DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.641#0135
1S8 THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY.
Supposing there to be five thousand towns and large vil-
lages in Hindoost'hanu, and that one widow is burnt from
each of these places in one year, no less a number than ./we
thousand helpless widows are annually burnt alive in this
country; but if we are guided by the calculation made at
Calcutta (see p. 114.) it will appear, that at least two wi-
dows in every large village must be murdered annually,
including all the large towns in the same ratio. If so,
instead of five thousand murders, the number must be dou-
bled ; and it will appear that ten thousand widows perish
on the funeral pile in the short period of twelve months.
Nor is this havock like the irregular return of war; on the
contrary, it is as certain and as fatal as the march of death
itself.
The second calculation will not appear exaggerated, I am
persuaded, when we consider the testimony of Dr. Bu-
ch nan, added to that of an officer inserted in page 124 of
this volume; to which I could add, that of many respec-
table natives.—By fevers, by the dysentery, and other dis-
eases arising from exposure to the night air, and the priva-
tions of a long journey, crowds are carried oflf in a few days:
sometimes numbers involuntarily fall under the wheels of
the monstrous car of Jugiinnat'hu: five or six hundred per-
sons, principally women, I am informed, were crushed to
death before the temple of Jugiinnat'hu, in the year 1810,
by the mere pressure of the crowd. The reader must con-
sider that these sacred places, the resort of pilgrims, are
spread all over Hindoost'hanu, and that pilgrims travel to
them from distances requiring journeys of three, four, and
five months.
In the opinion of every person to whom I have shewn the
manuscript, the other calculations fall far below the real fact.
Supposing there to be five thousand towns and large vil-
lages in Hindoost'hanu, and that one widow is burnt from
each of these places in one year, no less a number than ./we
thousand helpless widows are annually burnt alive in this
country; but if we are guided by the calculation made at
Calcutta (see p. 114.) it will appear, that at least two wi-
dows in every large village must be murdered annually,
including all the large towns in the same ratio. If so,
instead of five thousand murders, the number must be dou-
bled ; and it will appear that ten thousand widows perish
on the funeral pile in the short period of twelve months.
Nor is this havock like the irregular return of war; on the
contrary, it is as certain and as fatal as the march of death
itself.
The second calculation will not appear exaggerated, I am
persuaded, when we consider the testimony of Dr. Bu-
ch nan, added to that of an officer inserted in page 124 of
this volume; to which I could add, that of many respec-
table natives.—By fevers, by the dysentery, and other dis-
eases arising from exposure to the night air, and the priva-
tions of a long journey, crowds are carried oflf in a few days:
sometimes numbers involuntarily fall under the wheels of
the monstrous car of Jugiinnat'hu: five or six hundred per-
sons, principally women, I am informed, were crushed to
death before the temple of Jugiinnat'hu, in the year 1810,
by the mere pressure of the crowd. The reader must con-
sider that these sacred places, the resort of pilgrims, are
spread all over Hindoost'hanu, and that pilgrims travel to
them from distances requiring journeys of three, four, and
five months.
In the opinion of every person to whom I have shewn the
manuscript, the other calculations fall far below the real fact.