trifled so strangely with the subject, as to suppose that it could be atoned for by the burning of a widow. If one murder can thus expiate another, then we may conclude that any vice will produce its opposite virtue. It is happy for this country, that the general disposition of the natives prevents them from turning such ideas to the mischievous purposes of which they are capable. Had it not been so the community would have been deprived, in numberless instances, of its wisest and most honourable members, and the cords of friendship would have been cut as frequently by death as they are now by quarrelling. We are happy to find ingratitude, in the verse above quoted, ranked among the vices of extraordinary magnitude, and placed by the side of the unpardonable sin, the killing of a brahmun. We had heard it asserted by some, that gratitude was a thing so lit-✓. tle known among the natives of Bengal, that they had not a word to express such an idea. This is a mistake; yet what must we think of the extent to which ingratitude prevails, when it is maintained not to be ungrateful for a son to set fire to his own mother? And how are we to account for the extent of this bad principle, but by attributing it to that spurious morality which teaches that any crime may be expiated by the murder of an innocent and helpless widow?

We have now considered all the arguments which the shastras contain on the burning of widows, as far as we are acquainted with them, and as far as the native disputants have been able to draw them from the stores of antiquity. We have not quoted every line they have produced, but we have endeavoured to quote every line that contained a new idea; so that what we have stated may be considered as the substance of what they have to advance on the subject. Had the deed been commanded by the shastras positively and absolutely, something might have been pleaded in excuse of the practice; but when a way of escape is opened by one of the highest authorities, the continuation of it, appears to us, an indelible stain upon the Hindoo character, and an unparrelled monument of the effects of superstition.

We have, in the discussion of the subject, exposed only a few of the contradictions of the shastras: were they all pointed out, we scarcely think that writings, which contradict each other on almost every important point in morality, would be acknowledged as the standard of right and wrong in cases where life and death are concerned. That the Hindoo shastras contradict each other on almost every moral subject, is capable of proof, and is acknowledged by a celebrated writer of their own.

"The Vaids are at variance, the Shastras are at variance, and there is no one sage whose system is not opposed by another."

Might we be permitted to suggest an inquiry drawn from this acknowledged fact, it would be this: When the shastras disagree among themselves, ought not those rules in them to be enforced which are most consistent with moral rectitude, and most conducive to the good of the community.

We shall conclude this essay by summing up the facts which we are able to substantiate from their own writings relative to the burning of widows.

From the whole we learn these important truths:-That the shastras do not require or command a widow to burn:-that in recommending it they have not taken into consideration whether it is murderous or not, but have expressed themselves so unguardly as to leave the subject fairly open, on their own grounds, to this objection; that in case the woman does not choose to burn, they prescribe methods by which she may obtain future bliss, without the pain of burning:that should the widow burn, upon the supposition that she is a selfmurderer, they involve also, in the charge of murder, the son and the brahmuns that assist her :-that they do not, in the least degree countenance the cruelties which are now practised, in binding the widow to the dead body, and holding her down with bamboos:-that the rewards, though apparently great, and on that account imposing, are little more than are attainable by offering a single flower or plantain: -that since, according to the shastras, the brahmuns and their families do not go to hell when they die, there cannot be the least need of the widow's suffering to deliver them:-and that the considerations on which this practice is recommended are such as tend to destroy all morality, and open the door to the commission of the most enormous

crimes.*

SECTION IV.

Further discussion of the subject of the two preceding sections; being the Review of a pamphlet on the burning of Hindoo Widows written in Bengalee by a Pundit.

This work, small as it is, is in a high degree interesting, merely from the circumstances in which it appears, and the subject it embraces. It is the product of a native press, and is among the first attempts yet made, for these three thousand years, to appeal to the public respecting the justness and propriety of practices received as sacred by the Hindoos, from their being sanctioned by antiquity. It forms one of the fruits which have arisen from the introduction of printing into India; and is the result of that wise and benign sway exercised by Britain over her possessions in the east. Under the Moosulman or the Hindoo Governments which formerly existed here, nothing of this kind could have appeared: as no one durst venture publicly to question the propriety of any practice which professed to derive its sanction from the Koran, or the Hindoo shastras, its advocates would not have found it necessary to bring any discussion respecting it before the public, much less to submit those arguments on which it might rest for support to public decision.

Such however have been the oblique effects of that diffusion of light which the residence of Europeans has produced in India, that the natives themselves begin to feel the necessity of recurring to reason as the test of their conduct in things both civil and religious. They cannot but perceive that this is the line of conduct observed by * Asiatic Observer, (April, 1824), No. vi. Page 111–120.

their rulers themselves; that no length of time, no weight of authority, is thought sufficient to support a practice which may be plainly contrary to justice and humanity, and that the inveteracy of any abuse, so far from forming a reason for its continuance, furnishes only stronger motives for its speedy abolition. It was impossible that this should long be altogether without effect on the minds of the natives: they have already begun, in a certain degree, to think for them- ✓ selves; and the consequence is, that long prescription, in cases decidedly opposed to righteousness, begins in some measure to lose its weight; and while the advocates of humanity lay before their countrymen their reasons for doubting the propriety of usages evidently contrary to its dictates, the supporters of them are constrained, however unwillingly, to meet their opponents in the public area, and submit to the judgment of the spectators the grounds on which they solicit their continued suffrages.

The subject which occupies the attention of the natives in the present instance is one in which humanity is deeply interested. It affects not the colour of a garment or some bodily posture in devotion, but the lives of the most defenceless and the most virtuous class among the natives of India. It involves the fate of all the mothers and daughters in Bengal, who possess any respectability in life ;-and the question is, whether superstition shall in Bengal alone consign to the flames, this and every succeeding year, a greater number of innocent victims than were consumed in the fires of Smithfield during the whole reign of bloody Mary, or than disgraced the annals of papal superstition in Britain from its establishment to its downfall;—whether more fatherless orphans shall be deprived in every succeeding year of their only surviving parent and friend, than were thus bereaved in any year of the most tremendous pestilence ever raged in Britain ;or whether the voice of humanity shall triumph over superstition, folly, and cruelty.

The occasion of this pamphlet is as follows: for some time past the burning of such a number of widows annually, has greatly affected the minds of many among the British inhabitants of this Presidency, who have been constrained to witness these melancholy scenes. Previously to the Marquis Wellesley's departure in 1806, Dr. Carey, through the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, submitted to Government three memorials on this subject. The first of these included the practice of exposing infants, which existed chiefly in the north of Bengal; and that of persons devoting themselves voluntarily to death at Saugur Island and in certain other places. The two last practices were abolished by an order of Government; but the burning of widows has been suffered to continue to the present day. In consequence of many Europeans having expressed their surprise and grief at the prevalence of a practice so contrary to humanity, many natives have at length began to reflect on the subject, and to inquire into the grounds on which it is still continued.

In the course of the last year (1818) Rama-mohuna-ruya addressed his countrymen on the subject, in a well-written pamphlet, reviewed in our number for December last, in which he insists that the practice

ve a rains an foundation n he man matra betrica. I fale hlas, he work inder svalerina - HI HAVIT (L2V1 12 wym w he pite acuta, v že miling at MODE *** yozhat rung her vows sal al mu sise. I 1⁄2 ne furatot a tane auto a meage: from 0vek vivam a reafon ne anmer net we in de is the work of men vy a nes teicen ʼn earning.

the form of a dangle en a Lovca i de sem að barne ing w down, maar se vou - Save and an Opponent, here serve MÃ Nauc? Is the socz sé the work every Buttery supposed w ontmate the kannan son aut every strap of dungskrÈS found on its wie ang Hiscon writers, are grande original text, na well as translated to Bengie Terms be therefore from its containing every thing found in the Hadoo shastras in favour of this barbarous practice; and if all this fall short of an absolute and indispensable injunction, the practice will be found to be as illegal according to the Hindoo shastras, as it is inhuman in itself. This work is evidently intended for the perusal of Europeans also; as an English translation, (if it deserve the name,) is prefixed to the original work. This pamphlet not being put into our hands till the piece on this subject given in our Number for July was put to press, we were unable to notice it at that time. We now however redeem the pledge then given to examine it on the first convenient opportunity; in doing which, while we study brevity as much as possible, we deem it a duty we owe to humanity to attempt it in a manner sufficiently full to enable our renders to judge of the merits of the question, as well relative to the foundation on which it is said to rest in the Hindoo shastras, as respecting the answers here given to the objections urged against the practice by the friends of humanity. In our extracts from this pamphlet we prefer quoting its own language for the sake of doing it every degree of justice, and shall content ourselves with merely adding a sentence or a word where the translation is not sufficiently elear. The work commences by the Advocate's urging the claims of his cause in the following pompous and sweeping declaration.

"It is ordained by (the) Srutee, Smrtee, Pooranas, and other sapred book, that the women, on the death of their husbands, should die in Shehe-merene, that is to burn (should burn) themselves alive with the corpse of their respective husbands; and, that in want of the worpses (they) should die in Unoo-maruna, that is to burn, (should buric) with something belonging to their husbands: which usages the great sages during all the four ages of the world, viz. Suttwa, Treta, Diapers and Klee, have regularly maintained in their codes. It is very improper that you throw obstacles to prevent such a matter.” Do this the Opponent is made to reply, "You say this is improper for want of knowledge of the shastras or law, but when you know the shaw, you will a more są MA”

the Mix the signal for the Advocate's unmasking all his batterthe and pourege Which on the poor Opponent, every sentence and scrap He Negerehe het jyout of the previon, which he had been able to The cher of those sechorities is that of Legeers, who,

however does little more than recommend the practice. We give his opinion in the Advocate's own translation:- "The woman that mounts the funeral pile of her deceased husband, equals herself to Uroondhootee the wife of Vushisht'ha, and enjoys bliss in heaven with her own husband. She that accompanies her husband to the other world -dwells in heaven for three and a half cootee years, (thirty-five millions), which is equal to the number of hairs on a human body, and with (by) her own power taking her husband up, in the same manner as a snake-catcher would have taken a snake out of its hole, remains with him in diversion. She that goes with her husband to the other world, purifies three generations, that is, the generations of her mother's side, father's side, and husband's side; and So, she being reckoned the purest and the best in fame among women, becomes too dear to her husband, and continues to divert herself with him for a period equal to the reign of fourteen (successive) Indras; and, although the husband be guilty of slaying a brahmun or friend, or be ungrateful of the past deeds, yet the said woman is capable of purifying him from all these sins. Hence," says the Advocate, "Ungeera affirms, that after the demise of a husband, there can be no other duty for a chaste wife than to destroy herself in the fire."

Purasura is then quoted as confirming part of this recommendation, by saying, "The woman that goes with her husband to the other world, dwells in heaven for three and half cootee years, which is equal to the number of hairs on a human body." Hareeta is, after this, introduced as enjoining it by consequence in the following luminous observation: "After the death of a husband, until his wife does not burn (burn) herself in the fire, she cannot get rid of her feminine body." This sentence is to be noticed for the inference which will be found drawn from it in the latter part of the work. The Muhabharuta is then adduced as declaring that a woman's burning herself on her husband's funeral pile, atones for her having been a scold or even unfaithful throughout life, and secures her accompanying him in the other world, maugre all unwillingness on his part: and this although she burn herself from "amours, wrath, fear, or affection." The highest countenance given to the practice therefore, by their own writers, (and these appear but four, Ungeera, Purasura, Hareeta, and Vyasa,) amounts only to a recommendation of it from certain advantages the widow is deluded with the hope of obtaining; that is, the enjoyment of happiness with her husband-by no means to eternity, however, but for as many years as there are hairs on the human body; after which, gentle reader, she must descend to the earth again, and undergo all that vicissitudes of births which, in the opinion of the Hindoos, constitutes future punishment.

The Advocate for this practice then goes on to notice another authority, that of Vishnoo-Risee, who, however, leaves burning perfectly optional, in the following language:-"After the demise of a husband, his wife shall either devote herself to Brumhachurya, (a life of austerity), or mount the funeral pile of her husband," To do away the force of this option, the Advocate adds, that the choice of a life of austerity would involve in it eight faults or crimes, but which he has

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