A Voyage to East India, Account of voyage · Section 19
SECT. XIX.
Of the Hindooes, or Heathens which inhabite that Empire, &c.
ANd for theſe, the firſt that I ſhall take notice of, is, that they agree with others in the world, about the firſt Roots of mankinde Adam and Eve, and the firſt of them they call Babba Adam, or Adamah, Father Adam, and the ſecond Mamma Havah, Mother Eve. And from Adam they call a man Adams.
For Adam they further ſay, that when his wife was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit, ſhe took it and chaud it, and then ſwallowed it down, but when her husband was ſwallowing it, the hand of God ſtop't it in his Throat, and from hence (they ſay) that every man hath there an hollow bunch which women have not.
The names they give to diſtinguiſh one man from another are many, and amongſt them theſe following are very common. As Juddo, or Midas, or Cooregee, or Hergee, and the like. Caſturia and Preſcotta, are Womens names amongſt them, but whither theſe, as thoſe names they call their men, or women by, are names of ſignification, or onelyonly of ſound I know not.
Thoſe Hindooes are a very laborious, and an induſtrious people: theſe are they which till and plant the ground, and breed the Cattle, theſe are they which make and ſell thoſe curious Manufactures, or the Cloath and ſtuffe which this Empire affords.
This people marry into, and conſequently ſtill keep in their own Tribes, Sects, Occupations, and Profeſſions. For inſtance all Bramins (which are their Prieſts, the Sons of all which are Prieſts, likewiſe) are married to Bramins daughters, ſo a Merchants ſon marries a Merchants daughter, and ſo men of ſeveral trades marry to the ſame trade. Thus a Coolee, (who is a tiller of the ground) marries his ſon to a Colees daughter; and ſo in all other profeſſions they keep themſelves to their own Tribes and Trades, not mixing with any other, by which means they never advance themſelves higher than they were at firſt.
They take but one wife, and of her they are not ſo fearfull and jealous as the Mahometans are of their ſeveral wives and women, for they ſuffer their wives to go abroad whether they pleaſe. They are married very young, about ſix, or ſeven years old, their Parents making Matches for them, who lay hold of every opportunity to beſtow their Children, becauſe confin'd to their own Tribes, they have not ſuch variety of choiſe as otherwiſe they might have▪ and when they attain to the age of thirteen, or fourteen, or fifteen years at the moſt they bed together.
Their marriages are ſolemnized (as thoſe of the Mahometans) with much company, and noiſe, but with this difference, that both the young couple ride openly on Horſ-back, and for the moſt part they are ſo little, that ſome go on their Horſe ſides to hold them up from falling. They are bedeckt, or ſtrewed all over their Cloathing, with the choiſe flowers of that Countrey, faſtned in order all about their Garments.
For their habits they differ very little from the Mahometans, but are very like them civilly clad, but many of their women were Rings on their Toes, and therefore go bare foot. They we…r likewiſe broad Rings of Braſſe, or better Metal upon their Wriſts, and ſmall of their Legs, to take of and on.
They have generally (I mean the women) the flaps, or tips of their ears boared when they are young, which holes daily extended and made wider, by things put and kept in them for that purpoſe, at laſt become ſo large, as that they will hold Rings (hollowed on the out-ſide like Pullies) for their fleſh to reſt in that are as broad in their circumference, ſome of them (I …dare ſay) as little Sawcers. But though thoſe faſhions of theirs ſeem very ſtrange at firſt ſight, yet they keep ſo conſtantly to them, as to all their other habites without any alteration, that their general and continual wearing of them makes them to ſeem leſſe ſtrange unto others which behold them.
And for their Diet very many of them (as the Banians in general (which are a very ſtrict Sect) will eat of nothing that hath had, or may have life. And theſe live upon Herbs, & Roots, and Bread▪ and Milk, and Butter, and Cheeſe, and Sweet-meats, of which they have many made very good by reaſon of their great abundance of Sugar. Others amongſt them will eat fiſh, but of no living thing elſe. The Raſhboots will eat Swines fleſh, which is moſt hatefull to the Mahometans, ſome will eat one kinde of fleſh, ſome of another (of all very ſparingly) but all the Hind…os in general abſtain from Beef, out of an high and over-excellent eſteem they have of Kine, and therefore give the Mogol yearly, beſides his other e…actions, great ſums of money as a ranſom for …hoſe Creatures; whence it comes to paſſe, that amongſt other good proviſions, we meet there but with little Beef.
As the Mahometans Burie …o the Hindoos in general (not believing the reſurrection of the fleſh) burn the bodies of their dead near ſome Rivers (if they may with convenience) wherein they ſow their aſhes.
And there are another Sect, or ſort of Heathens living amongſt them called Perſees, which do neither of theſe; of whom, and how they beſtow the bodies of their dead, you ſhall hear afterward.
The Widows of theſe Hindoos (firſt mentioned) ſuch as have lived to keep company with their Husbands, for (as before) there is uſually a good ſpace of time 'twixt their wedding and bedding. The Widows (I ſay) who have their Husbands ſeparated from them by death, when they are very young, marry not again, but whither, or no this be generally obſerved by them all I know not, but this I am ſure of, that immediately after their Husbands are dead, they cut their Hair, and ſpend all their life following as Creatures neglected both by themſelves, and others, whence to be free from ſhame, ſome of them are ambitious to die with Honour (as they eſteem it) when their fiery love carries them to the flames (as they think) of Martyrdom, moſt willingly following the dead bodies of their Husbands unto the fire, and there imbracing, are burnt with them.
A better agreement in death than that of Eteocles and Polynices, the two Theban brothers, of whom it is ſaid that they were ſuch deadly enemies while they were alive, that after, when both their bodies were burnt together in the ſame fiery Pile, the flame parted and would not mix in one, of which Statius thus:
Nec furiis poſt fata modus; flammaeque rebelles
Seditione Rogi.—
Whoſe rage not death could end, rebellious ire
Inflam'd to civil War their funeral fire.
—Nec mors mihi finiit iras.
Mine anger with my body ſhall not die,
But with thy Ghoſt, my Ghoſt ſhall battel trie.
But thoſe, which before I named, agree ſo well in life, that they will not be divided by death, where their flames unite together. And although the Woman, who thus burns with her Husband, doth this voluntarily, not by any compulſion (for the love of every Widow there is not thus fired) and though the poor Creature, who thus dies may return and live if ſhe pleaſe, even then when ſhe comes to the Pile, which immediately after turns her into aſhes: yet ſhe who is once thus reſolved, never ſtarts back from hir firſt firm and ſetled reſolution, but goes on ſinging to her death, having taken ſome intoxicating thing to turn or diſturb her brains; and then come to the place where ſhe will needs die, ſhe ſettles her ſelf preſently in the middeſt of that combuſtable ſubſtance provided to diſpatch her, which fuel is placed in a round ſhallow trench, about two foot deep, made for that purpoſe near ſome River, or other water (as before) and though ſhe have no bonds but her own ſtrong affections to tie her unto thoſe flames, yet ſhe never offers to ſtir out of them. But
Her breathleſſe Husband then ſhe takes
In foulded arms; this done ſhe makes
Her humble ſute to 'th flames to give
Her quick diſpatch, ſhe cannot live
Her honour dead. Her friends there come
Look on, as if't were, Martyrdom;
And with content are hit her led,
As once to view her marriage bed.
And thus, ſhe being joyfully accompanied unto the place of her dying by her Parents and other friends, and when all is fitted for this helliſh Sacrifice, and the fire begins to burn; all which are there preſent ſhout, and make a continued noiſe ſo long as they obſerve her to ſtir, that the ſcreeches of that poor tortured Creature may not be heard. Not much unlike the cuſtom of the Ammonites, who, when they made their Children paſſe through the fire to Molech, cauſed certain Tabrets, or Drums to ſound, that their cries might not be heard, whence the place was called Tophet, 2 King. 23. 10. which ſignifies a Drum, or Tabret.
Now after their bodies are quite conſumed, and lie mixed together in aſhes, and thoſe aſhes begin to grow cold, ſome of them are gathered up by their neareſt friends, and kept by them as choiſe Relicks, the reſt are immediately ſowen by the ſtanders by upon the adjacent River, or water.
Alas poor wretches! what a hard Maſter do they ſerve, who puts them upon ſuch unreaſonable ſervices in the flower of their youth and ſtrength, thus to become their own executioners; to burn their own bones when they are full of marrow, and to waſte their own breaſts, when they are full of milk. Now Almighty God requires no ſuch thing at his peoples hands, & therefore it is by far the more ſtrange to conſider that the Devil ſhould have ſuch an abundance of ſervants in the World, and God ſo few.
But for thoſe poor ſilly Souls, who ſing themſelves into the extremity of miſery, & thus madly go out of the World, through one fire into another, through flames that will not laſt long into everlaſting burnings, and do it not out of neceſſity, but choiſe, led hereunto by their tempter and murderer, and conſequently become ſo injurious and mercileſſe to themſelves▪ certainly they deſerve much pity from others, who know not how to pity themſelves. For nemo miſerius miſero non miſerants ſcipſum. There are none ſo cruel as thoſe, which are cruel, and pitileſſe to themſelves. But though (I ſay) there are ſome which thus throw away their own lives, yet if we conſider thoſe Hindoos in general we may further take notice.