These orders have probably been
issued solely in consequence of their fear of the British power, for it
is a practice which is riveted in the affections of the people. This
power they know that it will be dangerous to resist.
In my "Sermon to Children, on the Condition of the Heathen," I
mentioned, that the sacred books of the heathen encourage the suttee. I
also mentioned several instances, in which widows had been burned to
death with the corpses of their husbands. Even though you may have seen
that book, it will be well for me to give you two or three other cases,
to impress your minds more fully with the horrors of the Hindoo
religion. The first took place in a village of Tanjore. A merchant
having died, his wife, who was about thirty years old, determined to
burn herself with his corpse. The news of what she was going to do,
quickly spread in every direction, and large numbers of people collected
to witness the burning. After she was adorned with jewels and dressed in
her best clothing, and after her body was tinged with the yellow
infusion of sandal-wood and saffron, bearers arrived to take away the
corpse with the wretched woman. The body of the man was placed on a car,
ornamented with costly stuffs, flowers, etc.
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