546 lord’s discovery of the banians and persees.
themfelves up alive to be facrificed in the flames with them, which to this day isobferved in fome places, and for fome perfons of greater worth, though the examplesbe more rare now than in former times; of which cuftom Propertius thus fpeaketh ;
Foelix Eois lex funeris una maritis,
Quos Aurora fuis rubra colorat aquis :
Namq; ubi mortifero jafta eft fax ultima lecto,
Uxorum fulls ftat pia turba comis ;
Et certamen habent lethi, qua viva fequaturConjugium; pudor eft non licuiffe mori.
Ardent viftrices et flammae peftora prsebent,
Imponuntq; fuis ora perufta viris.
A happy funeral law thefe Indians hold,
Where bright Aurora fliines with beams of gold ;•
For when in fiery brands the hufbands lie,
The women Hand with hanging treffes by ;
And ftrive who to their hufband firft may turn,
A body chafte into the flaming urn ;
Whilft to the fire they yield a conftant breaft,
And with parch’d mouths do kifs their loves to reft.
But though Propertius maketh this to be a witnefs of their conjugal chaftity, yetStrabo maketh the ground thereof to be the Indian women’s difloyalty to their hufbands jwho in former times, by fecret means, untimely poifoned them, to enjoy their para-mours. The Rajahs therefore, to reftrain this pra&ice, did procure the Bramanes tomake it an a£t of religion to interdict fecond marriages to the women, and that afterthe deceafe of the hufband, the woman fhould no longer furvive, that fo they mightbecome more careful of their prefervation. The chaffer fort, to gain an honour outof the infamy caff upon their fex, did, by voluntary fufferance, remove all fufpicion offuch machination of evil, fince they were fo ready to cope with the terror of death, toconfirm their love; the ceremony whereof is this: when their hufbands die, theyarray themfelves in their beft ornaments and jewels, and accompany the body to thefuneral pit, finging all the way encomiaftick fongs in praife of their deceafed hufbands,exprefling a defire to be with them. The body then being laid in the grave, thewoman with a chearful countenance imparteth her jewels to her dearefl friends, leapethIn to the corpfe, whofe head fhe layeth in her lap ; the mufic founding aloud, the pile iskindled by the fire, and fet on a flame, whilfl: fhe maketh herfelf a martyr to approveher love.
Thefe obfervances, partly enjoined by their law, and by themfelves inflanced in theirprefent practice, may have been fufficient to give you information what might be thefubflance of the fecond traft of the book delivered to Bremaw. What the third traftimported, and how.it is confirmed by their prefent manners and cufloms, we fhallglance at in the following chapters.
Chap. X. — Of the third Trad delivered to Bremaw , concerning the four Tribes or Cajls ;their Injundioh to follow that Order of Government , and fo touching the firfl of thofeTribes called the Bramanes ; the Derivation of the Name , their Kinds , the Number oftheir Cajls , their miniflerial Dfcharge, Studies , andfchool Difcipline .
AFTER the confideration of the ceremonies enjoined and obferved by them in mattersof their worship, as it was the fubjeft of the fecond -trad of the book delivered to
2 Bremaw,