HUSBAND'S FUNERAL PYRE

Evening Star, Issue 19776, 28 January 1928, Page 22

HUSBAND'S FUNERAL PYRE

WIFE GOULD HOT BEAR TORTURE After suffering intense agony in the flames of her ■husband’s funeral pyre, in an attempt to perform the ancient rite of the suttee—self-immolation of the widow with the body of the husband—n Hindu widow at Bnrh, in the Patna district of Jndin, was rescued by the police (a despatch to the ‘ Daily Mail ’ from Allahabad, India, says). The police experienced difficulty in rescuing the woman because of the hostile Hindu mob. On learning of the widow’s intention, 5,000 Hindus gathered around the funeral pyre on the banks of the Ganges, they cheered as she mounted the pvro and took her husband’s body in her arms. Tho local police tried to prevent her, but the Hindus interfered

The woman and her dead husband lay burning on top of the pyre while the crowd applauded excitedly. The widow, however, was unable to bear the torture. She rolled towards the river, clutching her husband’s bodv, which disappeared in the current. The police, despite the hostility of the crowd, rescued the woman. She, however, refused to leave the pyre, and the spectators prevented the police from removing her. She lay there for two days, while thousands of Hindus flocked from the surrounding districts to pay homage to the woman, who, in their eyes, had gained great religions merit by her act. The police eventually were reinforced, and took the injured woman away. Three leaders in tho ceremony were arrested.

Tho suttee is now very rare in India in fear of the penalties imposed since 1392, which extend even to those who abet'the rite as “guilty of homicide.'-