CUSTOMS OBSERVED DURING THE SICKNESS, OR AT THE DEATH OF THE BRAMINS, AND OF THEIR BURIAL. When a Bramin falls sick, though the vessels of the body be ever so much overcharged with blood, they yet always prefer abstinence to bleeding; but then they frequently make him fast so long, that he quite loses the habit of eating; by which means he is unable to swallow, when they afterwards think proper to give him sustenance. When the symptoms of death appear, a Bramin is sent for to pray with the sick person, and alms are given to the poor. In the mean time, the sick person is repeating continually the name of God; and when he is no longer able to do it, his friends ring it incessantly in his ears. The Vedam declares, that as God has promised to assist those who think on his name, and repeat it, he is obliged to succour them in this extreme; but in case their speech fails them, and their friends do this office for them, it is the same thing as if they themselves had performed it. If the sick person be married, and his senses are not yet gone, he asks his wife whether she will be burned, or buried with him. If she answers in the affirmative, she is obliged to adhere to her promise, and it then becomes her duty, because of the oath by which she bound herself at her marriage, in presence of the Bramin and the fire Homam. She then took an oath that her soul should not be separated from that of her husband, and she could not, without being guilty of a great sin, violate an oath which the presence of the Bramin and the fire had made sacred. In case she has any children, and loves them better than she did her deceased husband, then she is at liberty either to live with them or die with him. If she dreads the fire, she must not be forced to throw herself into it; but the general opinion is, that no virtuous woman will refuse to make herself a sacrifice on this occasion; for, according to the Vedam, the duty of a wife consists in the three following particulars :-The first is, a blind and implicit compliance in all the desires and wishes of her husband. The second duty of a virtuous wife is to observe a great modesty and simplicity in her dress, and not to lead a dissolute life when her husband is out of town. The third is to die when her husband leaves the world. However, some women, before they marry, put in this clause, viz., that they shall not be burned with him, and oblige their husbands to ratify it. The Bramins leave a woman at her liberty to answer either " yes" or "no," when her husband asks her in his expiring moments, whether she be willing to follow him to death. They themselves confess that the forcing a woman to it, either by violence or threats, is a crime that merits hell. But the Settreas, who are the nobles, constrain their wives to submit to this cruel custom, thinking that their surviving them would cast a stain on their honour; and once, at the death of a Settrea, threescore women threw themselves on his funeral pile, and were there consumed. They believe that when the sick person is at the point of death, two Jamma-doutas, or judges of hell, always appear to him, whose hideous figure terrifies him; but then a Vishnu-douta is present at the same time. In case the dying man has led a virtuous life, the latter carries away his soul in a magnificent flying chariot; but if he has been a wicked wretch, one of the Jamma-doutas carries him to Jamma-locon, or the place where Jamma presides. This judge orders his registrar to acquaint him with the particulars of the life of the deceased, pursuant to the information he had received from Vishnu; when these being read, he sends him back into the world, where he skips up and down like a hobgoblin for ten days together, till such time as his doom is pronounced. It is for this reason that the Bramins, after the death of a relation, feed a magpie for ten days, from a notion they entertain, that his soul may possibly be among those .birds. As soon as the sick man is dead, his beard is shaved, he is washed, is clothed in a clean suit, and his mouth is rubbed with lime and pounded betel, and the women also rub it with raw rice. When he is carried from his house to some place adjacent to the city, he is attended by his friends, who wash their hands, and put a little rice on his mouth. They wash their hands a second time, and begin a Beteani round the pile on which the body lies. This Beteani is a kind of procession which a Perrea makes, who is followed by certain persons that beat on a little drum, when they go thrice round the corpse. This being done, one of the company preaches to the rest, in Death's name, and observes that his empire equally extends over all things-over the young and old, rich and poor; that those who lead a life of virtue shall be happy after death, but that those who tread the paths of vice must expect nothing but torment. All the Bramins are not burned after their deaths; for some of them are buried. The Vishnus and Smartas are always burned, from an opinion which prevails among them, that though they have served Vishnu ever so faithfully they yet contract certain impurities, which are thoroughly purged by fire. On the contrary, the Seivias and Sansjasiis maintain, that their sins will not be imputed to them, though they have not exactly filled up all the duties of life; consequently, that they have no occasion for this purification, and therefore may be quietly laid in the ground. The former have an eye chiefly to God's justice; the latter rely more on his mercy. OF WOMEN WHO ARE BURNT OR BURIED WITH THEIR HUSBANDS. When a woman has promised to follow her husband, either to the funeral pile or the grave, he is no sooner dead than preparation is immediately made for the interment of both; nor can she retract nor suspend the performance of her promise. She must be consumed on the same day, and in the same fire in which her husband's body is burnt. The Bramins and Veinsjas are extremely rigorous on this article; but the Settreas allow their wives to burn themselves at different times, and in different places, when their husbands either died in a foreign country, or many years before. Notice being given of the husband's death, the woman is seated in ́a chair before the door, splendidly dressed after the manner of the country. Then the instruments begin to strike up; the drums beat; upon which betel is given her to chew, and she is entertained by conversation, for fear lest by thinking too intensely on her impending fate, she should repent of |