suggest are brought to bear upon her in order to keep up her courage, to exalt her enthusiasm, and to excite her imagination. When, at last, the fatal hour draws nigh, the victim is adorned with rare elegance; she is clothed in her richest apparel, is bedecked with all her jewels, and is thus led to the funeral pyre. It is impossible for me to describe the finishing scenes of this dreadful ceremony without feelings of distress. But, in the meantime, I must solicit the indul- gence of my readers for a short digression which is not wholly disconnected with my subject. When a hus- band has several lawful wives, as often happens in the caste of the rajas, the wives sometimes dispute as to who shall have the honour of accompanying their com- mon husband to the funeral pyre, and the Brahmans who preside at the ceremony determine which shall have the preference. Here is an instance to the point extracted from the Mahabharata [the great Sanskrit epic to which allusion has often been made, particularly in the first volume of this series]: King Pandu had retired into the jungles with his two wives, there to devote himself to acts of penance. At the same time a curse was imposed upon him, which doomed him to instant death should he dare to have intercourse with either of them. The passion which