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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2009
By the ghats in Benares, a young woman appears at the head of a small procession composed of her relations, some priests and a band of musicians. The procession moves towards the corpse of a man, draped in cloth and laid out at the edge of the river. They are observed by an Englishman who experiences a mixture of emotions: his horror and moral outrage do not entirely destroy his delight that he is about to witness an instance of what he considers a most fascinating Hindu custom–sati. The date is October 1781, and the Englishman is the artist William Hodges.