"
"How horrible! I have read of it, but hardly believed it," added the lady;
and others who were listening expressed the same feeling.
"It was a custom in India before the time of Christ. Some of your American
Indians bury the weapons of the dead chief, food, and other articles with
him, as has been the custom of other nations, in the belief that they will
need these provisions in the 'happy hunting-ground.' The Hindus believed
that the dead husband would need his wife on the other shore; and this is
the meaning of the custom."
"It is not wholly a senseless custom," said Mrs. Woolridge, "barbarous as
it seems."
"In 1828, or a little later, Lord William Cavendish, then Governor-General
of Bengal, determined to abolish the custom, though he encountered the
fiercest opposition from the natives, and even from many Europeans, who
dreaded the effect of his action. He carried a law through the council,
making it punishable homicide, or manslaughter, to burn a widow. In 1823
there were five hundred and seventy-five of them burned in the Bengal
Presidency; but after the enactment of the law, the number began to
decrease. The treaties with the Indian princes contained a clause
forbidding it. The custom is really discontinued, though an occasional
instance of it comes to light."
The dancing had been renewed, and this conversation continued till later.
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