Varying slightly in details according to the rank of the individual and the particular district in which the sacrifice takes place, the ceremony is conducted after the following manner.
A hole is dug in the ground, over which the funeral pile is raised. The object of the hole is to supply a current of air by which the fire may be fed. Sticks are then driven round the edge of the hole to support the materials of the pile, which are dry wood, rushes, and hemp. These are heaped carefully to a height of four feet or so, and resin and ghee (i. e. liquid butter) are thrown on the pile, so as to increase the vehemence of the flames. The body is then taken to the river, on whose bank the pyre is always erected, and is there washed by the relatives, and afterward wrapped in a new cloth and laid on the pile.
During this time the widow stands on the bank, uttering prayers, and waving in her hand a branch of mango. After the corpse is removed from the water, she descends into it herself, and, having washed, distributes to her friends all her ornaments, which are eagerly sought, as being sanctified by having been touched by the sacred hand of a suttee. She is then dressed in a new robe, and places herself by the side of the body, to which she is usually, though not always, lashed. Dry rushes and wood are next heaped over her, only her head being suffered to be uncovered, so that she may breathe for the short time she has to live. Two long bamboos are then laid across the pile, the ends being held by the relations, so as to press her down should she struggle to escape when the flames reach her. The fire is lighted by her nearest relation, and, if the pile has been properly constructed, the suttee is soon dead, being killed rather by suffocation from the smoke than by the flames.
Sometimes, however, when the building of the pile has been entrusted to inexperienced hands, a terrible scene takes place, the wretched victim trying to escape from the flames that torture her, and being ruthlessly held down by the bamboo poles across her body. Dr. Massie relates several instances of attempted escape. In one case, the mode of preparing the pile was evidently the cause of the poor victim’s sufferings. At each corner a stout pole was erected, and from this pole was suspended a second pile, like a canopy, elevated three or four feet above the surface of the principal pile. This canopy was chiefly made of logs of wood, and was exceedingly heavy.
After the suttee had been laid upon the pile, and covered with straw saturated with ghee, the fire was kindled, and the smoke rolled in thick volumes over the head of the victim. The flames began to blaze fiercely, and if they had been allowed to burn in their own way, the death of the poor woman would have been almost immediate. But just at this time four assistants severed with their swords the ropes which upheld the canopy, so that it fell with its whole weight upon her.
Possibly it was intended as an act of mercy, but its effect was anything but merciful. For the moment she was stunned by the blow, but the mass of billets checked the action of the fire, and caused it to burn slowly instead of rapidly. The creeping flames soon restored her to consciousness through the agony which they inflicted upon her, and she shrieked pitifully for the help that none would give her, until death at last put an end to her sufferings.
The same author quotes an account of a suttee who actually did succeed in escaping from the flames, in spite of the resistance offered by the officiating Brahmins and her relatives:—
“Another well-authenticated and brutal instance of this sacrifice occurred about the same time in a more northern province of India: ‘The unfortunate Brahminee, of her own accord, had ascended the funeral pile of her husband’s bones, but finding the torture of the fire more than she could bear, by a violent struggle she threw herself from the flames, and, tottering to a short distance, fell down. Some gentlemen, who were spectators, immediately plunged her into the river, which was close by, and thereby saved her from being much burnt. She retained her senses completely, and complained of the badness of the pile, which, she said, consumed her so slowly that she could not bear it; but expressed her willingness again to try it if they would improve it. They would not do so, and the poor creature shrunk with dread from the flames, which were now burning intensely, and refused to go on.
“‘When the inhuman relations saw this, they took her by the head and heels, and threw her into the fire, and held her there till they were driven away by the heat; they also took up large blocks of wood, with which they struck her, in order to deprive her of her senses; but she again made her escape, and, without any help, ran directly into the river. The people of her house followed her here, and tried to drown her by pressing her under the water, but an European gentleman rescued her from them, and she immediately ran into his arms and cried to him to save her.
“‘I arrived at the ground as they were bringing her the second time from the river, and I cannot describe to you the horror I felt on seeing the mangled condition she was in: almost every inch of skin on her body had been burnt off; her legs and thighs, her arms and back, were completely raw, her breasts were dreadfully torn, and the skin hanging from them in threads; the skin and nails of her fingers had peeled wholly off, and were hanging to the back of her hands. In fact, I never saw and never read of so entire a picture of misery as this poor woman displayed. She seemed to dread being again taken to the fire, and called out to “the Ocha Sahib” to save her. Her friends seemed no longer inclined to force, and one of her relations, at our instigation, sat down beside her, and gave her some clothes, and told her they would not. We had her sent to the hospital, where every medical assistance was immediately given her, but without hope of recovery. She lingered in the most excruciating pain for about twenty hours, and then died.’”