A CASE OF SUTTEE.
[To TRH EDITOR OP PEE "SPECTATOR."
Sra,—I enclose a cutting from The Statesman of May 2541 which gives the sequel to the case of suttee mentioned by yois
last Saturday.—I am, Sir, dso. H. 0.
" THE IDEAL SAT'?"
SRADH CEREMONY IN CIUMAXDANGA ROAD.
Tns raga ceremony of Saibalinee Dassi, who performed sail when her husband, Babu Surendranath Ghose, was on his death- bed, took place on Sunday at the house in Charakdanga Road, Calcutta. The poor were fed in the garden, which was covered over with canvas, and the house was lavishly decorated for the occasion. Two inscriptions in the wall marked the place where Saibalinee Dassi fell. One of those said : " One who remembers me at the time of his death, verily he will rise in my likeness ;" while the other was as follows : "In memory of the extraordinary devotion to her husband. In the fourth century (Bengal era), the ideal Sati being afraid of the loss of her husband, when twenty- five years of age, sacrificed her life at his feet by burning herself at 1-30 P.M., on the seventh day of Baisalth, 1318." Many Sankirtan parties, with cymbals and conches, visited the place, and invoked the deity to bless the house of the Sati from generation to generation. The house has been visited by hundredk of Hindu women during the past few weeks, and by them it regarded as a shrine After the death of the woman two letters were found in her room. One written in pencil on a piece of crumpled white paper read:—
"I fall on your feet (I entreat you) send me with my husband (to the burning ghat). Do not try to save me. I am helpless. I shall not be able to bear this. (I shall not be able to bear widow- hood.) If I am saved, I shall go mad." The other letter said :—" The pearl necklace and the gold chain should be sent there. (To the father's house.) This being my mother's ornaments, my younger sister should be given the gold chain, and my brother should have the pearl necklace. The bangles should be kept and, if my son lives, they should be given to him. The savings in cash are also for him. The gold bangles should be sold and the proceeds should be devoted to the settlement of debts. Two hundred rupees should be subscribed to the Anath Bhandar (Ramkrishna Mission) in our names. One month's pay is due from the office."
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