Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/123

THE FINAL SCENE AT THE PYRE 91 she should not be affrighted therefrom by the horrible sight, mats are placed in front so that she may not see into the pit. Each of the bystanders hath wood in his hand to cast upon the woman's body, so soon as she hath sprung into the fire, that she may be burnt to powder. When the wife draweth nigh the pit, she findeth a high place at the end of the pit, which is made of the earth which is thrown out of the pit; and then she goeth until she cometh to the mat that preventeth her from seeing into the awful pit. There she biddeth fare- well to the friends who are with her, the which encour- age her good spirit; over the mat, into the fire, she throweth a pilang, that is, a rice-stamper, and a sioup, or little fan wherewith the rice is fanned when it is stamped, and also other things that women commonly use there in their houses; on her head she hath a pot of oil, a part whereof she herself poureth over her head; and meanwhile she uttereth the name of God continually. And then the mat, which standeth before her, is taken away, and she falleth down from above with the pot of oil into the fire, and straightway she is covered, well-nigh to the height of a man, with the wood which the bystanders had in their hands. And thus is this sad spectacle brought to an end when- soever the women are of the Settreas, Weinsjaes, and Soudraes. But when the wives be of a Bramin, then is this horrible matter carried out with still greater cruelty; for the wives of the Bramines do not spring into the