JOHAR or Jauhar, a general sacrifice in war, to which Rajputs resorted when pressed by over whelming numbers. Colonel Tod relates that on one occasion when Jeysulmir was so pressed, Mulraj and Ruttun repaired to tho palace of their queens, and told them to take the sohag, and pre pare to meet in heaven, while they gave up their lives in defence of their honour and their faith. Smiling, the Soda rani replied, ' This night we shall prepare, and by the morning's light we shall be inhabitants of swerga' (heaven); and thus it was with the chiefs and all their wives. The night was passed together for the last time in prepara tion for the awful morn. It came ; ablutions and prayers were finished, and at the Rajdwara were convened bald, prude, and bridu. They bade a last farewell to all their kin, the Johar commenced, and 24,000 women and girls, from infancy to old age, surrendered their lives, some by the sword, others in the volcano of fire. Blood flowed in torrents, while the smoke of the pyre ascended to the heavens. Not one feared to die, every valuable was consumed with them, not the worth of a straw was preserved for the foe. This work done, the brothers looked upon the spectacle with horror. Life was now a burden, and they pre pared to quit it. They purified themselves with water, paid adoration to the divinity, made gifts to the poor, placed a branch of the tulsi in their calques, the saligram round their neck ; and, having cased themselves in armour and put on the saffron robe, they bound the mor (crown) around their heads, and embraced each other for the last time. Thus they awaited the hour of battle, and 3800 warriors, with faces red with wrath, prepared to die with their chiefs. Other instances of the awful rite of Johar, when a whole tribe may become extinct, have been recorded in the annals of Mewar, the object of it being un doubtedly to prevent the women falling into the hands of the enemy. To the women of Europe the fate of the Rajputni must appear one of appal ling hardship. In each stage of life, death was ready to claim her,—by the poppy at its dawn, by the flames in riper years ; while the safety of the interval depends on the uncertainty of war. The loss of a battle, or the capture of a city, was a signal to avoid captivity and Its horrors, which to the Rajputni are worse than death. It is singular that a nation so refined, so scrupulous in its ideas with regard to females, as the Rajput, should not have entered into some national compact to abandon such proof of success as the bondage of the women. When the foe was the Tatar the
Johar might have been pardonable, but the practice was common in the international wars of the Rajputs ; and there are numerous inscrip tions on stone and brass, which record as the first token of captive wives of the foemen. When the mother of Sisera looked out of the window, and cried through the lattice, Why tarry the wheels of his chariots ? have they not sped ? have they not divided the prey ; to every man a damsel or two ? gives a perfect picture of the Rajput mother expecting her son from the foray. The Jewish law with regard to female captives was perfectly analogous to that of Menu ; both declare them 'lawful prize,' and both Moses and Menu establish rules sanctioning the marriage of such captives with the captors. When a girl is made captive by her lover, after a victory over her kinsmen, marriage is permitted by law. The forcible marriage in the Hindu law, termed Rac'cliasa, viz. the seizure of a maiden by force from her house, while she. weeps and calls for assistance, after her kinsmen and friends have been slain in battle, is the counterpart of the ordinance regarding the usage of a captive in the Pentateuch, excepting the shaving Of the head, which is the sign of complete slavery with the Hindu. When Hector, anticipating his fall, pre dicts the fate which awaits Andromache, he draws a forcible picture of the misery of the Rajput ; but, to prevent such degradation, the Rajput had recourse to the Johar, or immolation of every female of the family. The very term widow (rand) is used in common parlance as one of re proach. The rule for the Jews is in Judges v. 28 30, Deuteronomy xxi. 10-13, When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst have her to thy wife ; then thou shalt bring her home to thine house ; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails ; and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month : and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.'—Pen nant's Hindustan, i. p. 56 ; Tod's Rajasthan, i. pp. 639, 640 ; Menu on Marriage, Art. 25, 33.