Oriental Scenery/Part 4/Plate 8
No. VIII.
NEAR BANDELL, ON THE RIVER HOOGLEY.
The village of Bandell, near to which this view was taken, is situated on the western bank of the river Hoogley, one of the most considerable branches that serve to convey the mighty flood of the Ganges into the ocean. The Hoogley quits the parent stream at Jellinghy; and after passing the cities of Kishnagur, Hoogley, and Calcutta, proceeds by a rapid current to the sea, into which it falls in the bay of Bengal.
Temples and other sacred structures of the Hindoos occur frequently on the banks of the Hoogley; and these buildings, of various forms, and in different situations, exposed or half concealed among deep and solemn groves, no less holy in the popular opinion than the edifices they shelter, give an air of romantic grandeur to scenes that are successively presented to those who pass along this interesting river.
The small monumental erection in the centre of this view, as well as the obelisk near it, rudely carved in wood, are called Suttees; and though possessed of no sculptural elegance, are most curious memorials of the perversion of human intellect, having been raised to commemorate the immolation of certain unfortunate females, who, in compliance with a horrid custom among the Hindoos, had been induced to give the last dreadful proof of conjugal fidelity, by a voluntary death on the funeral pile of their deceased husbands. To the disgrace of human nature, this practice has prevailed during a long succession of ages in Hindoostan; and, what is incomprehensible, among a people distinguished for their mild and inoffensive manners; but every feeling heart must rejoice that, with equal wisdom and humanity, it has been expressly prohibited in all the territories over which the authority of the British government extends; and although the absurdities of superstition are not to be at once wholly annihilated by public edicts, (for prejudice takes a deeper root in the mind than truth itself,) this atrocious rite can now only be performed by stealth, and it is believed that examples at this time, even in secret, but rarely occur in the British Oriental dominions.
Near Bandell, on the River Hoogley.