Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s1.138

c7.s1.138

part of the Hindu priesthood or laity. But the crudulous monarch was persuaded to believe that this interference in the religious practices of another people and the forcible prevention of a hallowed custom was sure to arouse the wrath of the Divine Being and result in the downfall of his dynasty and perhaps in his own death. These weighty considerations led the religious and God-fearing monarch to cancel his orders. The ordinary rules, however, remained in force; for it is reported that the officers of the Sultans were always present on the scene of widow-burning to prevent any violence and compulsion being brought to bear on the reluctant or refusing widow.¹ Akbar is reported to have interfered personally in certain famous cases and stopped the widows burning themselves. It is very difficult, however, to infer from these few cases, in which the monarch was interested for personal reasons, that any general prohibition was enforced or contemplated.