aries reside, is only about a mile and a half from this Temple of Juggernaut. As I passed through the multitude, I met several persons having the printed papers of the Missionaries in their hands. Some of them were reading them very gravely; others were laughing with each other at the contents, and saying, "What do these words mean?" "I sat down on an elevated spot to contemplate this scene; the tower of blood and impurity on the one hand, and the Christian Preachers on the other. I thought on the commandment of our Savior, "Go ye, teach all nations." I said to myself, "How great and glorious a ministry are these humble persons now exercising in the presence of God!" How is it applauded by the holy Angels, who "have joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth;" and how far does it transcend the work of the Warrior or Statesman, in charity, utility, and lasting fame? And I could not help wishing that the Representatives of the Church of Christ in my own country had been present to witness this scene, that they might have seen how practicable it is to offer Christian instruction to our Hindoo subjects." IMMOLATION OF FEMALES. BEFORE the Author proceeds to shew the happy effects of Christianity in those provinces of India where it has been introduced, it may be proper to notice in this place that other sanguinary rite of the Hindoo superstition, the FEMALE SACRIFICE. The report of the number of women burned within the period of six months near Calcutta, will give the reader some idea of the multitude who perish annually in India. "REPORT of the Number of Women who were Burned Alive on the Funeral Pile of their Husbands, within thirty miles round Calcutta, from the beginning of Bysakh (15th April) to the end of Aswin (15th October) 1804.” From Gurria to Barrypore; at eleven different places* Women burned alive. 18 36 11 10 3 From Tolly's Nullah mouth to Gurria; at sev- From Barrypore to Buhipore; at seven places From Burahnugur to Chanok (or Barrackpore); From Chanok to Kachrapara; at four places Total of women burned alive in six months, 10 6 13 8 115 "The above Report was made by persons of the Hindoo cast, deputed for that purpose, under the superintendance of the Professor of the Shanscrit and Bengalee languages in the College of Fort-William. They were ten in number, and were stationed at different places during the period of six months. They gave in their account monthly, specifying the particulars of each immolation, so that every individual instance was subject to investigation immediately after its occurrence. "By an account taken in 1803, the number of women sacrificed, during that year, within thirty miles round Calcutta, was two hundred and seventy-five. "In the foregoing Report of six months in 1804, it will be perceived that no account was taken of burnings in a district to the west of Calcutta, nor further than twenty miles in some other directions; so that the whole number of burnings within thirty miles round Calcutta must have been considerably greater than is here stated." See the names of the places and other particulars in Memoir of the Expediency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment in British India. The following account will give the reader some idea of the flagitious circumstances which sometimes attend these sacrifices. SACRIFICE OF THE KOOLIN BRAHMIN'S THREE WIVES. "Calcutta, 30th Sept. 1807. "A horrid tragedy was acted, on the 12th instant, near Barnagore (a place about three miles above Calcutta). A Koolin Brahmin of Cammar-hattie, by name Kristo Deb Mookerjee, died at the advanced age of ninety-two. He had twelve wives;* and three of them were burned alive with his dead body. Of these three, one was a venerable lady, having white locks, who had been long known in the neighborhood. Not being able to walk, she was carried in a palanquin to the place of burning; and was then placed by the Brahmins on the funeral pile. The two other ladies were younger; one of them of a very pleasing and interesting countenance. The old lady was placed on one side of the dead husband, and the two other wives laid themselves down on the other side; and then an old Brahmin, the eldest son of the deceased, applied his torch to the pile, with unaverted face. The pile suddenly blazed, for it was covered with combustibles; and this human sacrifice was completed amidst the din of drums and cymbals, and the shouts of Brahmins. A person present observed, 'Surely if Lord Minto were here, who is just come from England, and is not used to see women burned alive, he would have saved these three ladies.' The Mahomedan Governors saved whom they pleased, *The Koolin Brahmin is the purest of all Brahmins, and is privileged to marry as many wives as he pleases. The Hindoo families account it an honor to unite their daughters with a Koolin Brahmin. "The Ghantucks or Registrars of the Koolin cast state that Rajeb Bonnerjee, now of Calcutta, has forty wives; and that Raj-chunder Bonnerjee, also of Calcutta, has forty-two wives, and intends to marry more: that Ramraja Bonnerjee, of Bicrampore, aged thirty years, and Pooran Bonnerjee, Raj. kissore Chutterjee, and Roopram Mookerjee, have each upwards of forty wives, and intend to marry more; that Birjoo Mookerjee, of Bicrampore, who died about five years ago, had ninety wives." This account was authenticated at Calcutta in the year 1804. See further particulars in "Memoir" before quoted. and suffered no deluded female to commit suicide, without previous investigation of the circumstances, and official permission. "In a discussion which this event has produced in Calcutta, the following question has been asked, WHO WAS GUILTY OF THE BLOOD OF THE OLD LADY? for it was manifest that she could not destroy herself? She was carried to be burned. It was also alleged that the Brahmin who fired the pile was not guilty, because he was never informed by the English Government, that there was any immorality in the action. On the contrary, he might argue that the English, witnessing this scene daily, as they do, without remonstrance, acquiesced in its propriety. The Government in India was exculpated, on the ground that the Government at home never sent any instructions on the subject; and the Court of Directors were exculpated, because they were the agents of others. It remained that the proprietors of India Stock, who originate and sanction all proceedings of the Court of Directors, were remotely accessary to the deed." The best vindication of the great body of Proprietors, is this, that some of them never heard of the Female Sacrifice at all; and that few of them are acquainted with the full extent and frequency of the crime. Besides, in the above discussion, it was taken for granted that the Court of Directors have done nothing towards the suppression of this enormity; and that the Court of Proprietors have looked on, without concern at this omission of duty. But this, perhaps, may not be the case. The question then remains to be asked. Have the Court of Directors at any time sent instructions to their Government in India, to report on the means by which the frequency of the female sacrifice might be diminished, and the practice itself eventually abolished? Or have the Proprietors of India Stock at any time instructed the Court of Directors to attend to a point of so much consequence to the character of the Company, and the honor of the nation? That the abolition is practicable has been demonstrated: and that too by the most rational and lenient measures; and these means have been pointed out by the Brahmins themselves.* Had Marquis Wellesley remained in India, and been permitted to complete his salutary plans for the improvement of that distant Empire (for he did not finish one half of the civil and political regulations which he had in view, and had actually commenced) the Female Sacrifice would probably have been by this time nearly abolished.† The humanity and intrepid spirit of that nobleman abolished a yet more criminal practice which was considered by the Hindoos as a religious rite, and consecrated by custom, I mean the SACRIFICE OF CHILDREN. His Lordship had been informed that it had been a custom of the Hindoos to sacrifice children in consequence of vows, by drowning them, or exposing them to Sharks and Crocodiles; and that twenty-three persons had perished at Saugor in one month (January 1801) many of whom were sacrificed in this manner. He immediately instituted an inquiry into the principle of this ancient atrocity, heard what Natives and Europeans had to say on the subject; and then passed a law, "declaring the practice to be murder punishable by death." The law is entitled "A Regulation for preventing the Sacrifice of Children at Saugor and other places; passed by the Governor-General in Council on the 20th of August 1802." The purpose of this regulation was completely effected. Nor a murmur was heard on the subject: • See them detailed in Memoir, p. 49. |