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be left widows while very small children: but nevertheless they disgrace themselves if they depart from a life of perpetual chastity. Those who are thus left desolate often sacrifice themselves, either from religious zeal or weariness of life. A girl whose betrothed died when she was six years old, is mentioned as having performed the Sati at fifteen. No entreaties could prevail upon her to relinquish her project. An immolation performed with great firmness was a subject of family pride, and recounted to succeeding generations. Widows sometimes mounted the funeral pile with heroic enthusiasm, laid the husband's head on their knees, and themselves brandished a torch to light the pile. But these sacrifices were not always voluntary, even when they appeared so. Husbands, clinging to the idea of exclusive possession, even after death, often left injunctions to their wives to make the offering, and to their heirs to urge them to it. Women hold no property, and it was the interest of relatives, on whom the widow would depend entirely for support, to excite their religious zeal sufficiently to make them brave the terrors of this fiery ordeal. If the courage of the poor creature failed at the last dreadful moment, and she succeeded in making her escape, she sunk into irretrievable disgrace, which was reflected on her kindred. Therefore, when such symptoms were discovered, Bramins tied down the victim with strong cords, and while the flames rose, her screams were drowned in the din of musical instruments.

After a long contest with Hindoo prejudices, the British government at last succeeded in abolishing this cruel custom wherever they had jurisdiction. The women were generally most grateful to them for the change. They are gentle, affectionate, and devotional; extremely fond of carrying offerings to the temples, and performing religious ceremonies in the sacred groves.

The belief in a universal interchange of souls throughout creation produces singular ideas and customs with regard to animals. Vishnu assumes their shape as frequently as he does that of man. They are not only represented as VOL. I.-10*

constant companions and friends of the deities, but often as being themselves of divine intelligence, dwelling in Paradise, and occasionally incarnated on earth, to assist the god to whose service they were devoted. Garuda, prince of the eagles, is supposed to guard the entrance of Vishnu's Paradise. Hanuman, prince of the monkeys, assumed the form of an ape, and rendered important services to Vishnu while on earth in the person of Rama. There are numerous other similar instances. In the Ramayana it is stated that Garuda, having sinned in thought against his divine master, went in penitent guise to seek counsel from the crow Bhusanda, who dwelt on the lofty summits of the Blue Mountains, and had been devoted to the service of Rama from his birth. This crow was "experienced in virtues and vices; well acquainted with all that had happened since the beginning of time; sometimes wrapped in profound meditation on the being of God; at others pouring forth invocations, and proclaiming the praises of Vishnu to the birds of land and water." He became the instructor of Garuda, and informed him that he had once been a Bramin, but had passed into a crow, in consequence of maledictions pronounced upon him by a powerful saint. With these ideas, no wonder the brute creation are regarded with tenderness and reverence. Bulls and cows are sacred in the highest degree, espe cially the latter, on account of a cow in Paradise, styled, "Mother of the gods, and of three worlds." Even the dung of this animal is sacred, and is used in many religious ceremonies. Hindoos will die rather than taste of beef; a fact which has been often proved on board vessels where all the provisions were expended except salt beef. The punishment for selling a bullock to a European is to be impaled alive. Monkeys are sacred, on account of Hanuman, famous in the exploits of Rama. Rajahs and nobles often expend large sums to celebrate a festival in honour of those animals. A monkey, or an ape, on such occasions, is seated in a splendid palanquin, and followed by musicians, singers, and dancing girls, amid a gorgeous shower of

fire-works. Two British officers, who shot a monkey during one of their hunting excursions, were driven by a mob of devotees into the river Jumna, where they perished. In Jafanapatan, an ape's tooth, believed to be Hanuman's, was preserved for centuries as a relic in the temple, and many pilgrimages were made to see it. After the Portuguese conquered that part of the country, the Hindoos sent an embassy to them offering three hundred thousand ducats for the recovery of this treasure. But, by advice of the Catholic Bishop, the tooth was burned in presence of the ambassadors, and its ashes thrown into the sea. A cunning man afterward persuaded them to buy another tooth, representing that an invisible power had substituted a false tooth to be burned by unbelievers, and miraculously saved the true one. The Crocodile is another of their sacred animals. Hindoo mothers are remarkable for passionate love of offspring, yet they often throw their infants into the jaws of these monsters, believing they thus propitiate the deities and secure the child's salvation. The hooded serpent Cobra do Capello is sacred, on account of its association with Vishnu. Some other species of serpents are regarded by them as peculiarly the protecting Spirits of gardens and vineyards, and therefore they will not consent to destroy them. Indeed all animals have a degree of sacredness to a devout Hindoo, arising from the belief that each one is a manifested portion of God. Voracious and unclean creatures they believe to be the residence of malignant Spirits and bad souls. Those that subsist on vegetables are supposed to be favoured by divine beings. They peculiarly venerate ants and bees, conceiving the Spirits which animate them to be gifted with superior intelligence. They believe every animal is endowed with thought and memory, and has some comprehensive mode of communicating ideas to its own species.

At Surat is a Banian hospital, enclosed with high walls and divided into courts, where diseased and aged animals are watched with tenderest care. When an animal breaks his limb, or is otherwise disabled, his master carries him

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Phons plans are then met to the road carrying a soft broom so sweep the ground, lest they should tread on insems, and with nostrils covered at avoid inhaling them. A learned Bramin mor interested in science, took great delight in exploring the library off an English resident, who one day showed him a solar microscope, to convince him that the precautions of devotees were useless, inasmuch as every draught of water was filed with animalcale. The Bramin became very thoughtful, and offered large sums for the instrument Being difficult to obtain in India, the owner for some time refused: but at last, overcome by repeated importunities, he gave it to him. He instantly seized a large stone and dashed the microscope into a thousand atoms. In answer to the angry expostulations of his foreign friend he said: "O that I had remained in the happy state of ignorance wherein you found me! As my knowledge increased so did my pleasure, until I beheld the wonders of that instrument. From that moment I have been tormented with doubt and perplexed by mystery. I am now a solitary individual among millions of people all educated in the same belief with myself: all happy in their ignorance. So may they ever remain! I shall keep the secret in my own bosom, where it will corrode my peace and disturb my rest. Forgive me, my valuable friend; and. O, bring here no more implements of knowledge and destruction."

Many causes have been at work to produce a gradual

degeneracy in the manners, customs, and opinions of the Hindoos. Knowledge of the Vedas is confined to the learned, and few ever heard of such a doctrine as the unity of God. The great mass of the people are neglected by the Bramins, who are either taken up with the acquisition of temporal power, or striving to obtain spiritual elevation for themselves, by contemplation and penances. Such instruction as the populace do receive, rather serves to confuse their moral perceptions. Thefts, perjury, or murder, may be atoned for by presents to the priests, and the performance of prescribed ceremonies, without further inconvenience to the culprit; while killing a cow, selling beef to a European, offending a Bramin, or being converted to a foreign religion, involves either the penalty of death, or total excommunication from society by loss of caste. Everywhere the limitations of caste come in to narrow the sympathies and impede the progress of intellect. Hindoos are by nature remarkably kind, gentle, and charitable; but their tender-heartedness disappears the moment it comes in collision with the laws of caste. If a Bramin sees a Pariah drowning, he must not even extend a long pole to save him; for by so doing he would incur pollution involving loss of caste. A Christian missionary ventured to employ a converted Pariah to teach other Hindoo converts; but they protested strongly against such an innovation. "How is it possible," said they, "to allow a Pariah to come into our houses to pray?" Four hundred persons left the congregation in consequence, but twenty remained to hear the Christian Scriptures read by a man who was socially their inferior; and those twenty were more valuable than the four hundred would have been, with the Pariah silenced.

Hindoo worship makes no provision for the instruction. of the people in religious ideas or moral duties. It consists of a routine of ceremonies. Every image is regularly served with rice, fruit, and flowers, which after a prescribed time are removed for the use of priests and their attendants. Perfumes and incense are considered among the most acceptable offerings. Large quantities of frankincense were

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