DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.640#0108
ON THE HINDOO RELIGION. xcv
among the Hindoos; the intercourse of the sexes approaches very-
near to that of the irrational animals. The husband almost inva-
riably lives in criminal intercourse during the pupilage of his in*
fant wife; and she, if she becomes a -widow, cannot marry, and
in consequence, being destitute of a protector and of every moral
principle, becomes a willing prey to the lascivious.
Add to all this, the almost incredible number of human victims
which annually fall in this Aceldama. I have ventured on an
estimate of the number of Hindoos who annually perish, the vic-
tims of the bramhinical religion; (vol. ii. p. 127,) and have sup-
posed, that they cannot amount to less than 10,500 ! Every
additional information I obtain, and the opinions of the best in-
formed persons with whom I am acquainted, confirm me in the
opinion, that this estimate is too low, that the havock is far
greater, however difficult it may be to bring the mind to con-
template a scene of horror which outdoes all that has ever been
perpetrated in the name of religion by all the savage nations put
together. These cruelties, together with the contempt which the
Hindoos feel for the body as a mere temporary shell, cast off at
pleasure, and the disorganizing effects of the cast, render them
exceedingly unfeeling and cruel: of which their want of every
national provision for the destitute; their leaving multitudes to
perish before their own doors, unpitied and even unnoticed; the
inhuman manner in which they burn the bodies of their deceased
relations, and their savage triumph when spectators of a widow
burning in the flames of the funeral pile, are awful examples.
But to know the Hindoo idolatry, as it is, a person must
wade through the filth of the thirty-six pooranus and other po-
pular books—he must read and hear the modern popular poems
and songs—he must follow the bramhun through his midnight
orgies, before the image of Kalee, and other goddesses; or he
must accompany him to the nightly revels, the jatras, and listen
to the filthy dialogues which are rehearsed respecting Krishnu
and the daughters of the milkmen; or he must watch him, at
midnight, choking, with the mud and waters of the Ganges, a
among the Hindoos; the intercourse of the sexes approaches very-
near to that of the irrational animals. The husband almost inva-
riably lives in criminal intercourse during the pupilage of his in*
fant wife; and she, if she becomes a -widow, cannot marry, and
in consequence, being destitute of a protector and of every moral
principle, becomes a willing prey to the lascivious.
Add to all this, the almost incredible number of human victims
which annually fall in this Aceldama. I have ventured on an
estimate of the number of Hindoos who annually perish, the vic-
tims of the bramhinical religion; (vol. ii. p. 127,) and have sup-
posed, that they cannot amount to less than 10,500 ! Every
additional information I obtain, and the opinions of the best in-
formed persons with whom I am acquainted, confirm me in the
opinion, that this estimate is too low, that the havock is far
greater, however difficult it may be to bring the mind to con-
template a scene of horror which outdoes all that has ever been
perpetrated in the name of religion by all the savage nations put
together. These cruelties, together with the contempt which the
Hindoos feel for the body as a mere temporary shell, cast off at
pleasure, and the disorganizing effects of the cast, render them
exceedingly unfeeling and cruel: of which their want of every
national provision for the destitute; their leaving multitudes to
perish before their own doors, unpitied and even unnoticed; the
inhuman manner in which they burn the bodies of their deceased
relations, and their savage triumph when spectators of a widow
burning in the flames of the funeral pile, are awful examples.
But to know the Hindoo idolatry, as it is, a person must
wade through the filth of the thirty-six pooranus and other po-
pular books—he must read and hear the modern popular poems
and songs—he must follow the bramhun through his midnight
orgies, before the image of Kalee, and other goddesses; or he
must accompany him to the nightly revels, the jatras, and listen
to the filthy dialogues which are rehearsed respecting Krishnu
and the daughters of the milkmen; or he must watch him, at
midnight, choking, with the mud and waters of the Ganges, a