ished on her husband's funeml pile. Just before the town of Dwarka was overpowered by a storm-wave, king Vasudeva died, and four of his wives burned themselves on his funeral pile. Krishna was acci dentally slain by a Bhil hunter in the forest. Ayuna then cwiducted the flying multitude to Kuru kshetra, where four of Krishna's widows burned themselves, and the rest of the widows assumed the devotee dress, and retired to the jangle. Sad was quite connnon, in parts at least of India, at the time of Alexander's invasion. In the 31aha bharata we find that one of the wives of Pandu burned herself with his dead body. But after the great war in Kuru-kshetra, none of the numer ous royal ladies burned herself. The account of the funeral rite of Dronacharytt leaves some doubt as to whether his wife was burned or not. The passage is as follows :—` Behold the scholars of Dronacharya, after chanting the Santa Veda, performing his funeral rites, making his wife foremost and placing her on the right side of the pyre, are bending their steps to wards the Dhagirathi.' The practice of thecrema tion of the widow, though not in existence when !Luna lived, nor in much use when Yudislithra reigned, did not die away.
Modern India. —Self - immolation of Hind u widows with the bodies of their deceased husbands, witsgenemlly done at the sang= or confluence of rivers. The Sankalpa, or declaration of the sati, is as follows :—Daving first bathed, the widow, dressed in new and clean garments, and holding sonic kusa grass, sips water from the palm of her hand ; holding in her hands kusa and tila, she looks towards the east or north, whilst the Brahman utters the mystic word O'in. Bowing to Namyan, she next declares, On this month (naming the time) I (naming herself and family), that I may meet Arundhati, the wife of the Rishi , Vaisistha, mid reside in Swarga ; that the Years of I my stay may be numerous as the hairs on the I human body ; that I may enjoy with tny huslsmd the felicity of heaven, and sanctify my maternal and paternal progenitors, and tbe ancestors of my husband's family ; that, lauded by the Apsarasas, I may be happy through the regions of fourteen Indra ; that expiation may be made for my hus band's offences, whether he have killed a Brah man, broken the ties of gratitude, or murdered his friend,—I ascend my husband's fimeral pde. I call on you, ye guardians of the eight regions of the world, sun and moon, air, fire, ether, earth, and water, my own soul! Yama, day, night, and twilight, I call you to witness, I follow my hus band's corpse to the funeral pile.' After much discussion, during which Raja Ram Mohun Rai made great efforts in the cause of prevention, sati was at last legally abolished in 13ritish India by Lord William Bentinck ; and though it is still occasionally performed, all who engage in it are severely punished. It is rare in Kashmir, but still current in Bali.
The chief characteristic of sutteeism is its expiat ing quality ; for by this act of faith, the sati not only makes atonement for the sins of her husband, and secures the remission of her own, but has the joyful assurance of reunion to the object whose beatitude she procures. Menu inculcates no such doctrine : Let her emaciate her body, by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, and fruit ; but let het not, when her lord is deceased, even pro nounce the name of another man.' Again, he says (Menu, v. p. 160): A virtuous wife ascends
to heaven, thou,gh she have ne child, if after the decease of her lord She devotes herself to pious austerity ; but a widow who, from a wish to bear children, slights her deceased husband by marry ing again, brings disgrace on herself here below, and shall be excluded from the seat of her lord.' When the subject of prohibiting satis British India was under discussion, Brahmans, in support of the rite, gave a quotation of a verse from a chapter of the Rig Veda. This Cole brooke translated as follows : Om ! let these women, not to be widowed, good wives, adorned with collyrium, holding clarified butter, consign themselves to the fire ! Immortal, not childless, not husbandless, well adorned with gems, let them pass into the fire whose original element is water.' Professor Wilson afterwards pointed out, how ever, that they had falsified the text by altering the words Yonim agre into Yonim agneh. Also the words of the verse in question are addressed not to the widow, but to the other women who, besides the widow, are present at the funeral ; and its correct translation is : May those women who are not widovvs, but have good husbands, draw near with oil and butter. Those who are mothers may go up first to the altar, without tears, without sorrow, but decked with fine jewels.' A second marriage in a Hindu woman of several of the races in India who are following Brahmanism, is con sidered an unlawful act..
Dr. Wilson says, We have additional and in coutestible proof that the Rig Veda does noi au.thotize the practice of the burning of thE widows.' The widow of the deceased had, how ever, to attend with married women the funera' of her husband. She was placed with his dead body on the funeral pile, and, after the perform. ance of certain cerenionies, she was broughl down, and Ivas thus addressed by the priest :— 'Rise up, 0 woman, to the world of life, Thou sleopest beside a corpse, come down ; Thou haat been long enough a faithful spouse To him *he made thee tnother to his sons.' The married females attending had then to moint their eyes with collyrium, when they were hus addressed :— The women now draw nigh with oil and butter, Not widows they, proud of noble husbands; First to the altar let the mother come In fair attire, and with no grief or tears.' There is a passage in the Taitrya Aranakna of Yajur Veda containing the following address xi the widow by the younger brother, disciple, or wrvant of the deceased Rise up, wotnan, thou iest by the side Of the lifeless ; come to the world )f the living, away from thY husband, and become ;he wife of him Who holds thy hand, and is willing ;o marry thee.' This is a clear proof of the widows marrying during the Vedic period. And lat the widow was brolight down and not dlowed to be burned, is also confirmed by her ;ollecting the bones of her late husband after a !,ertain time. But other writers held differ mtly. Angira, one of the sage legislators who was a contemporary of Menu says, The woman who burns herself after th'e death of her husband gains, like Arundhati, heavenly glory. She purifies the sins of the murderers of the Brahmans, the ungrateful, and the slayers of friends. For Sadhi women there is nothing so meritorions as cremation after the. death of their husbands.' The next mention is in the Katyana Sutra, and the age of ICatyana is about the 5th century B.C.