Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia/Series 1/Volume 3/Funeral of the King of Cochin China

CEREMONIES ATTENDING THE FUNERAL OF THE LATE KING OF COCHIN CHINA.

About four months ago I received several numbers of your valuable Journal which you had kindly sent me, and for which I give you many thanks. This Journal, conducted in a good spirit. appears to me calculated to do good. I wish I could send you something of interest to insert in your pages, but the painful position in which the persecution places us, prevents me from exploring the country in which I am, and closely studying the manners of the people whom Divine Providence has called me to convert. I am obliged like all my brethren in Cochin-China, to keep myself shut up in a miserable cabin, and all that I do must always be done through intermediate means. However, I will give an account of an event which has made some little noise in the kingdom this year. It is the death and funeral of Thiên Tri, king of Cochin-China.

The king Thiên Tri, son of the cruel Minh Mang, had scarcely resolved to tread in the footsteps of his father, and renew the persecution of the Christian religion, and hardly had he published sanguinary edicts against the ministers of that religion, and against those who did not wish to abandon them by a base apostacy, when the hand of God was laid upon him. He fell ill, and his sickness, it is said, was caused by the fears which the Europeans inspired in him. In spite of all the doctors, in spite of all the sorcerers, the sooth-sayers, the mountebanks and other individuals of that kind, whom be caused to assemble from all quarters, for in no part are all these absurd superstitions more in vogue than in this kingdom, Thiên Tri died on the 26th of the 9th moon (3rd November) 1817. When the king was dead, it was necessary to consult other sorcerers, and mountebanks of another kind, in order to know the day and hour propitious for enshrouding and encoffining the body. The coffins here are made of a single large piece of wood hollowed out, and are covered with another piece of wood, also hollowed. They are then painted and varnished. The lid shuts up the coffin hermetically, so that it can be kept in the house many months and even years, without any bad smell exhaling from it. When the corpse of Thiên Tri was deposited in the coffin, there were also deposited in it many things for the use of the deceased in the other world, such as his crown, turbans, clothes of all descriptions, gold, silver and other precious articles, rice and other provisions. In all these lands the pagans act as if they believed that the dead could still employ all the articles of which they have made use during life. When the body was deposited in the coffin, it was carried to a richly ornamented house, made expressly for the purpose, and sundry buffaloes, swine, poultry and other animals were immolated, and meals were set out upon a table made on purpose near the coffin. The new king, son of the defunct, clothed in a mourning dress, came each day to prostrate himself before the body of his father, and to offer prayers to him. Every day also, wax candles were lighted, or incense burned. Betel or areca nut, tobacco, &c., were prepared, and were all placed near the coffin. It was above all on the sacred days, declared such by the sorcerers of the kingdom, amongst others the 1st and the 15th of each month, that the sacrifices were made with the greatest splendour. The body remained exposed thus in its lighted chamber, until the 21st of the 9th moon 1818 (21st June,) a day indicated by the soothsayers and the astrologers as propitious to commence the funeral rites. Here nothing in regard to the sepulture of the dead is done by chance; it is necessary that the place of interment, the day, the hour in which a deceased person ought to be interred, should be indicated by the sorcerers and the astrologers, who chuse the place by means of a compass, and read in the stars the propitious or unpropitious day. If all the formalities have not been fulfilled, and if what has been prescribed by the sorcerers has not been followed in every thing, they predict to the children or the parents of the deceased, that they will have no more good fortune, but that all kinds of evils will unceasingly pursue them. It often happens that a deceased person is disinterred several times in order to inter him in another spot when a family sorcerer, to gain a little, throws them into a fright by announcing misfortunes, because their dead parent has not been interred in a proper spot. It is not the people only who conform to all these absurdities, but the great also, the king himself and the mandarins. Many how. ever do not believe in them, and when it is represented to them how much all that they thus do is contrary to the most simple good sense, they say that is true, but it is a crime not to do what the king does, and what our ancestors did. As for the sorcerers and the soothsayers, I have caused many of them to be questioned confidentially, to know if they believe in all that they profess, and they have always frankly replied to the christians who interrogated them, that they did not believe the least in the world, but when they have been pressed to quit their disreputable profession they have a strong argument, which is—if we abandon our occupation we must die of hunger. When then shall the light of the gospel cause the thick darkness to disappear from the Chinese empire, as it has dissipated it in the greater part of the other countries of the globe, and above all in Europe, for our fathers were plunged in superstitions as gross as those of the people of Asia, before they were enlightened by the torch of the faith! We ought to give perpetual thanks to God, for having rescued us from ignorance and crime.

On the 21st of the 5th moon, the coffin containing the body of the king, was carried to a house built for the occasion near one of the gates of the city, not far from a stream. Upon the stream were collected all the vessels which were to act as a convoy. The road which the corpse was to pass over in order to arrive at the vessel was covered with mats, carpets and Indian tapestry of silk. The two banks of the river, on which the corpse was to be carried to the tomb, were also adorned with silks. An edict bad commanded the mayors and old men of all the villages of the royal province to erect each an altar along the side of the river, to bring incense, to burn wax tapers, and when the corpse passed before the altar the mayor and old men were to make three great cries.

Each bank of the river was also lined with soldiers. The tomb is distant about a league from the city, but three days were allowed to arrive there, for they went very slowly and they had three stations. At each station there was a very large altar on which were burned wax tapers and perfumes, and the corpse rested there one day in order to receive the sacrifices which were made to it. These sacrifices consisted of buffaloes, swine and other animals, who were first strangled and then offered entire. There were also prepared meats, betel nut, tobacco &c. When the offering was finished the animals were divided and distributed to the mandarins and soldiers who accompanied the funeral. The coffin remained then one day in a house placed near the gate of the city, and this day 35 large animals, oxen, buffaloes, and swine were sacrificed. On the next day they put themselves in motion to go to the boats The coffin was carried by soldiers, at the rear came the new king who conducted the mourning as chief of the family. He walked on foot clothed in mourning robes, that is, he wore a long dress of white cotton with large sleeves, upon his head he had a straw bonnet and carried in bis hand a stick of dry bambu. Then came the other children of the deceased king, and of his parents, wearing white dresses and white turbans, the mourning costume of these countries, and after them the attendants. When they had arrived at the river the corpse was deposited in a magnificent bark constructed expressly for it, no person went into this boat, the corpse was left by itself, and the coffin concealed in such a way that it could not be seen by any one. The journey upon the river then commenced. First was a boat in which were the bonzes mounted upon a stage which ten soldiers supported on their shoulders, and whether they went in a boat or whether they walked, the bonzes were upon this and they prayed, they shouted, eulogising the defunct; but all in a manner ridiculous, even in the eyes of sensible pagans. These poor bonzes were obliged to remain upon the stage during the whole journey, and they were not allowed to descend on any account liowever pressing. Three other boats follow- ed which had also other three stages; upon one was displayed a large piece of white damask fastened upon a wooden frame, and on this damask were written a number of large superstitious characters. This is, according to the pagans, the abode of one of the souls of the defunct. On another stage were rice, fruits and other meats, and upon the last stage were perched certain mountebanks whose duty is to chase away the demons who wished to come and seize the soul of the defunct, or at least vex it in any manner they could. These individuals had their bodies painted different colours, some white, others black, others red, green, blue, violet, brown. They had wooden swords, lances, or other weapons of wood in their hands, some had fire brands. They howled, they sang, danced, made a thousand contortions, shook their wooden arms or fire brands, all with the purpose of frightening the demons. After these barques came the boat which bore the corpse towed by another boat, and after it came the boat of the new king who was alore with his women. His boat was also towed, then came boats bearing the princes and the mandarins: There were also boats in which were soldiers carrying fire brands and torches, besides other boats in which the soldiers had arms, muskets, sabres, and lances. Thus they proceeded on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd day, observing all that has been said above, and scattering throughout a large quantity of gold and silver paper. They slept during the night in the boats. They also eat in the boats.

At last on the 11th, they arrived near the tomb, built in a mountain very near the river. On one side of the mountain an edifice had been built of beautiful stone enclosed by a wall. In this edifice are the apartments which must serve as a prison to the wives of the defunct who have no children. They are perpetually shut up there to guard the sepulchre, and prepare daily the food and the other things of which they think the deceased has need in the other life. In the mountain a deep cavern has been excavated, the entrance to which is in the edifice, and is formed of a large stone. It is in this cavern, which is extended to the middle of the mountain, in a place unknown to the public, that the corpse is deposited. This place is only made known to the persons strictly necessary, for they fear that in case of war the enemy will try to profane the remains of the defunct king, as has already happened in this country; and this is regarded as one of the greatest of misfortunes. From the river to the tomb a floor has been made covered with beautiful mats, and over this floor the coffin was borne and the whole of the convoy marched, who also carried all the boats and stages with great pomp. At the precise hour indicated by the astrologers, the corpse was deposited in the cavera, and with it were interred much gold and silver, precious stones, and many other valuable objects, and then the cavern was closed. This done, three large piles were constructed within the compass of the walls. These piles were composed of boats, of stages and of every thing that had been used in the funeral, and moreover of all the objects which had been in use by the king during his lifetime, of chessmen, musical instruments, fans, boxes, parasols, mats, fillets, carriages &c. &c. and likewise a horse and an elephant, of wood and pasteboard. There was also burned separately a magnificent boat all gilt, in which had been placed gold, silver, and precious stones. This was the boat which had been used by the king during his life, and further another very magnificent boat was burned which had been built for the express purpose of carrying the corpse. The young king applied the fire. During all the time of the burning the mountebanks who before had been mounted upon a stage, and whose duty it was to chase away the devils, conducted themselves in a very singular manner. They danced, leapt, brandished their wooden arms, or firebrands, they sung, they shouted menacing the demons with all kinds of misfortunes, in order to prevent them from entering the cave where the corpse of the king had been interred. When all was consumed the new king and the mandarins quietly returned to the city. In this ceremony, however, several mandarins lost their rank, the least mistake about the ceremonial being most severely punished.

Some months after the funeral, at two different times, there were constructed in a forest near a pagoda, two magnificent palaces of wood with rich furnishings, in all things similar to the palace which the defunct monarch had inhabited. Each palace was composod of twenty rooms, and the most scrupulous attention was given in order that nothing might be awanting necessary for a palace, and these palaces were burned with great pomp, and it is thus that immense riches have been given to the flames from the foolish belief that it would serve the dead in the other world. However, the people who bear all these foolish expenses, and who die of famine, and who perhaps do not believe that they are necessary, murmur in secret and bear with much discontent a very grievous yoke; they dare not complain openly, for should a word of complaint reach the superior authorities, it would suffice to call down death upon those who uttered it!