"It is this passive state of suffering which is most difficult to endure, and which it is generally the fate of women to experience. It is too commonly their lot to be deceived into a belief, that as they are the gentler sex, so they ought to be the weakest. Alas, it is far otherwise; the soldier covered with wounds of glory, the mariner warring with the elements, the sage consuming his strength with the midnight oil, or the bigot wearing life away with fanatical zeal in false devotion, require not the unshrinking firmness, the never-failing patience, the unbending fortitude which is expected from almost every woman."
The river has encroached so much upon the cliff, and so much ground has fallen in, that, probably, the place of the satīs was of much larger extent; next year, most likely, those that are now tottering on the edge of the cliff will fall into the depth below. From this place I returned to the mandap, and sketched the satīs I had first seen. Their kalsās had figures upon them, meant to represent the husband and wife; I brought three of these ornaments away,—they have received all the honours; their foreheads have been marked with red paint, lamps have been lighted and placed upon their points, and offerings have been laid before them. Pretty well fagged with my moonlight expedition, I returned to the boats and slept quietly,—a great blessing.
THE KALSĀS.
Fig. 1. The two sīr.
2. A kalsā taken from under an old tree on the banks of the Ganges, in front of the temple, in the sketch of "Three Satīs and a Mandap near Ghazipūr."
3. A kalsā from the satī mound of the Kyiatt at Barrah.
4 and 5. These kalsās were taken from the satī ground at Ghazipūr, where there were twenty-eight cenotaphs, and which was only a short distance from the three satīs represented in the other plate. On both of them are curious representations of the husband and wife sitting side by side.
6. This kalsā differs from the rest, being hollow at the top, and the upper part of the dome of the cenotaph passed through
