Travels in India (Tavernier) 124.6

124.6

I have seen women burnt in three different ways, according to the customs of different countries. In the Kingdom of Gujarat, and as far as Agra and Delhi, this is how it takes place : On the margin of a river or tank, a kind of small hut, about 12 feet square, is built of reeds and all kinds of faggots, with which some pots of oil and other drugs are placed in order to make it burn quickly. The woman being seated in a half-reclining position in the middle of the hut, her head reposing on a kind of pillow of wood, and resting her back against a post, to which she is tied by her waist by one of the Brahmins, for fear lest she should escape on feeling the flame. In this position she holds the dead body of her husband on her knees, chewing betel all the time ; and after having been about half an hour in this condition, the Brahmin who has been by her side in the hut goes outside, and she calls out to the priests to apply the fire; this the Brahmins, and the relatives and friends of the woman who are present, immediately do, throwing into the fire some pots of oil, so that the woman may suffer less by being quickly consumed. After the bodies have been reduced to ashes, the Brahmins take whatever is found in the way of melted gold, silver, tin, or copper, derived from the bracelets, earrings, and rings which the woman had on; this belongs to them by right, as I have said.