10th.—Quitted Calcutta with a foul wind and heavy rain,—damp, gloomy, and rheumatic weather.
11th.—Started with a fair wind, bought two milch goats for thirteen rupees eight ānās,—a great prize on the river. Moored the vessels at Ishapūr, in order to visit a friend who has charge of the powder-works at that place; his house, which is large and excellent, is situated on the banks of the river; every thing is so cool and fresh around it; it is delightful to be in the country once more.
14th.—The fast of the Muharram ended to-day; the followers of the prophet amongst our servants, wishing to have a great feast, petitioned to be allowed to stay till noon, to worship and to stuff pillāo. Quitted Hoogly with the tide at half-past one P.M.
15th.—Passed the village of Chagdah, on the left bank of the Matabangah, forty-six miles from Calcutta; a village of corpses,—the inhabitants of which, having been brought by their relatives to the river’s side, to die before their time, prefer a debased existence to a righteous end, agreeing therein with the highest authorities. Pope’s Homer makes Achilles in the Elysian fields say,
“Rather I’d choose laboriously to bear
A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air,
A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread,
Than reign the scepter’d monarch of the dead.”
Solomon deems it better to be a live dog than a dead lion; and Job, called by Byron “the Respectable,” says, “Why should a living man complain?” to which Byron adds, “For no reason that I can see, except that a dead man cannot.” In the face of these grave authorities, as far as I am concerned, I cannot help being of a different opinion: the proverb agrees with my view of the subject,—“It is better to die with honour than live with infamy[45].” These unfortunate people, outcasts from their homes and families, on account of their unexpected recovery, after having been exposed by their relatives to die on the banks of the river, have taken refuge in this village, and are its sole inhabitants.
“The Hindūs are extremely anxious to die in sight of the Ganges, that their sins may be washed away in their last moments. A person in his last agonies is frequently dragged from his bed and friends, and carried, in the coldest or in the hottest weather, from whatever distance, to the river-side, where he lies, if a poor man, without a covering day and night, until he expires. With the pains of death upon him, he is placed up to the middle in water, and drenched with it; leaves of the toolsee plant are also put into his mouth, and his relations call upon him to repeat, and repeat for him, the names of Ramŭ, Hŭree, Narayŭnŭ, Brŭmha, Gŭnga, &c. In some cases the family priest repeats some incantations, and makes an offering to Voitŭrŭnēē, the river over which the soul, they say, is ferried after leaving the body. The relations of the dying man spread the sediment of the river on his forehead or breast, and afterwards, with the finger, write on this sediment the name of some deity. If a person should die in his house, and not by the river-side, it is considered as a great misfortune, as he thereby loses the help of the goddess in his dying moments. If a person choose to die at home, his memory becomes infamous.”