Travels in India (Tavernier) 122: CHAPTER VII Concerning the belief of the Idolaters touching the condition of the soul of man after death.
Travels in India (Ball) 122
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CHAPTER VII Concerning the belief of the Idolaters touching the condition of the soul of man after death.
122.1
It is one of the articles of the belief of the idolaters that the souls of men on leaving their bodies after death are presented to God, who, according to the life the owners have led, allots them other bodies to inhabit, so that the same person is several times reborn into the world. And of men of evil life, degraded in their habits and plunged in all kinds of vices, God sends the souls, after being separated from the bodies, into the bodies of inferior animals, such as asses, dogs, cats, and others, in order that they may perform penance for their crimes in these infamous prisons. But it is believed that the souls which enter the bodies of cows are supremely happy, because these animals are regarded as divinities. If a man dies with a cow’s tail in his hand, that will suffice, it is said, to render him altogether happy in a future life. As the idolaters believe in this passage of human souls into the bodies of animals, they abhor the slaughter of any animal, of whatsoever kind it may be, through fear of being guilty of the death of some one of their relations or friends who may be doing penance in one of these bodies. If these men, during their lives, perform virtuous actions, such as pilgrimages and the giving of alms, they hold that after death their souls pass into the bodies of some powerful Rajas or other rich persons, who enjoy the pleasures of life as a reward for the good deeds they had done in other bodies.
122.2
This is the reason why the Fakirs, of whom I have spoken in the preceding chapter, perform such horrible penances; and as all men are not able to bring themselves to suffer so much in this world, they seek during their lives to make up by good works for the want of these penances, and further direct their inheritors by their wills to give alms to the Brahmins, to the end that, by the power of the prayers which they cause them to say, God may assign them the body of some grand personage. In the month of January of the year 1661 the Shroff or money-changer of the Dutch Company, named Mondas Parek, died at Surat. He was a rich man and very charitable, having bestowed much alms during his life on the Christians as well as on the idolaters; the Rev. Capuchin Fathers of Surat living for a part of the year on the rice, butter, and vegetables which he sent to them. This Banian was only ill for four or five days, and in that time, as also during eight or ten days after his death, his brothers distributed 9000 or 10,000 rupees, and burnt his body, adding to the ordinary wood much sandal and aloes, believing that by this means the soul of their brother, on passing into another body, would become a great noble in some other country.
122.3
There are some among them who are foolish enough to bury their treasures during their lifetime, as, for instance, nearly all the rich men of the Kingdom of Assam, so that if they enter, after death, the body of any poor and miserable mendicant, they can have recourse to the money which they have buried in order to draw from it at necessity. This is the reason why so much gold and silver and so many precious stones are buried in India, and an idolater must be poor indeed if he has no money buried in the earth. I remember that I one day bought in India, for 600 rupees, an agate cup 6 inches high and of the size of one of our silver plates. The seller assured me that more than forty years had elapsed since it was buried in the earth, and that he preserved it to serve his need after death, it being a matter of indifference to him whether he buried the cup or the money. On my last voyage I bought from one of these idolaters sixty-two diamonds weighing about 6 grains apiece, and on telling him of my astonishment at seeing so fine a parcel, he replied that I need not be astonished, seeing that it took nearly fifty years to accumulate them for his wants after death; but his affairs having changed, and having need of money, he had been obliged to dispose of them. These buried treasures were one day of great service to the Raja Sivaji, who took up arms against the Great Mogul and the King of Bijapur.
122.4
This Raja having taken Callian Bondi, a small town of the Kingdom of Bijapur, by the advice of the Brahmins, who assured him that he would find a considerable amount of buried treasure, he ordered it to be partly demolished, and found in fact great riches, with which he supported his army, consisting of more than 30,000 men. It is impossible to disabuse these idolaters of their errors, because they will not listen to reason, and they entirely subordinate their own judgment to their ancient customs, the principal of which is to burn the bodies of the deceased,