ON THE DUTIES

OF

A FAITHFUL HINDU WIDOW.

BY HENRY COLEBROOKE, ESQ.

WHI

HILE the light which the labours of the Asiatic Society have thrown on the sciences and religion of the Hindus, has drawn the attention of the literary world to that subject, the hint thrown out by the President for rejecting the authority of every publication preceding the translation of the Gitá, does not appear to have made sufficient impression. Several late compilations in Europe betray great want of judgment in the selection of authorities; and their motley dress of true and false colours tends to perpetuate error; for this reason it seems necessary on every topic, to revert to original authorities for the purpose of recalling error or verifying facts already published; and this object will no way be more readily attained than by the communication of detached essays on each topic, as it may present itself to the Orientalist in the progress of his researches.

From this or any other motive for indulgence, should the following authorities from Sanscrit books be thought worthy of a place in the next volume of the Society's Transactions, I shall be rewarded for the pains taken in collecting them.

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Having first bathed, the widow, dressed in two "clean garments, and holding some cúsá grass, sips

water from the palm of her hand. Bearing cúsá "and tila (a) on her hand, she looks towards the "east or north while the Brahmana utters the mystic "word Om. Bowing to Nerayana, she next declares (b) "On this month, so named in such a Pacsha, "on such a tithi, I (naming herself and her (c) family) that I may meet Arundhati (d) and reside in Swarga; that the years of my stay may be numerous as the hairs on the human body; that I may enjoy with my husband the felicity of hea"ven, and sanctify my paternal and maternal progenitors, and the ancestry of my husband's fa"ther; that lauded by the Apsarases, I may be hap

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py with my lord, through the reigns of fourteen "Indras; that expiation be made for my husband's "offences, whether he has killed a Brahmana, "broken the ties of gratitude, or murdered his friend, "thus I ascend my husband's burning pile. I call

on you, ye guardians of the eight regions of the "world; Sun and Moon! Air, Fire, Æther (e), "Earth, and Water! My own soul! Yama! Day, Night, and Twilight! And thou, Conscience, bear

(a) Sesamum.

(b) This declaration is called the Sancalpa.

(c) Gótra, the family or race. Four great families of Bráhmanas are now extant, and have branched into many distinct races. Since the memorable massacre of the Cshatriyàs, by Parasu Rama, the Cshatriyàs describe themselves from the same Gótras as the Bráh

manas.

(d) Wife of Vasisht'ha.

(e) Acàsa.

"witness: I follow my husband's corpse on the fu "neral pile (f)."

Having repeated the Sancalpa, she walks thrice round the pile; and the Brahmana utters the following Mantras:

"Om! Let these women, not to be widowed good wives, adorned with collyrium, holding cla"rified butter, consign themselves to the fire. Im"mortal, not childless, nor husbandless, excellent, "let them pass into fire, whose original element is "water.

From the Rigveda.

"Om! Let these wives, pure, beautiful, commit "themselves to the fire, with their husband's corpse. A Pauránica Mantra.

With this benediction, and uttering the mystic Namo Namah, she ascends the flaming pile.

While the prescribed ceremonies are performed by the widow, the son, or other near kinsman, of the deceased, applies the first torch, with the forms

(f) In several publications the woman has been described as placing herself on the pile before it be lighted; but the ritual quoted is conformable to the text of the Bhagavata.

When the corpse is about to be consumed in the Sahótaja*, the faithful wife who stood without, rushes on the fire.”

Náreda to Yudisht'hira.

* Cabin of grass or leaves, sometimes erected on the funeral pile. The shed on the funeral pile of a Muni is called Parn'ótaja and Sahotaja." See the vocabulary entitled Hárábalí.

directed for funeral rites in the Grihya (g); by which his tribe is governed.

The Sancalpa is evidently formed on the words of Angiras':

"The wife who commits herself to the flames with her husband's corpse, shall equal Arundhati, and reside in Swarga;

Accompanying her husband, she shall reside so "long in Swarga as are the thirty-five millions of "hairs on the human body.

"As the snake-catcher forcibly drags the serpent "from his earth, so, bearing her husband from "hell, with him she shall enjoy heavenly bliss.

"Dying with her husband, she sanctifies her ma"ternal and paternal ancestors; and, the ancestry of "him to whom she gave her virginity.

"Such a wife, adoring her husband, in celestial "felicity with him, greatest, most admired (h); "with him she shall enjoy the delights of heaven "while fourteen Indras reign.

(g) Extracts or compilations from the sacred books, containing the particular forms for religious ceremonies, to be observed by the race or family for whom that portion of the sacred writings has been adopted, which composes their Grihya. We learn from the Bhágavata, that Vyúsa divided the Véda into four (Rich, Yajush, Sáman, and Atharvan) or five, including the Itihàsas or other Puranas as one Véda. Puila accepted the Řignéda; Jaimeni and Cavi, or Sucra, the Sámavéda; Baisampayana learned the Rajurvéda; Samuntu, Daruna, and others of the family of Angiras, the Atharvaveda.

My father (Suc'ha, son of Vyúsa, speaks) selected the Itihàsas and "Puránas; then the several Rishis chose the Védas variously (parts " of each). Their pupils, the successors of their pupils, and the "pupils of these, became followers of particular Sáchas."

(h) The word in the text is expounded "lauded by the choir of heaven, Gandharvas," &c.

"Though her husband had killed a Bráhmana, (i) broken the ties of gratitude, or murdered his friend, she expiates the crime."

Anigras;

The Mantras are adopted on the authority of the Brahme Purana..

"While the pile is preparing, tell the faithful "wife of the greatest duty of woman; she is loyal and pure who burns herself with her husband's corpse. "Hearing this, fortified in her resolution, and full "of affection, she completes the Pitrimheda Yaga (k) and ascends to Swarga."

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Brahme Purana.

It is held to be the duty of a widow to burn herself with her husband's corpse; but she has the alternative,

"On the death of her husband, to live as Brahmachari, or commit herself to the flames."

Vishnu.

The austerity intended consists in chastity, and in acts of piety and mortification.

"The use of Tambúli, dress, and feeding off ves"sels of tutenague is forbidden to the Yati (1), the Brahmachari, and the widow.

Prachétas.

(2) The commentators are at the pains of shewing that this expiation must refer to a crime committed in a former existence; for funeral rites are refused to the murderer of a Brahmana.

(k) Act of burning herself with her husband.