The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2 / Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics

by J. G. Wood

PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN SACRIFICE — THE SUTTEE, OR WIDOW BURNING — HER FATE DESIRED BY HERSELF AND HER NEAREST RELATIVES — REASONS FOR THE SACRIFICE — CONTRAST BETWEEN THE LIFE OF A WIFE AND A WIDOW OF HIGH CASTE — SOCIAL STATUS OF THE BRAHMINS — HONOR IN WHICH THE SUTTEE IS HELD — MODE OF CONDUCTING THE SACRIFICE — STRUCTURE OF THE PILE — COURAGEOUS CONDUCT OF THE VICTIM — ATTEMPTED ESCAPE OF A SUTTEE — BERNIER’S DESCRIPTION — GRADUAL ABOLITION OF THE SUTTEE — THE GODDESS KALI AND HER WORSHIPPERS — THE THUGS AND THEIR CONSTITUTION — THE SACRED “ROOMAL” OR NOOSE — MODE OF OFFERING A VICTIM — THE FESTIVAL OF JUGGERNAUT — HARDSHIPS OF THE PILGRIMS — FORM OF THE IDOL — SELF-SACRIFICE IN THE GANGES — SACRIFICE OF BEASTS — THE GODDESS DOORGA OR KALI — FAKIRS OR JOGIS — THEIR VARIOUS MODES OF SELF-TORTURE — THE SWINGING FESTIVAL — THE MOTIONLESS FAKIR.

There is no part of the world, not even Africa itself, where the principle of human sacrifice is so widely spread, and is developed so variously, as in India. Several forms of human sacrifice, such as the Meriah, which has already been described, belong to definite districts, and even in them are carried out with certain limitations. Some forms of the same principle, such as the murders by Thugs or Phânsigars in their worship of the dread goddess Kali, are restricted to certain societies of men. Again, the victims annually crushed under the wheels of Juggernaut’s car are comparatively few, and can only be sacrified in a certain locality, and at certain times.

There is, however, one mode of human sacrifice which at no distant period prevailed over the whole of India, and has only been checked by the influence of England in those parts of the country which have been subject to British dominion. Even in those districts the task has been a very difficult one, and there is no doubt that if the strong hand of England were ever lifted, the practice would again prevail as it did before.

This form of human sacrifice is the dreadful Suttee, or the death of the widow on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. Both in Africa and Polynesia we have seen several instances where the widow is sacrificed on the grave of her husband, so that he may not find himself wifeless when he reaches the spirit land. But it is remarkable that even among the lowest of the savages, whose indifference to inflicting pain is well known, there are none who exercise such horrible cruelty toward the widow as do the highly civilized Hindoos. On referring to the former portions of this work, the reader will see that in some places the widows are strangled and laid in the grave, in others they are buried alive, and in others they are killed by a blow of a club (perhaps the most merciful death that can be inflicted), but that in no instance is the surviving wife burned alive, as is the case with the Hindoo.

At the first glance, it seems strange that not only should the relatives of the miserable wife desire her to be burned, but that she herself should wish it, and should adhere to her determination in spite of every opportunity of escaping so dreadful a death. Yet the calm, dispassionate cruelty of the Hindoo nature is shown by the fact that, painful as is a death by burning, the life of a widow who survives her husband is made so miserable that the short though sharp agony of the funeral pyre is infinitely preferable to life. She loses all caste, and a Brahmin widow who refuses to be burned is loathed and despised even by the very Pariahs, whose shadow would have been a contamination to her during the lifetime of her husband. The horror of such a life can scarcely be conceived by an European, even supposing a delicate girl, bred in the midst of all luxury and refinement, to be suddenly cast among the most debased of savages without possibility of rescue, and to be made an object of scorn and contempt even to them.

To realize the depths of utter degradation which a high-caste widow incurs, we must first see what is her opinion of her own status. The reader is doubtless aware that the Hindoos are divided into a number of distinct castes, the peculiarity of which is, that no one can ascend to a superior caste, though he may fall into a lower. Now, of all the castes, the Brahmins are immeasurably the highest, and the reverence which is paid to them by their countrymen is almost incredible. Wealth or secular rank have nothing to do with this reverential feeling. A Hindoo of inferior caste may be, and often is, a man of almost unbounded wealth, may possess almost unbounded power, and, in his own way, unbounded pride. But the very poorest of Brahmins is infinitely his superior, and should he meet one of these exalted beings, he bows before him, and pays divine honors to him. And, according to his belief, he is right in so doing, the Brahmin being an incarnation of Deity, sprung from the mouth of Vishnu, the Saviour God himself. He may be mounted on a magnificent elephant, covered with glittering trappings, he may be clothed in gorgeous robes and sparkle with costly gems, but before a Brahmin, with a single cloth round his waist, and bearing the solitary sign of his caste,—the slight cord hung over one shoulder and under the other,—he is an abject slave. Even if, as sometimes happens, he should employ a Brahmin as his cook, that Brahmin retains his rank, and receives the worship of the man by whom he is paid.

According to their sacred books, “when a Brahmin springs to light, he is born above the world; the chief of all creatures; assigned to guard the treasury of duties, religious and civil.” According to the same books, the very existence of mankind, and even of the world itself, depends upon the forbearance of the Brahmins whose power even exceeds that of the gods themselves. Should there be one who cannot be slain by the great god Indra, by Kali, the goddess of destruction, or even by Vishnu himself, he would be destroyed if a Brahmin were to curse him, as if he were consumed by fire. In the same spirit, princes were warned not to take the property of the Brahmins, however much in want of money, for that if these holy men were once enraged, they could by a word destroy them, their armies, elephants, and horses.

By them, under Brahma, were originally made the earth, the sun, the moon, and the fire, and by them they could be destroyed. “What prince could gain wealth by oppressing those who, if angry, could frame other worlds, and legions of worlds, could give being to new gods and mortals?” Just as these tremendous privileges are independent of the external circumstances of wealth and rank, so are they independent of individual character. The pure soul of a Brahmin is beyond all moral elevation, and above all moral pollution. He may be a man of the purest life and loftiest morality, but he is none the better Brahmin for that; he may be one of the vilest of debauchees, and be none the worse Brahmin for that, provided he does not commit any act which would forfeit his caste,—such, for example, as killing a cow, or eating food that had been cooked by an inferior.

To fall from such an estate as this, above humanity and equal to divinity, must be something almost too terrible to conceive, and we can easily imagine that any death would be preferable to such a life. But not even the horror of a life like this would be equivalent to the sufferings of the Indian widow, who believes that her very soul is contaminated beyond hope by the loss of her caste, and who feels herself degraded below the level of those on whom she had looked with an utter loathing that is almost incomprehensible to the Western mind. She has to cut off her hair, she has to live on the coarsest of food, she has to clothe herself in the coarsest of raiment, and altogether to lead a life utterly and hopelessly miserable in every hardship that can afflict the body, and every reproach that can torture the mind.

On the other side comes the belief, that if she follows the dictates of her religion, and suffers herself to be burned on the funeral pile of her husband, she qualifies herself for everlasting happiness. From the moment that the ceremonies of the sacrifice are begun, she becomes an absolutely sacred being, whose very touch sanctifies the objects on which she lays her hands; she renders herself a model to be imitated by all her sex, and her memory is forever venerated by her family. It is therefore no wonder that, swayed by such considerations, the Indian widow prefers death to life, and that the sacrifice of the Suttee has taken such hold upon the people.