The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
Chapter 172 : The Brahman caste has ten main territorial divisions, forming two groups, the Panch-Ga

The Brahman caste has ten main territorial divisions, forming two groups, the Panch-Gaur or five northern, and the Panch-Dravida or five southern. The boundary line between the two groups is supposed to be the Nerbudda River, which is also the boundary between Hindustan and the Deccan. But the Gujarati Brahmans belong to the southern group, though Gujarat is north of the Nerbudda. The five northern divisions are:

(_a_) _Saraswat._--These belong to the Punjab and are named after the Saraswati river of the cla.s.sical period, on whose banks they are supposed to have lived.

(_b_) _Gaur._--The home of these is the country round Delhi, but they say that the name is from the old Gaur or Lakhnauti kingdom of Bengal. If this is correct, it is difficult to understand how they came from Bengal to Delhi contrary to the usual tendency of migration. General Cunningham has suggested that Gaura was also the name of the modern Gonda District, and it is possible that the term was once used for a considerable tract in northern India as well as Bengal, since it has come to be applied to all the northern Brahmans. [405]

(_c_) _Kankubja or Kanaujia._--These are named after the old town of Kanauj on the Ganges near Cawnpore, once the capital of India. The Kanaujia are the most important of the northern groups and extend from the west of Oudh to beyond Benares and into the northern Districts of the Central Provinces. Here they are subdivided into four princ.i.p.al groups--the Kanaujia, Jijhotia, Sarwaria and Sanadhya, which are treated in annexed subordinate articles.

(_d_) _Maithil._--They take their name from Mithila, the old term for Bihar or Tirhut, and belong to this tract.

(_e_) _Utkal._--These are the Brahmans of Orissa.

The five groups of the Panch-Dravida are as follows:

(_a_) _Maharashtra._--These belong to the Maratha country or Bombay. They are subdivided into three main territorial groups--the Deshasth, or those of the home country, that is the Poona tract above the Western Ghats; the Konkonasth, who belong to the Bombay Konkan or littoral; and the Karhara, named after a place in the Satara District. [406]

(_b_) _Tailanga or Andhra._--The Brahmans of the Telugu country, Hyderabad and the northern part of Madras. This territory was known as Andhra and governed by an important dynasty of the same name in early times.

(_c_) _Dravida._--The Brahmans of the Tamil country or the south of Madras.

(_d_) _Karnata._--The Brahmans of the Carnatic, or the Canarese country. The Canarese area comprises the Mysore State, and the British Districts of Canara, Dharwar and Belgaum.

(_e_) _Gurjara._--The Brahmans of Gujarat, of whom two subcastes are found in the Central Provinces. The first consists of the Khedawals, named after Kheda, a village in Gujarat, who are a strictly orthodox cla.s.s holding a good position in the caste. And the second are the Nagar Brahmans, who have been long settled in Nimar and the adjacent tracts, and act as village priests and astrologers. Their social status is somewhat lower.

There are, however, a large number of other subcastes, and the tendency to fissure in a large caste, and to the formation of small local groups which marry among themselves, is nowhere more strikingly apparent than among the Brahmans. This is only natural, as they, more than any other caste, attach importance to strict ceremonial observance in matters of food and the daily ritual of prayer, and any group which was suspected of backsliding in respect of these on emigration to a new locality would be debarred from intermarriage with the parent caste at home. An instance of this is found among the Chhattisgarhi Brahmans, who have been long settled in this backward tract and cut off from communication with northern India. They are mainly of the Kanaujia division, but the Kanaujias of Oudh will neither take food nor intermarry with them, and they now const.i.tute a separate subcaste of Kanaujias. Similarly the Malwi Brahmans, whose home is in Malwa, whence they have spread to Hoshangabad and Betul, are believed to have been originally a branch of the Gaur or Kanaujia, but have now become a distinct subcaste, and have adopted many of the customs of Maratha Brahmans. Mandla contains a colony of Sarwaria [407]

Brahmans who received grants of villages from the Gond kings and have settled down there. They are now cultivators, and some have taken to the plough, while they also permit widow-remarriage in all but the name. They are naturally cut off from intercourse with the orthodox Sarwarias and marry among themselves. The Harenia Brahmans of Saugor are believed to have immigrated from Hariana some generations ago and form a separate local group; and also the Laheria Brahmans of the same District, who, like the Mandla Sarwarias, permit widows to marry. In Hoshangabad there is a small subcaste of Bawisa or 'Twenty-two'

Brahmans, descended from twenty-two families from northern India, who settled here and have since married among themselves. A similar diversity of subcastes is found in other Provinces. The Brahmans of Bengal are also mainly of the Kanaujia division, but they are divided into several local subcastes, of which the princ.i.p.al are Rarhi and Barendra, named after tracts in Bengal, and quite distinct from the subdivisions of the Kanaujia group in the Central Provinces.

6. Miscellaneous groups.

Another cla.s.s of local subdivisions consists of those Brahmans who live on the banks of the various sacred rivers or at famous shrines, and earn their livelihood by conducting pilgrims through the series of ceremonies and acts of wors.h.i.+p which are performed on a visit to such places; they receive presents from the pilgrims and the offerings made at the shrines. The most prominent among these are the Gayawals of Gaya, the Prayagwals of Allahabad (Prayag), the Chaubes of Mathura, the Gangaputras (Sons of the Ganges) of Benares, the Pandarams of southern India and the Naramdeo Brahmans who hold charge of the many temples on the Nerbudda. As such men accept gifts from pilgrims they are generally looked down on by good Brahmans and marry among themselves. Many of them have a character for extortion and for fleecing their clients, a propensity commonly developed in a profession of this kind. Such a reputation particularly attaches to the Chaubes of Mathura and Brindaban, the holy places of the G.o.d Krishna. They are strong and finely built men, but gluttonous, idle and dissolute. Some of the Benares Brahmans are known as Sawalakhi, or having one and a quarter lakhs, apparently on account of the wealth they ama.s.s from pilgrims. A much lower group are the Maha-Brahmans (great Brahmans), who are also known as Pat.i.t (degraded) or Katia. These accept the gifts offered by the relatives after a death for the use of the dead man in the next world during the period of mourning; they also eat food which it is supposed will benefit the dead man, and are considered to represent him. Probably on this account they share in the impurity attaching to the dead, and are despised by all castes and sometimes not permitted to live in the village. Other Brahmans are degraded on account of their having partly adopted Muhammadan practices. The Husaini Brahmans of western India are so called as they combine Muhammadan with Hindu rites. They are princ.i.p.ally beggars. And the Kalanki Brahmans of Wardha and other Districts are looked down upon because, it is said, that at the bidding of a Muhammadan governor they make a figure of a cow from sugar and eat it up. Probably they may have really acted as priests to Muhammadans who were inclined to adopt certain Hindu rites on the principle of imitation, and with a view to please their disciples conformed to some extent to Islam.

7. Sectarian divisions.

Brahmans have also sectarian divisions according to the different Vedas, which they especially study. It is held that the ancient Ris.h.i.+s or saints, like the Jewish patriarchs, lived far beyond the ordinary span of existence, and hence had time to learn all the Vedas and their commentaries. But this was impossible for their shorter-lived descendants, and hence each Veda has been divided into a number of Shakhas or branches, and the ordinary Brahman only learns one Shakha of one Veda. Most Brahmans of the Central Provinces are either Rigvedis or Yajurvedis, and these commonly marry only followers of their own Veda, thus forming a sort of cross set of endogamous divisions. The restriction on marriage may also extend to the Shakha, so that a man can only marry in a family of the same Shakha as himself. This applies in the Central Provinces mainly to the Yajurvedis, who have three well-known Shakhas or branches called Kannava, Apastambha and Madhyandina. These are derived from the Shukla or White Yajurveda, which can be understood, while the Black Yajurveda is obscure and unintelligible. The Rigvedis and Yajurvedis have some differences in their methods of recitation. The Rigvedis are said to move the head up and down when they recite and not to use the hands; while the Yajurvedis swing the hands and body from side to side. It is said that a Madhyandina cannot say his prayers nor take his food before midday, and hence the name, which means half the day. These points of distinction are given as stated by the local Brahmans, and it is not known whether they would be endorsed by the Pandits. The Maratha Brahmans of the Central Provinces are usually Rigvedis and the Kanaujia Brahmans Yajurvedis. Followers of the other two Vedas are practically not found. Among Kanaujia Brahmans it is also customary to ask the head of a family with which a marriage is proposed whether he ties a knot in the right or left half of his s.h.i.+kha or scalp-lock during his prayers and whether he washes his right or left foot first in the performance of a religious ceremony.

8. Exogamy.

The exogamous arrangements of the Brahmans are also very complex. It is said that the Brahmans are descended from the seven sons of the G.o.d Brahma, who were Bhrigu, Angirasa, Marichi, Atri, Pulaha, Pulastya and Vasishtha. But Pulaha only begot demons and Pulastya giants, while Vasishtha died and was born again as a descendant of Marichi. Consequently the four ancestors of the Brahmans were Bhrigu, Angirasa, Marichi and Atri. But according to another account the ancestors of the Brahmans were the seven Ris.h.i.+s or saints who form the constellation of the Great Bear. These were Jamadagni, Bharadwaj, Gautam, Kashyap, Vasishtha, Agastya, Atri and Visvamitra, who makes the eighth and is held to be descended from Atri. These latter saints are also said to be the descendants of the four original ones, Atri appearing in both lists. But the two lists taken together make up eleven great saints, who were the eponymous ancestors of the Brahmans. All the different subcastes have as a rule exogamous cla.s.ses tracing their descent from these saints. But each group, such as that of Bhrigu or Angirasa, contains a large number of exogamous sections usually named after other more recent saints, and intermarriage is sometimes prohibited among the different sections, which are descended from the same son of Brahma or star of the Great Bear. The arrangement thus bears a certain resemblance to the cla.s.sification system of exogamy found among primitive races, only that the number of groups is now fairly large; but it is said that originally there were only four, from the four sons of Brahma who gave birth to Brahmans. The names of other important saints, after whom exogamous sections are most commonly called, are Garg, Sandilya, Kaus.h.i.+k, Vatsya and Bhargava. These five appear sometimes to be held as original ancestors in addition to the eleven already mentioned. It may be noted that some of the above names of saints have a totemistic character; for instance, Bharadwaj means a lark; Kashyap resembles Kachhap, the name for a tortoise; Kaus.h.i.+k may come from the _kusha_ gra.s.s; Agastya from the _agasti_ flower, and so on. Within the main group exogamy sometimes also goes by t.i.tles or family names. Thus the princ.i.p.al t.i.tles of the Kanaujias are: Pande, a wise man; Dube, learned in two Vedas; Tiwari, learned in three Vedas; Chaube, learned in four Vedas; Sukul, white or pure; Upadhya, a teacher; Agnihotri, the priest who performs the fire-sacrifice; Diks.h.i.+t, the initiator, and so on. Marriage between persons bearing the same family name tends to be prohibited, as they are considered to be relations.

9. Restrictions on marriage.

The prohibition of marriage within the _gotra_ or exogamous section bars the union of persons related solely through males. In addition to this, according to Hindu law a Brahman must not marry a girl of his mother's or maternal grandfather's _gotra_, or one who is a _sapinda_ of his father or maternal grandfather. Mr. Jos.h.i.+ states that _sapindas_ are persons related through being particles of the same body. It is also understood that two persons are said to be _sapindas_ when they can offer _pindas_ or funeral cakes to the same ancestor. The rule barring the marriage of _sapindas_ is that two persons cannot marry if they are both as near as fourth in descent from a common ancestor, and the relations.h.i.+p is derived through the father of either party. If either is more remote than fourth in descent they apparently could marry. If the relations.h.i.+p of the couple is through their mothers in each case, then they cannot marry if they are third in descent from the same ancestor, but may do so in the fourth or subsequent generations. It is of no importance whether the intervening links between the common ancestor and the proposed couple are male or female; descent is considered to be male if through the father, and female if through the mother. In practice, marriages are held to be valid between persons fourth in descent from a common ancestor in the case of male relations.h.i.+p, and third in the case of female relations.h.i.+p, that is, persons having a common greatgrandparent in the male line or a common grandparent in the female line can marry.

Other rules are that girls must not be exchanged in marriage between two families, and a man may not marry two sisters, though he can marry his deceased wife's sister. The bride should be both younger in age and shorter in stature than the bridegroom. A younger sister should not be married while her elder sister is single.

10. Hypergamy.

The practice of hypergamy is, or was until recently, common among Brahmans. This is the rule by which the social estimation of a family is raised if its girls are married into a cla.s.s of higher social status than its own. Members of the superior cla.s.ses will take daughters from the lower cla.s.ses on payment usually of a substantial bride-price, but will not give their daughters to them. According to Manu, men of the higher castes were allowed to take wives from the lower ones but not to give daughters to them. The origin of the custom is obscure. If caste was based on distinctions of race, then apparently the practice of hypergamy would be objectionable, because it would destroy the different racial cla.s.ses. If, on the other hand, the castes consisted of groups of varying social status, the distinction being that those of the lower ones could not partic.i.p.ate in the sacramental or communal meals of the higher ones, then the marriage of a daughter into a higher group, which would carry with it partic.i.p.ation at the sacramental marriage feast of this group, might well be a coveted distinction. The custom of hypergamy prevails somewhat largely in northern India between different subcastes, groups of different social status in the same subcaste, and occasionally even between different castes. The social results of hypergamy, when commonly practised, are highly injurious. Men of the higher subcastes get paid for marrying several wives, and indulge in polygamy, while the girls of the higher subcastes and the boys of the lower ones find it difficult and sometimes even impossible to obtain husbands and wives. The custom attained its most absurd development among the Kulin Brahmans of eastern Bengal, as described by Sir H. Risley. [408]

Here the Brahmans were divided by a Hindu king, Ballal Sen, into two cla.s.ses, the Kulin (of good family), who had observed the entire nine counsels of perfection; and the Srotriya, who, though regular students of the Vedas, had lost sanct.i.ty by intermarrying with families of inferior birth. The latter were further subdivided into three cla.s.ses according to their degree of social purity, and each higher cla.s.s could take daughters from the next one or two lower ones. The doctrine known as Kula-gotra was developed, whereby the reputation of a family depended on the character of the marriages made by its female members. In describing the results of the system Sir H. Risley states: "The rush of compet.i.tion for Kulin husbands on the part of the inferior cla.s.ses became acute. In order to dispose of the surplus of women in the higher groups polygamy was resorted to on a very large scale: it was popular with the Kulins because it enabled them to make a handsome income by the accident of their birth; and it was accepted by the parents of the girls concerned as offering the only means of complying with the requirements of the Hindu religion. Tempted by a _pan_ or premium, which often reached the sum of two thousand rupees, Swabhava Kulins made light of their _kul_ and its obligations, and married girls, whom they left after the ceremony to be taken care of by their parents. Matrimony became a sort of profession, and the honour of marrying a girl to a Kulin is said to have been so highly valued in eastern Bengal that as soon as a boy was ten years old his friends began to discuss his matrimonial prospects, and before he was twenty he had become the husband of many wives of ages varying from five to fifty." The wives were commonly left at home to be supported by their parents, and it is said that when a Kulin Brahman had a journey to make he usually tried to put up for the night at the house of one of his fathers-in-law. All the marriages were recorded in the registers of the professional Ghataks or marriage-brokers, and each party was supplied with an extract. On arrival at his father-in-law's house the Kulin would produce his extract showing the date on which his marriage took place; and the owner of the house, who was often unfamiliar with the bridegroom's ident.i.ty, would compare it with his own extract. When they agreed he was taken in and put up for the night, and enjoyed the society of his wife. The system thus entailed the greatest misery to large numbers of women, both those who were married to husbands whom they scarcely ever saw, and those of the higher cla.s.ses who got no husbands at all. It is now rapidly falling into abeyance. Hypergamy is found in the Central Provinces among the subcastes of Kanaujia Brahmans. The Sarwaria subcaste, which is the highest, takes daughters from Kanaujias and Jijhotias, and the Kanaujias take them from the Jijhotias. These and other subcastes such as the Khedawals are also often divided into two groups of different status, the higher of which takes daughters from the lower. Usually the parents of the girl pay a liberal bridegroom-price in money or ornaments. It has never, however, been carried to the same length here as in Bengal, and two, or in some cases three, wives are the limit for a man of the higher cla.s.ses. One division of Kanaujias is called the Satkul or seven families, and is the highest. Other Kanaujias, who are known as Pachhadar, pay substantial sums for husbands for this group, and it is reported that if such a marriage takes place and the bridegroom-price is not paid up, the husband will turn his wife out and send her home to her father. Certain subcastes of Sunars also have hypergamy and, as between different castes, it exists between the Dangis and Rajputs, pure Rajputs being held willing to take daughters in marriage from the highest clans of Dangis.

11. Marriage customs.

A text of Manu prescribes: [409] "If a young woman marry while she is pregnant, whether her pregnancy be known or unknown, the male child in her womb belongs to the bridegroom and is called a son received with his bride." But at present a Brahman girl who is known to be pregnant will be wholly debarred from the sacrament of marriage. An invitation to a wedding is sent by means of grains of rice coloured yellow with turmeric and placed in a bra.s.s bowl with areca-nuts over them. All the members of the caste or subcaste who eat food with the host and are resident in the same town or close at hand are as a rule invited, and all relatives of the family who reside at a distance. The head of the family goes himself to the residence of the guests and invites them with expressions of humility to honour his home. Before the wedding the ancestors of the family and also the divine mothers are wors.h.i.+pped, these latter consisting of the consorts of the princ.i.p.al G.o.ds. In front of the wedding procession are carried _kalashas_ or earthen jars filled to the brim with water, and with green shoots and branches floating on the top. The _kalasha_ is said to represent the universe and to contain the princ.i.p.al G.o.ds and divine mothers, while the waters in it are the seven seas. All these are witnesses to the wedding. Among other ceremonies, presents of fruit, food, ornaments and jewellery are exchanged between the parties, and these are called _choli-ka-bharana_ or filling the bride's breast-cloth. The original object of giving these presents was thus, it would appear from the name, to render the bride fertile. The father then gives his daughter away in a set form of speech. After reciting the exact moment of time, the hour, the day, the minute according to solar and lunar reckoning, the year and the epoch, he proceeds: "In the name of Vishnu (repeating the name three times), the supreme spirit, father and creator of the universe, and in furtherance of his wish for the propagation of the human species, I (specifying his full name and section, etc.), in the company of my married wife, do hereby offer the hand of my daughter--may she live long--full of all virtuous qualities, image of Lakshmi, wife of Vishnu, anxious of union in lawful wedlock, ornamented and dressed, brought up and instructed according to the best of my means, by name (naming her and repeating the full description of ancestors, cla.s.s, etc.) in the solemn presence of the Brahmans, Gurus, fire and deities, to you--may you live long--(repeating the bridegroom's name and full description), anxious to obtain a wife with a view to secure the abode of bliss and eternal happiness in the heaven of Brahma. Accept her with _kusha_ gra.s.s, grains of rice, water and presents of money." Afterwards the father asks the bridegroom never to disregard the feelings and sentiments of his wife in matters of religion, social pleasures and the acquisition of money, and the bridegroom agrees. The binding portion of the ceremony consists in walking seven times round the sacred post, and when the seventh round is completed the marriage is irrevocable. Among the Maratha Brahmans the bridegroom is called Nawar Deo or the new G.o.d. During the five days of the wedding he is considered to be a sort of king, and is put in the highest place, and everybody defers to him. They make the bridegroom and bride name each other for a joke, as they are ashamed to do this, and will not untie their clothes to let them bathe until they have done it. At all the feasts the bride and bridegroom are made to eat out of the same plate, and they put pieces of food in each other's mouth, which is supposed to produce affection between them. The wedding expenses in an ordinary Kanaujia Brahman's family, whose income is perhaps Rs. 20 to 40 a month, are estimated at Rs. 200 for the bridegroom's party and Rs. 175 for the bride's, exclusive of any bride- or bridegroom-price. The bulk of the expenditure is on feasts to the caste. The bride does not live with her husband until after she arrives at p.u.b.erty, but it is thought desirable that she should spend long visits with his family before this, in order that she may a.s.similate their customs and be trained by her mother-in-law, according to the saying, 'Tender branches are easily bent.' Among some Maratha Brahmans, when the bride arrives at p.u.b.erty a ceremony called Garhbhadan is performed, and the husband confesses whether he has cohabited with his wife before her p.u.b.erty, and if so, he is fined a small sum. Such instances usually occur when the signs of p.u.b.erty are delayed. If the planet Mangal or Mars is adverse to a girl in her horoscope, it is thought that her husband will die. The women of her family will, therefore, first marry her secretly to a pipal-tree, so that the tree may die instead. But they do not tell this to the bridegroom. In Saugor, girls whose horoscope is unfavourable to the husband are first married to the _arka_ or swallow-wort plant. If a Brahman has not sufficient funds to arrange for the marriage of his daughter he will go about and beg, and it is considered that alms given for this purpose acquire special merit for the donor, nor will any good Brahman refuse a contribution according to his means.

12. Polygamy, divorce and treatment of widows.

Polygamy conveys no stigma among Brahmans, but is uncommon. Divorce is not recognised, a woman who is put away by her husband being turned out of the caste. The remarriage of widows is strictly prohibited. It is said that marriage is the only sacrament (Sanskar) for a woman, and she can only go through it once. The holy nuptial texts may not be repeated except for a virgin. The prohibition of the remarriage of widows has become a most firmly rooted prejudice among the higher cla.s.ses of Hindus, and is the last to give way before the inroads of liberal reform. Only a small minority of the most advanced Brahmans have recognised widow-remarriage, and these are generally held to be excluded from the caste, though breaches of the rules against the consumption of prohibited kinds of meat, and the drinking of aerated waters and even alcoholic liquor, are now winked at and not visited with the proper penalty. Nevertheless, many cla.s.ses of Brahmans, who live in the country and have taken to cultivation, allow widows to live with men without putting the family out of caste. Where this is not permitted, surrept.i.tious intercourse may occasionally take place with members of the family. The treatment of widows is also becoming more humane. Only Maratha and Khedawal Brahmans in the Central Provinces still force them to shave their heads, and these will permit a child-widow to retain her hair until she grows up, though they regard her as impure while she has it. A widow is usually forbidden to have a cot or bed, and must sleep on the ground or on a plank. She may not chew betel-leaves, should eat only once a day, and must rigorously observe all the prescribed fasts. She wears white clothes only, no gla.s.s bangles, and no ornaments on her feet. She is subject to other restrictions and is a general drudge in the family. It is probable that the original reason for such treatment of a widow was that she was considered impure through being perpetually haunted by her husband's ghost. Hindus say that a widow is half-dead. She should not be allowed to cook the household food, because while cooking it she will remember her husband and the food will become like a corpse. The smell of such food will offend the G.o.ds, and it cannot be offered to them. A widow is not permitted to wors.h.i.+p the household G.o.d or the ancestors of the family. It was no doubt an advantage under the joint family system that a widow should not claim any life-interest in her husband's property. The modern tendency of widows, who are left in possession, to try and alienate the property from the husband's relatives has been a fruitful cause of litigation and the ruin of many old landed families. The severe treatment of widows was further calculated to suppress any tendency on the part of wives to poison their husbands. These secondary grounds may have contributed something to the preservation and enforcement of an idea based originally on superst.i.tious motives.

13. _Sati_ or burning of widows.

For a widow to remain single and lead an austere and joyless life was held to confer great honour on her family; and this was enormously enhanced when she decided to become _sati_ and die with her husband on the funeral pyre. Though it is doubtful whether this practice is advocated by the Vedas, subsequent Hindu scriptures insist strongly on it. It was said that a widow who was burnt with her husband would enjoy as many years in paradise as there are hairs on the human head, that is to say, thirty-five million. Conversely, one who insisted on surviving him would in her next birth go into the body of some animal. By the act of _sati_ she purified all her husband's ancestors, even from the guilt of killing a Brahman, and also those of her own family. If a man died during an absence from home in another country his wife was recommended to take his slippers or any other article of dress and burn herself with them tied to her breast. [410]

Great honour was paid to a Sati, and a temple or memorial stone was always erected to her at which her spirit was venerated, and this encouraged many pious women not only to resign themselves to this terrible death but ardently to desire it. The following account given by Mr. Ward of the method of a _sati_ immolation in Bengal may be reproduced: [411]

"When the husband's life is despaired of and he is carried to the bank of the Ganges, the wife declares her resolution to be burnt with him. In this case she is treated with great respect by her neighbours, who bring her delicate food, and when her husband is dead she again declares her resolve to be burnt with his body. Having broken a small branch from a mango tree she takes it with her and proceeds to the body, where she sits down. The barber then paints the sides of her feet red, after which she bathes and puts on new clothes. During these preparations the drum beats a certain sound by which it is known that a widow is about to be burnt with the corpse of her husband. A hole is dug in the ground round which posts are driven into the earth, and thick green stakes laid across to form a kind of bed; and upon these are laid in abundance dry f.a.ggots, hemp, clarified b.u.t.ter and pitch. The officiating Brahman now causes the widow to repeat the prayer that as long as fourteen Indras reign, or as many years as there are hairs on her head, she may abide in heaven with her husband; that during this time the heavenly dancers may wait on her and her husband; and that by this act of merit all the ancestors of her mother and husband may ascend to heaven. She now presents her ornaments to her friends, ties some red cotton on both wrists, puts two new combs in her hair, paints her forehead, and takes into the end of the cloth that she wears some parched rice and cowries. The dead body is bathed, anointed with b.u.t.ter, and dressed in new clothes. The son takes a handful of boiled rice and offers it in the name of his deceased father. Ropes and another piece of cloth are spread on the wood, and the dead body is laid upon the pile. The widow next walks round the pyre seven times, as she did round the marriage-post at her wedding, strewing parched rice and cowries as she goes, which the spectators catch and keep under the belief that they will cure diseases. The widow then lies down on the fatal pile by the side of the dead body. The bodies are bound together with ropes and the f.a.ggots placed over them. The son, averting his head, puts fire to the face of his father, and at the same moment several persons light the pile at different sides, when the women and mourners set up cries. More f.a.ggots are hastily brought and thrown over the pile, and two bamboo levers are pressed over them to hold down the bodies and the pile. Several persons are employed in holding down these levers. More clarified b.u.t.ter, pitch and f.a.ggots are thrown on to the pile till the bodies are consumed. This may take about two hours, but I conceive the woman must be dead in a few minutes after the fire has been kindled."

As showing the tenacity with which women sometimes adhered to their resolve to be burned with their husbands, and thus, as they believed, resume their conjugal life in heaven, the following account by Sir William Sleeman, in his _Rambles and Recollections_, of a _sati_ at Jubbulpore may be given:

"At Gopalpur on the Nerbudda are some very pretty temples built for the most part to the memory of women who have burned themselves with the remains of their husbands, and on the very spot where the cremation occurred. Among them was one recently raised over the ashes of one of the most extraordinary old bodies I had ever seen, who burned herself in my presence in 1829. In March 1828 I had issued a proclamation prohibiting any one from aiding or a.s.sisting in _sati_, and distinctly stating that to bring one ounce of wood for the purpose would be considered as so doing. Subsequently, on Tuesday, 24th November, I had an application from the heads of the most respectable and most extensive family of Brahmans in the District, to suffer this old woman to burn herself with the remains of her husband, Umeid Singh Upadhya, who had that morning died upon the banks of the Nerbudda. I threatened to enforce my order and punish severely any man who a.s.sisted; and placed a police guard for the purpose of seeing that no one did so. The old woman remained by the edge of the water without eating or drinking. Next day the body of her husband was burned in the presence of several thousand spectators, who had a.s.sembled to see the _sati_. The sons and grandsons of the old woman remained with her, urging her to desist from her resolve, while her other relatives surrounded my house urging me to allow her to burn. All the day she remained sitting upon a bare rock in the bed of the Nerbudda, refusing every kind of sustenance, and exposed to the intense heat of the sun by day and the severe cold of the night, with only a thin sheet thrown over her shoulders. On the next day, Thursday, to cut off all hope of her being moved from her purpose, she put on the _dhujja_ or coa.r.s.e red turban and broke her bracelets in pieces, by which she became dead in law and for ever excluded from caste. Should she choose to live after this she could never return to her family. On the morning of Sat.u.r.day, the fourth day after the death, I rode out ten miles to the spot, and found the poor old widow sitting with the _dhujja_ round her head, a bra.s.s plate before her with undressed rice and flowers, and a cocoanut in each hand. She talked very collectedly, telling me that she had determined to mix her ashes with those of her departed husband, and should patiently await my permission to do so, a.s.sured that G.o.d would enable her to sustain life till that was given, though she dared not eat or drink. Looking at the sun, then rising before her over a long and beautiful reach of the Nerbudda, she said calmly: 'My soul has been for five days with my husband's near that sun; nothing but my earthly frame is left, and this I know you will in time suffer to be mixed with the ashes of his in yonder pit, because it is not in your nature wantonly to prolong the miseries of a poor old woman.' I told her that my object and duty was to save and preserve her; I was come to urge her to live and keep her family from the disgrace of being thought her murderers. I tried to work upon her pride and fears. I told her that the rent-free lands on which her family had long subsisted might be resumed by Government if her children permitted her to do this act; and that no brick or stone should ever mark the place of her death; but if she would live, a splendid habitation should be made for her among the temples, and an allowance given her from the rent-free lands. She smiled, but held out her arm and said, 'My pulse has long ceased to beat, for my spirit has departed, and I have nothing left but a little earth that I wish to mix with the ashes of my husband. I shall suffer nothing in burning, and if you wish proof order some fire, and you shall see this arm consumed without giving me any pain.' I did not attempt to feel her pulse, but some of my people did, and declared that it had ceased to be perceptible. At this time every native present believed that she was incapable of suffering pain, and her end confirmed them in their opinion. Satisfied myself that it would be unavailing to attempt to save her life, I sent for all the princ.i.p.al members of the family, and consented that she should be suffered to burn herself if they would enter into engagements that no other member of their family should ever do the same. This they all agreed to, and the papers having been drawn out in due form about midday, I sent down notice to the old lady, who seemed extremely pleased and thankful. The ceremonies of bathing were gone through before three, while the wood and other combustible materials for a strong fire were collected and put into the pit. After bathing she called for a _pan_ (betel-leaf) and ate it, then rose up, and with one arm on the shoulder of her eldest son, and the other on that of her nephew, approached the fire. As she rose up fire was set to the pile, and it was instantly in a blaze. The distance was about one hundred and fifty yards; she came on with a calm and cheerful countenance, stopped once, and casting her eyes upwards said, 'Why have they kept me five days from thee, my husband?' On coming to the sentries her supports stopped, she walked round the pit, paused a moment; and while muttering a prayer threw some flowers into the fire. She then walked deliberately and steadily to the brink, stepped into the centre of the flame, sat down, and leaning back in the midst as if reposing upon a couch, was consumed without uttering a shriek or betraying one sign of agony."

In cases, however, where women shrank from the flames they were frequently forced into them, as it was a terrible disgrace to their families that they should recoil on the scene of the sacrifice. Opium and other drugs were also administered to stupefy the woman and prevent her from feeling pain. Widows were sometimes buried alive with their dead husbands. The practice of _sati_ was finally prohibited in 1829, without exciting the least discontent.