Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1876 — Dying Hindus and the Ganges. [ARTICLE]

Dying Hindus and the Ganges.

In her interesting sketohes of “ The Orient and Its People,” Mrs. Hauser describes the mode of disposing of thedr dead, which is practiced by the Hindus. The Ganges is considered a sacred river, and its waters are belieted to possess the power <of healing the sick, sanctifying the souls of the dyiug, and cleansing the bodies and the souls of the well from all impurities. It is the longing of every faithfd! Hindu, when his final summons shall come, to pass from the earth to the land of the spirits with his feet submerged in the blessed water of this river, and with its mud filling his mouth, ears aud nostrils. Thousands of the sick and dying are annually borne to its shores in their last moments, that they may have the assurance of immortality through a death in its etnbrace. After "life has departed, the bodies of the Hindus ere burned on the banks' of the Ganges, and the ashes are thrown into the stream, or they are placed on a raft, having a lighted lamp at each corner, and are pushed out into the current, while the relatives watch the floating coffin with eager eyes, until it sinks beneath the water, or the crocodiles make a mouthful of it. “During the dry season,” says Mrs. Hauser, “ human skeletons, nicely cleaned and bleached, are seen scattered on the sand. There is no telling how many Hindus a voracious fish-eater' devours during a life-time in India. One of the strange sights that met us, as we entered the Hugly River from the ocean, was the dead bodies floating by us, with birds standing upon them. While at Calcutta, several ladies of our company wished to go to the railway depot op the other side of the river, and!, before we could get the boat near enough to the shore for mem to enter it, we had to push away with our oars several dead bodies of men and women that had floated down the stream and lodged there. . . “I have often seen sick aid dying men and women hurried over the dusty road to the river. Sometimes they were carried on a light bedstead, on men’s shoulders, with only a piece of cloth thrown over them to protect them from the fearful rays of the sun. Sometimes they were carried in carts, without springs, in which they could not lie down, though too weak to sit up. They were often atten fed only by the driver, who hurried on the oxen, regardless of the pain and groans of the dying one, lest they might not reach the river ere life was gone. The eldest son usually accompanies his mother on this last awful journey. When the river is reached, she is placed partly in the water. She must die now. To return home, to be repulsed by the Holy Mother Ganges, would be a greater calamity than widowhood. Too often the son hastens her death, lest she should recover. The last sigh has scarce escaped when her body is thrust out into the stream, to become fooa for alligators and vultures.” When invalids have once been placed in the Ganges, in expectation of their decease, they are seldom provided with either food or water, no matter how long life may be protracted. Should the fresh air and the change in their situation produce a change for the better in their disease, as is sometimes the case,.the circumstance is regarded as very unfortunate —being interpreted as an avowal that their souls are rejected by the Ganges. Mrs. Hauser repeats the account of “an aged Hindu mother, who was thus exposed by the river-bank for thirteen days, fed only with a little milk, part of the time without shelter from the rains, and part of the time screened from alternate drenching showers, or fierce heat of the sun. by a slight canopy of mate. For a consideration of twenty-five rupees, tyre Brahmins allowed the old womad to return home, and her family to retain their caste, notwithstanding the -reproach cast upon them by the refusal of too Ganges to receive one of their number.” While the invalid survives the friends continue with him or her through the day, but at evening the duty of watching is given over to a servant, and the relatives retire to the comfort of their dwellings. When death is imminent, mud is stuffed into the ears and nostrils of the moribund, and Ganges water is poured down the throat, and thus life is hastened in its exit.