It was still early morning,
and all was quiet. Our guide pointed out some who were evidently
friends, in conversation with men on a parapet above. They were
bargaining for the sacred fire to light the funeral pile.
Government prohibits the burning of the forlorn widow with her
husband's body, as was formerly the custom, but it is said many
widows wish this privilege even yet, nor can I blame them much.
I'm sure I don't see why, beyond the mere instinct of self-
preservation, they should have a wish to live on. Those educated
people among us who commit suicide have prospects before them
which might be called blissful compared with what confronts poor
widows in India.
We visited the principal temples and shrines in succession, but I do
not propose to rehearse their names and special virtues. There is a
great sameness about them, but the Monkey Temple differs from the
others in having several hundred monkeys running over it in every
direction. Like the rest, this is owned by a number of people, and
its shares are marketable property. Dr. Lazarus, the chief of the
medical department, tells us that the "river people," a term
embracing those who own the temples on the stream--just as we would
say the "steel rail" or the "pig metal" people at home--are very
much depressed, complaining bitterly that the revenues have fallen
away.
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