who are burnt with their dead husbands. Their king is more powerful
than all the other kings of India. He takes to himself 12,000 wives,
of whom 4000 follow him on foot wherever he may go, and are employed
solely in the service of the kitchen. A like number, more handsomely
equipped, ride on horseback. The remainder are carried by men in
litters, of whom 2000 or 3000 are selected as his wives on condition
that at his death they should voluntarily burn themselves with him,
which is considered to be a great honour for them....

"At a certain time of the year their idol is carried through the city,
placed between two chariots, in which are young women richly adorned,
who sing hymns to the god, and accompanied by a great concourse
of people. Many, carried away by the fervour of their faith, cast
themselves on the ground before the wheels, in order that they may be
crushed to death -- a mode of death which they say is very acceptable
to their god. Others, making an incision in their side, and inserting a
rope thus through their body, hang themselves to the chariot by Nay of
ornament, and thus suspended and half-dead accompany their idol. This
kind of sacrifice they consider the best and most acceptable of all.

"Thrice in the year they keep festivals of especial solemnity. On
one of these occasions the males and females of all ages, having
bathed in the rivers or the sea, clothe themselves in new garments,
and spend three entire days in singing, dancing, and feasting. On
another of these festivals they fix up within their temples, and on
the outside on the roofs, an innumerable number of lamps of oil of
SUSIMANNI, which are kept burning day and night. On the third, which
lasts nine days, they set up in all the highways large beams, like the
masts of small ships, to the upper part of which are attached pieces
of very beautiful cloth of various kinds, interwoven with gold. On the