Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 6.3.1

6.3.1

Many persons whom I then consulted on the subject would fain have persuaded me that an excess of affection was the cause why these women burn themselves with their deceased husbands; but I soon found that this abominable practice is the effect of early and deeply rooted prejudices. Every girl is taught by her mother that it is virtuous and laudable in a wife to mingle her ashes with those of her husband, and that no woman of honour will refuse compliance with the established custom. These opinions men have always inculcated as an easy mode of keeping wives in subjection, of securing their attention in times of sickness, and of deterring them from administering poison to their husbands. But let us proceed to another of these dreadful scenes, not witnessed indeed by myself, but selected in preference to others at which I happened to be present on account of the remarkable incident by which it was distinguished. I have seen so many things which I should have pronounced incredible, that neither you nor I ought to reject the narrative in question merely because it contains something extraordinary. The story is in every person's mouth in the Indies, and is universally credited. Perhaps it has already reached you in Europe. A woman, long engaged in love intrigues with a young Mahometan, her neighbour, by trade a tailor, and a player on the tambourine, poisoned her husband, hoping that the young man would marry her.