Appendix
Note A
Observances and Rites During Pregnancy
From the period of conception a woman is enjoined by way of precaution, to live under certain rules and restrictions, the observance of which is to ensure a safe delivery as well as the safety of the offspring. She is not allowed to put on clothes over which birds of the air have flown, lest their return might prolong the period of her delivery. She fastens a knot to one end of the Achal of her Saree128 and keeps it tied about her waist, and spits on her breast once a day before washing her body, and is not allowed to sit or walk in the open compound in order to avoid evil spirits; as a safeguard against their inroads, she constantly wears in the knot of her hair a slender reed five inches long.
When in a state of pregnancy, a Hindoo female is treated with peculiar care, tenderness and affection. She is generally brought from her father-in-law’s house to that of her father, where all the members of the family shew her the greatest love lest she should not survive the throes of childbirth. Indeed the first childbirth of a young Hindoo girl is justly considered a struggle between life and death. As a religious safeguard and guarantee for safe delivery, she is made to wear round her neck a small Madoolee (a very small casket made of gold, silver, or copper), containing some flowers previously consecrated to Baba Thacoor129 and to drink daily until her delivery a few drops of holy water after touching it with the Madoolee.
It is perhaps generally known that a Hindoo girl is married between 9 and 12 years of age—an age when her European sister would not even dream of being united in the bonds of wedlock; and the natural consequence is, she becomes a mother at thirteen or fourteen years. An eminent writer who had studied the subject carefully thus remarks: “Till their thirteenth year, they are stout and vigorous; but after that period, they alter much faster than the women in any of the nations of Europe.” Her tender age, her sedentary life, her ignorance of the laws of hygiene, the common dread of childbirth, the want of proper midwives as well as of timely medical aid (should any be necessary), conspire sometimes to cause an untimely death. She must continue to observe many precautions until her accouchement is completed.
In the fifth month of her pregnancy takes place her Kacha Shád.130 The day must be an auspicious one according to Hindoo astrologers, and she is treated that day with special indulgence, inasmuch as all the delicacies of the season are given to her without restriction. In the seventh month she is treated with Bhájá Shád, when she eats with a few other females (whose husbands and children are all alive) all sorts of parched peas and rice as well as Methais and other sweetmeats; in the ninth month, the Paunchámrita131 ceremony is held, when she is made to wear a red-bordered Akhanda Saree (a piece of cloth ten cubits long with the edges uncut), which is preserved with the greatest care lest any jealous and mischievous woman who has lost her children, should clandestinely cut and take away a portion of the same, which is considered a very portentous omen for the preservation of the new born babe.
On the celebration of Paunchámrita above mentioned the officiating priest, after repeating the usual incantation, pours into her mouth a little of the delicacies, without the same coming in contact with her teeth. She is forbidden to eat anything else that day except fruits and sweetmeats; and then a good day is appointed for the celebration of the grand final Shád, when all the female relatives and connections of the family are invited. In Calcutta, Hindoo females of respectability are not permitted to be seen, much less to walk in the streets; they live in a state of perfect seclusion, entirely apart from the male members of the family, it being considered a very great disgrace should a respectable female be in any way exposed to public gaze. The very construction of a Hindoo family dwelling house clearly indicates the prevalence of the close zenana system; the inmates must have an inner and an outer apartment, there must be an inclosed court-yard reached by tortuous passages, closed by low constructed doors, through which one has to wriggle rather than to walk; the sun seldom shines into it; small contracted staircases, foul confined air, no circulation or ventilation are the result: the noxious effluvia evaporating from this or that side of the house, especially from the lower floor, is a nuisance which the inmates put up with, with scarcely any complaint. The drainage and water works have certainly effected considerable improvement towards the promotion of cleanliness, but still the dirty and filthy state of most of the family dwelling houses is a notorious fact. By a small door only there exists a communication between the inner and outer apartment; should the house be a small one, say from three to four cottahs, which is generally the case in such a crowded city as Calcutta, and should the women talk loud enough to be heard by men outside, they are not only instantly checked but severely reprimanded for the liberty. The great privacy of the close zenana system is, however, broken by females being obliged to travel in a Railway carriage: though Hindoos of rank, whenever they have occasion to go on pilgrimage by Rail, generally engage a reserved compartment for the females, yet they cannot manage to preserve absolute privacy when going into or coming out of the carriage at the Railway Stations.
To return to the grand final Shád, on the day appointed an awning is put up over the court-yard of the house. Palkees are sent to each of the families invited; and the guests (nearest female relatives) begin to come in from ten in the morning; a general spirit of hilarity prevails on all sides, noise and bustle ensue, the women are busy in receiving their guests, preparations are being made for the grand feast, the men outside direct the Palkee bearers where next to go, the little children have their own share of juvenile frolic, the young damsels and the aged matrons are seen speaking to their respective friends with mutual love, affection and confidence; and signs of joviality and conviviality are seen every where. It is on such occasions that women unbosom themselves to each other, and freely and unreservedly communicate their feelings, their thoughts, their wishes, nay their secrets to friends of congenial spirit and temper; their conversation knows no end, their amiable loveliness almost spontaneously developes itself; they unburden their minds of the heavy load of accumulated thoughts; their joys and sorrows, their happiness and misery, their sympathy and emotion, pleasurable or painful, have their full scope. If they are naturally garrulous they become more so at such a jovial assemblage, so that one can dive deepest down into their hearts on such an occasion. Many a matrimonial match is proposed and matured at such meetings, and to crown the whole, sisters of kindred spirit embrace each other with all the warmth of genuine love and affection. If their minds are contracted by reason of scanty culture, their hearts are full of affection, sympathy and susceptibility, which cannot fail to exercise a beneficial influence on human nature.
On such occasions, females are allowed to have some amusement or támáshá, according to their liking, (but of course not such as betrays a vitiated taste, overstepping the bounds of decorum, which was the case some years back). Dancing girls and Panchálleys are entertained, who contribute not a little to the amusement of the assembled guests. Immured within the walls of a close zenana they are seldom suffered to enjoy such unrestrained liberty. Otto of roses, rose water out of gold or silver pots, nosegays, and paun or betel are freely distributed among them. They sit on benches or chairs, or squat down barefooted on forash bichana (a clean white sheet), and enjoy the támáshá to their hearts’ content. These amusements continue till evening, entertaining the guests with songs on gods and goddesses (Doorga, Krishna and his mistress, Rádhá): those relating to Doorga have a reference to the ill treatment she experienced at the hands of her parents, but those pertaining to Krishna and Rádhá tell of his juvenile frolics with his mother and the milk-maids, and amorous songs on disappointed love, which, though they may appear harmless to their worshippers, have nevertheless a partial tendency to debase the minds of females. By way of encouragement, the singing and dancing girls receive, besides their hire, presents of money, clothes and shawls, according to the circumstances of the parties retaining them. To do our women justice, however, it is pleasing to reflect that the progress of enlightenment has of late years wrought a salutary change in their minds. Instead of the former Kabees (songs) which were shamefully characterised by the worst species of obscenity and immorality, they have imbibed a taste for more sober and refined entertainments. Moral and intellectual improvement amongst perfectly secluded females is a sure harbinger of national regeneration. The young and the sprightly, as is naturally to be expected, enjoy these amusements most; but the more elderly and thoughtful females make the best of the opportunity in conversation about domestic affairs with those of their own age and kinship. They have certainly no distaste for these frivolous entertainments, but the thoughts and cares of home press more heavily on their minds. Age and experience have taught them to regard the enjoyment of unalloyed domestic felicity as the chief end of life. A good Hindoo housewife is a model of moral excellence.
About four o’clock in the afternoon, when almost all the guests are assembled together, long parallel rows of pirays, or wooden seats, the one quite apart from the other—are arranged in straight lines in the court-yard, in the midst of which is placed the seat of the pregnant girl, which, by way of distinction, is painted white with rice paste (álpáná) with appropriate devices. Adorned with ornaments of glittering gold, bedecked with precious stones, and dressed in an embroidered Benares Saree, she walks gracefully towards her particular seat, which is a signal for others (widows excepted) to follow; they all squat down on the wooden seats, before which are placed small pieces of green plantain leaves and a few little earthen plates and a cup, which are intended to serve the purposes of plates and glasses. Before her stands a light, a conch is sounded, and a rupee with which her forehead is touched is kept for the gods, for safe delivery. Fruits of different kinds, about fifteen or sixteen sorts of sweetmeats, loochee, kachoory, papur (flour fried with ghee) in the shape of cháppátees, vegetable curries of several kinds, sweet and sour milk, are provided for the guests, the female relatives of the girl serving as stewards. No adult male member of the family is allowed to assist in the feast, because Hindoo females blush to eat before men. Being most pre-eminent in point of caste, Brahmin women are served first. Here the rules of caste are strictly observed, and no departure therefrom is tolerated. It is not uncommon that uninvited females, or more properly speaking, intruders contrive by some means or other, to mix with the company; but they are soon singled out by the more shrewd and experienced, and to their chagrin and disappointment, instantly removed from their seats. They do not, however, go away with curses on their lips, but receive a few things and are ordered to leave the house without a Palkee.132
After the feast is over, the women, washing their hands and mouths, express their good wishes for the safe delivery of the girl, and make preparations for returning home. Here confusion and bustle ensue consequent on the simultaneous desire of all to return home first, and as the sun begins to set, their anxiety becomes more intense to see the faces of their absent children; laying aside their wonted modesty, some of them almost unblushingly make a rush and enter the first Palkee that comes in their way, regardless alike of their sex and the rules of decorum. If 100 families are invited, about ten Palkees are retained. Hackney carriages are sometimes substituted in place of Palkees, but whatever arrangements are made it is next to impossible to satisfy at least 200 people at one and the same time. The guests are never expected to find their own conveyances. Before coming, some of them keep the Palanquin waiting for an hour or so, while they are engaged at their toilet and adorning their persons with divers ornaments. It is not unfrequently the case on such occasions that females in poor circumstances borrow ornaments from their more prosperous friends, in order to appear in society to the best advantage. In the absence of mental accomplishments, Hindoo ladies necessarily set a high value on the jewels about their persons. Some twenty years back, massive articles of gold were considered the most recherché ornaments, so much so that some rich ladies were adorned with gold articles alone to the weight of 6 or 7 lbs.; to an English lady, this might appear incredible, but it is a fact which does not admit of any contradiction. Hindoo females are religiously forbidden to wear gold ornaments about their feet, it being considered a mark of disrespect to Lukxmee (goddess of prosperity,) hence they put on pairs of solid massive silver malls or anklets, weighing sometimes about 3 lbs.; though such massive articles are a great incumbrance to the free motion of the limbs, they are nevertheless used with great pleasure. Indeed it has been sarcastically remarked that were a Hindoo lady offered a gold grindstone to wear round her neck, weighing some 20 lbs. she would gladly accept the offer and go through the ordeal. But as the spread of English education has improved the minds of the people, it has likewise improved their taste; instead of massive gold ornaments, ladies of the present day prefer those of delicate diamond cut workmanship, set with pearls and precious stones such as chick, sittahaur, táráháur, seetee, tabij, bajoo, jasum, nabaruttun taga, bracelets of six or seven patterns, and ear-rings of three or four kinds, for which girls in very early youth perforate their ears in 8 or 10 places, as also their noses in two places. By their choice of the modern ornaments they shew their preference for elegance to mere weight. Brilliant Pearl necklaces133 of from seven to nine rows, and costly bijouteries of modern style, have superseded the old-fashioned solid gold Bhawootees and Taurs. A rich lady is sometimes seen with jewellery worth 15,000 to 20,000 Rupees and upwards; as a matter of course, such a lady is the cynosure of all eyes, and the rest of the company move as satellites round the primary planet. Conscious of her superiority in this respect and puffed up with vanity she disdains to hold converse with her less fortunate sisters. She is tramping, as it were, “to the tinkling sound of the ornaments of gold and gems on her person.” As the grand centre of attraction, her gait, her gestures, her movements form the subject of general criticism, and as an object of envy she continues to be talked of even after the return of the guests to their homes.
In the villages, however, silver ornaments are more in vogue than gold ones, simply because the rural population have neither the taste nor the means of the people of the city. As a rule, the Hindoos invest their savings in gold and silver which is turned to good account in times of need and distress. Throughout Hindoosthan, the people have so great a penchant for gold and silver ornaments that not only women but men also adorn their persons with solid articles of sterling gold. I have seen Setts (shroffs) and Malgoozars go about with ornaments of considerable value; their dress, however, is generally exceedingly tawdry, and bears no correspondence to the worth of the articles of gold they carry about. I once weighed a solid pure gold chain worn by a Sett round his waist, which the natives call Gote, weighing over 4 lbs., worth about 3,000 Rupees.
In Bengal little children are seen with gold ornaments on their persons134 till they are 6 years of age, but adults are entirely free from this passion. When a male child is born to a respectable Hindoo, the heart of the mother irresistibly yearns to adorn its person with ornaments, especially at the time of vath (christening), i. e., at 6 months of age for a male and 7 months for a female child.
When the females return home after the entertainment, it is truly a scene of “sorry to part, happy to meet again.” It is seldom that such opportunities are afforded them to give free vent to their feelings, thoughts and wishes;—a human being always feels unhappy at living in a perfectly isolated state; he or she naturally longs for society, and this longing is alike manifest in both sexes. The greater the restraint, as in the case of Hindoo ladies, the stronger the desire for social intercourse. Can a zenana Hindoo lady with her veiled modesty suppress the impulse to look about through the shutters of a closed Palkee, with guards on both sides, in the light of day? The impulse is by no means a criminal one but is prompted by the irresistible influence of nature. The parting exclamation on such occasions is, “Sister, when shall I have the good fortune to see you again?” “Why, not before long,” is the common reply. The consummation of the desire, if long deferred, naturally produces feelings of discontent. A few days after the feast the families that were invited, give a tangible proof of their regard for the pregnant girl by making her presents of clothes and sweetmeats according to their respective circumstances, as a matter of course the nearest relatives making the richest presents.
Note B
The Goddess Soobachinee
The following is the story of this goddess:—In a certain village there lived a poor Brahmin boy, whose poverty was well-known throughout the neighbourhood. One day a fisherman came to sell some fish, on seeing which the boy began to cry for them. His mother, a poor aged widow, though very desirous to satisfy the craving of her son, had unfortunately no means to buy them, whereupon the fisherwoman affected by the cries of the boy, offered to give her credit and said she would come for the price on her way home. Meantime the mother cooked the fish; but before her son had time to eat them, the fisherwoman, according to her promise, returned for the price. The old woman being still unable to pay, the fish vendor demanded the return of the fish, which, though cooked, she was willing to take back. This being done, the boy, however, had the advantage of tasting the soup made of the fishes and was so much pleased with the taste of animal food that he could not resist the temptation of stealing one day a lame duck belonging to the king, and eating it privately. Investigation being made, the theft was traced to the poor Brahmin boy, who being summoned before the king, was tried, convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned, at which the mother became inconsolable. Seeing her distress and despondency, the goddess Doorga, in the form of Soobachinee, appeared to her in a dream, and, giving her hopes of consolation and better luck for the future, eventually advised her to perform the worship of the goddess Soobachinee. In obedience to the above injunction, she did as she was directed. Seventeen ducks made of rice-paste (sixteen with two perfect legs and one with a lame leg) formed a part of the ceremony. After the performance of the worship and the expiatory rite of homa (burnt offering) which expiates all sin, the holy water being sprinkled on the feathers of the stolen lame duck, that were concealed under the ashes, the devoured duck was at once restored to life and sent back to the king’s poultry-yard. The miraculous resuscitation of the duck was brought to the notice of the king, who immediately sent for the poor old woman and questioned her how the dead lame duck was made alive again; the old woman, trembling through fear, related all the particulars about the appearance of the goddess in a dream. The king, being satisfied as to the truth of the tale, ordered the captive boy to be released at once and brought to his presence, concluding that the goddess must have been very propitious to the old woman and her son. Consulting his ministers on the subject, he said within himself he could not have a better match for his daughter, who was of marriageable age, than the late delinquent. So the nuptials were duly solemnized with becoming pomp, and the poor Brahman family lived ever after in a state of great affluence and happiness. Hindoo ladies of the orthodox school learn this tale almost in their nursery, and feel a peculiar delight in reciting it on certain occasions.
Note C
The writings of the ancient Hindoo sages, as handed down to us by history and tradition, incontestably prove that they were chiefly theists; but as their religious ideas were supremely transcendental, ill suited to the comprehension of the great mass of the people, and consequently not adapted to bring joy, peace and rest to the mind, their descendants learnt to modify those ideas and practically reduce them to the level of the popular understanding. They gradually created a Trinity, i. e., the Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer. But as this triad was not sufficiently attractive or intelligible to the unlettered mass, who wanted something in the shape of real, tangible personification of the deity, in place of indistinct, invisible supernatural beings, a designing priesthood subsequently attempted to satisfy their wishes by foisting upon them a whole rabble of gods and goddesses, which are almost as innumerable as the pebbles on the sea shore. In numerical strength the Pantheon of the Hindoos far surpasses that of the Egyptians, Greeks, and the Romans. What ancient system of mythology contained so many as 330 million gods and goddesses? As in mythology, so in chronology, the Hindoos stand unrivalled. Their pantheon is as capacious and extensive as their antiquity135 is unfathomable and prehistoric. The origin of the Puranic mythology is to be attributed to this national predilection; and the worship of the female deities with bloody sacrifices is intended to terrify the ignorant populace into superstitious beliefs still grosser than were habitual to them.
The antiquity of the Brahminical creed and of the religious systems incorporated into, and engrafted on it, has long been a subject of interesting inquiry. It is not my intention to go into the subject more deeply than merely to affirm that it is still a debatable point among the most distinguished orientalists, whether or not the Egyptians and Greeks borrowed their system of mythology from that of the Hindoos, and afterwards improved on it by divesting it of the grosser excrescences. The character of the Hindoo deities is more or less puerile, impure and ungodly, not possessing any of the cardinal virtues, such as become the living and true God. Desiring to steer clear of such deformities and impurities, the Greeks and Romans consecrated separate temples to “Virtue, Truth, Piety, Chastity, Clemency, Mercy, Justice, Faith, Hope and Liberty.”
It is a remarkable fact, says Ward, that “the sceptical part of mankind have always been partial to heathenism. Voltaire, Gibbon, Hume &c. have been often charged with a strong partiality for the Grecian and Roman idolatries; and many Europeans in India are suspected of having made large strides towards heathenism. Even Sir William Jones, whose recommendation of the Holy Scripture (found in his Bible after his death,) has been so often and so deservedly quoted, it is said, to please his Pundit, was accustomed to study the Shastras with the image of a Hindoo god placed on his table; and his fine metrical translations of idolatrous hymns are known to every lover of verse. In the same spirit, we observe, that figures and allusions to the ancient idolatries are retained in almost all modern poetical compositions and even in some Christian writings.”
It has been very wisely remarked by a philosophical traveller, Dr. Clarke, that “by a proper attention to the vestiges of ancient superstition, we are sometimes enabled to refer a whole people to their original ancestors, with as much, if not more certainty, than by observations made upon their language; because the superstition is engrafted on the stock, but the language is liable to change.” Writing on the same subject, Sir William Jones remarks, “if the festivals of the old Greeks, Persians, Romans, Egyptians and Goths, could be arranged with exactness in the same form with the Indian, there would be found a striking resemblance among them; and an attentive comparison of them all, might throw great light on the religion, and perhaps on the history, of the primitive world.”
The Egyptians described the source of the Nile as flowing from Osiris; so the Hindoos represent the holy stream of the Ganges as flowing from the head of Iswara, which Sir William Jones so beautifully describes in his hymn to Ganga:
“Above the reach of mortal ken,
On blest Coelasa’s top, where every stem
Flowed with a vegetable gem,
Mahasa stood, the dread and joy of men;
While Párvati, to gain a boon,
Fixed on his locks a beamy moon,
And hid his frontal eye in jocund play,
With reluctant sweet delay;
All nature straight was locked in dim eclipse,
Till Brahmins pure, with hallowed lips
And warbled prayers restored the day,
When Ganga from his brow, with heavenly fingers free,
Sprang radiant, and descending, graced the caverns of the west.”
For composing such fine metrical translations of idolatrous hymns, Mr. Foster finds fault with the conduct of Sir William Jones: he writes, “I could not help feeling a degree of regret, in reading lately the Memoirs of the admirable and estimable Sir William Jones. Some of his researches in Asia have no doubt incidentally served the cause of religion; but did he think the least possible direct service had been rendered to Christianity, that his accomplished mind was left at leisure for hymns to the Hindoo gods? Was not this a violation even of neutrality, and an offence, not only against the gospel, but against theism itself? I know what may be said about personification, license of poetry, and so on, but should not a worshipper of God hold himself under a solemn obligation to abjure all tolerance of even poetical figures that can seriously seem, in any way whatever, to recognise the pagan divinities or abominations, as the prophets of Jehovah would have called them? What would Elijah have said to such an employment of talents? It would have availed little to have told him, that these divinities were only personifications (with their appropriate representative idols) of objects in nature, of elements, or of abstractions. He would have sternly replied—‘And was not Baal, whose prophets I destroyed, the same?’”
Dr. Stiles, President of Yale College in North America, was so highly impressed with the amazing antiquity of the Hindoo Shastras that he wrote to Sir William Jones, asking him to make a search among the Hindoos for the Adamic books. Had he not been a sincere Christian, he would have asked Sir William to send him a translation of a book written some two or three millions of years ago.
General Stewart, who lived in Wood Street, Calcutta, was said to have made a large collection of Hindoo idols, which he arranged in the portico of his house. He was so fond of them that, it was said, a Brahmin was engaged to perform the daily worship, while he himself led the life of a Hindoo rishi or saint, inasmuch as he totally abstained from the use of either wine or meat.
Such instances of partiality on the part of enlightened Christians towards heathenism, we do not see in the present day. In the early times of the British settlement in India, there was a strong mania for exploring the untrodden field of Braminical learning, and the unfathomable antiquity in which it was imbedded. The philosophical theories of the Munees and Rishis, their sublime conceptions concerning the origin of the world and the unity of God, their utter indifference to worldly concerns and sensual gratifications, their living in sequestered áshrums, the practice of religious austerities, the subjugation of passions, and above all, their pure, devotional spirit, lent an enchantment to their teachings, which was, in the highest degree, fascinating. It was not an ordinary phenomenon in the annals of the human intellect that Europeans, possessing all the advantages of modern civilization, should go so far as to entertain a sort of religious veneration for a system of polytheism, which even the natives of the country now-a-days denounce as puerile and absurd. Deeper researches have, however, subsequently dissipated the delusion, and thrown on the subject a great body of light, which the progress of Western knowledge is daily increasing.
Note D
The Bamacharee Followers of Kali
In some parts of Bengal and Assam, there still exists a sect of Hindoos, known by the name of Bámáchárees, or the followers of the female energy, who practise a series of Poornabishaka orgies in the name of this celestial goddess which are nothing less than abominable. The following is a rough programme of the rite. The Brahmin who is to perform the ceremony sits upon a sham image of the goddess in a private room, having beside him at the same time a quantity of flowers, red sandal paste, holy water, copper pans, plantain and other fruits, green plantain leaves, parched peas, cooked fish and flesh, and a certain quantity of spirituous liquor. When night approaches he takes the disciple who is to be initiated into the room, with nine females and nine males of different castes, with one female for himself and another for the disciple, and makes them all sit down on the floor. Taking up a small copper pan and a little of the holy water, he sprinkles it on all present and then proceeds with closed eyes to repeat a solemn incantation to the following effect: “O goddess, descend and vouchsafe thy blessings to Horomohun (the name of the devotee) who has hitherto groped in the dark, not knowing what thou art; these offerings are all at thy service”; saying this, he whispers in his ear the root of the mantra. From that time the goddess becomes his guardian deity. The Brahmin Gooroo then goes through divers other formulas, pausing for a while to serve and distribute liquor in a human skull or cocoanut shell to all the devotees, himself setting the example first. He next desires the females to lay aside their clothes, and bids his new disciple adore them as the living personifications of the goddess. Eating and drinking now go on freely, the males taking what is left by the females. Towards the close of the ceremony, the disciple, baptised in liquor, makes presents of clothes and money to the priest and all the men and women present. It is easy to conceive what sort of devotional spirit is evoked by the performance of these abominable orgies. Happily for the interests of morality in this country, the sect is nearly extinct, except in the most obscure parts of Assam and Bengal.
Footnotes:
1 The late Dr. Jackson, who was the family physician of the great Native millionaire,—Baboo Ashutosh Dey—seeing the very large number of men and women who resided in his family dwelling house, very facetiously remarked that the mansion was a small colony. A similar remark was made by Dr. Duff when he happened to see the numerous members of the Dutt family in Nimtollah, West of the Free Church Institution. If all the children and adults, male and female, of the family now, are counted, the actual number would, if I am not mistaken, come up to near 500 persons, perhaps more.
2 Natives are always provident enough to lay in a month’s supply of articles which are not of a perishable nature. In the Upper and Central Provinces, they generally provide a twelve-months’ requirements at the harvest season when prices are moderate. They are thus enabled to husband their resources in the most economical manner possible.
3 The following scene will clearly illustrate the point. At an assembly of some females on a festive occasion, among other current topics of the day, the conversation turned on the religion of the Sahib logues (Europeans). Impelled by a sense of duty and justice no less than by the convictions of conscience, I admired the disinterested exertions of the Christian Missionaries in endeavouring to spread among our benighted countrymen the benefits of a good education as well as the blessings of a good religion. Fearlessly encountering all the dangers of the deep, which, happily for the cause of human advancement, have now been greatly minimized, renouncing all the pleasures of the world, and fortifying their minds against persecution, suffering and reproach, they come, not only among us but travel through the most uncongenial climes “to preach Christ.” The remarkable disinterestedness and self-denial of some of these Missionaries is a bright reality, to appreciate which is to appreciate Christianity. Before the propagation of the religion of Christ, said I, the most admired form of goodness was centred in patriotism or the love of one’s own country, but Jesus brought with him a new era of philanthrophy, the main pervading principle of which is a spirit of martyrdom in the cause of mankind. Can we find traces of such catholicism in our Hindoo Shaster? The universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man is only practically enunciated in the religion of Christ. The females were all struck with the noble, sublime, yet humble, forgiving and disinterested virtues of the religion of the Sahib logues. But a pert young female, quite unschooled by experience and too much wedded to wordly attractions, rather thoughtlessly replied that “the act of giving education is a good thing in its own way, so far as it affords a means of earning money, but why do the Padrees (Missionaries) strive to convert our Hindoo boys, and thereby compel them to forsake their parents to whom they owe their being? What advantage do they gain by such conversions? This is not good. Brahmo religion does not demand any such sacrifice. Why do the heads of the Padrees ache for this purpose? They ought to give all their money to us, poor women, that we may buy ornaments therewith.” Such is the low, grovelling idea they generally have of Christianity. It is useless to argue with them, simply because their minds are completely saturated with deep-rooted prejudice, and narrow, debased, selfish views.
4 The following incident will doubtless contribute not a little to the amusement of the reader. One day a governess was giving instructions in needle-work to a young married girl of thirteen years of age. She, (the girl) was industriously plying the needle, when lo! an aged female cook from the house of her husband suddenly appeared before her, and simply enquired of her how she was. The shy girl, overpowered by a sense of shame, dropped down her veil almost to the ground, and not only stopped work but likewise ceased to talk to the governess. The latter struck with amazement, quietly asked her pupil if she had hurt her eyes because she held fast her right hand on that part of her face. Other ladies of the family stepped forward and explained to the governess the real cause of the awkward position the girl was placed in. It was nothing more nor less than the unexpected visit of the female cook to the family of the bride. From feelings of false delicacy in presence of her husband’s cook, she hung down her face and dropped down her veil. The governess learning the true cause politely desired the female cook to retire that she might be enabled to give her lessons without any interruption.
5 Whether descended from a Brahmin or Kayasth family, she goes by the general name of Bamun Didi (sister) so named that the members of other families might unsuspectingly eat out of her hands. She is also called Maye (woman). The entertaining of a middle aged female (generally a widow) is considered safe and irreproachable.
6 In order to preserve the hair and keep it clean, all Hindu females in Bengal use cocoanut oil for the head; they however rub their bodies with mustard oil before bathing. Young ladies occasionally use pomatum, bear’s grease, soap, etc., which, in a religious sense, is desecration.
7 Jhall is a preparation of certain drugs to act as an antidote against cold, puerperal fever and other diseases incident to child birth. It often proves efficacious. Thap is the application of heat to the body.
8 For observances during the period of pregnancy, see Note A in appendix.
9 According to custom, a conch or large shell is sounded at the birth of a male child. Its silence is the sign of sorrow.
10 Bidhátá is the god of fate.
11 For the popular story of the goddess Soobachinee see Note B.
12 Apart from the horrid practice of female infanticide, now put a stop to by a humane Government, many instances might be given of the extreme detestation in which the birth of a girl is held even by her mother. Among others I may cite the following: A woman who was the mother of four daughters and of no son, at the time of her fifth delivery laid apart one thousand Rupees for distribution among the poor in the event of her getting a son, when, lo! she gave birth to a female child again, and what did she do? she at once flung aside the money, mournfully declaring at the same time, that “she has already four firebrands incessantly burning in her bosom and this is the fifth, which is enough to burn her to death.”
13 In cases where a woman is prolific enough to give birth to a child every year she is placed under the necessity of weaning her first-born, and giving it cow milk, a mode of sustenance not at all conducive to its health.
14 Apropos, I may mention here the following incident. A few years back a well-known master of the Hindoo school being placed in a very awkward position, had to call in the aid of the Police to get himself out of the difficulty. Sailors and Kaffries—always a set of desperate characters—were retained by the boys for the purpose of insulting him on the high road, but the timely interference of the Police put a stop to the contemplated brutal assault. This had the effect of inducing the master to behave in future with greater forbearance, if not with more sober judgment. I forbear giving the name of the indiscreet, but well-intentioned master, whose connection with the school had contributed very largely to its efficiency and usefulness.
15 I may be permitted here to observe en passant that a civilized nation in describing the beauty of a woman, is sometimes apt to adopt the flowery language of Hafiz. At a Ministerial banquet sometime ago, the Lord Mayor of London was reported to have said about the Princess of Wales; “she is perfection, she sparkles like a gem of fifty facets, she is light when she smiles and she is beauty whenever you see her.”
16 Presents of sweetmeats, fruits, clothes, flowers and sundry other articles on a pretty grand scale from the bride to the bridegroom, which will be described more in detail afterwards.
17 A Rajpoot prince was said to have given a lakh of Rupees to a bard in order to purchase his rhythmic plaudits in a respectable assemblage of his countrymen.
18 If we consult properly the pages of the history of this country from the earliest period, we shall find abundant proofs of the very great influence of women on Hindoo society in general. I cannot do better than give the following quotation from Tod’s Annals of Rajasthan. “What led to the wars of Rama? The rape of Sita. What rendered deadly the feuds of the Yadus? The insult of Dropadi. What made prince Nala an exile from Nirwar? His love for Damayanti. What made Raja Bharti abandon the throne of Avanti? The loss of Pingala. What subjected the Hindu to the dominion of the Islamite? The rape of the princess of Canouj. In fine, the cause which overturned kingdoms, commuted the sceptre to the pilgrim’s staff and formed the ground-work of all their grand epics, is woman.”
19 Besides the marriage expenses, this man gave to his five sons-in-law fifty thousand Rupees each, as well as a house worth ten thousand Rupees more.
20 A thin stuff like paper with which Hindoo females redden their feet. A widow is not allowed to use it. In the absence of shoes, which they are forbidden to wear, this red color heightens the beauty of their tiny feet. It is applied once a week.
21 In the selection of a bridegroom, outward appearances are not always to be trusted. The late Baboo Aushotosh Dey, a millionaire, had a very beautiful grand-daughter to give in marriage. As was to be expected, Ghatacks and Ghatkees had been rummaging the whole town and its suburbs for a suitable match, one who would possess all the recommendations of a good education, a respectable family, and a fair, prepossessing appearance—qualities which are rarely combined in one. Among others, the name of the late Honorable Baboo Dwarkey Nauth Mitter (afterwards a Judge of the Calcutta High Court,) was mentioned. He was then a bachelor, and his reputation as a scholar spread far and wide. Somehow or other he was brought into the house of Baboo Aushotosh Dey for the purpose of giving the ladies an opportunity of seeing him. His scholastic attainments were pronounced to be of very superior order, but not being blessed with a prepossessing appearance, he was rejected.
22 In Hindoo marriages and other ceremonies of a similar nature red color is indispensably necessary for all kinds of wearing apparel, even the invitation cards must be on red paper. Red color is the sign of joy and gaiety as opposed to black, which is held to be ominous.
23 A collirium case which contains the black dye with which native females daub their own and their childrens’ eyelids.
24 The Bengalis have become so much anglicised of late that they have not hesitated to give an English name to their sweetmeats. When the late Lord Canning was the Governor General of India, it was said his Baboo made a present of some native sweetmeats to Lady Canning, who was kindly pleased to accept it. Hence the sweetmeat is called “Lady Canning,” and to this day no grand feast among the Bengalis is considered as complete unless the “Lady Canning” sort is offered to the guests. The man that first made it is said to have gained much money by its sale. It is not the savoury taste of the thing that makes it so popular, but the name of the illustrious Lady. While treating the subject of Hindoo entertainment, it would not be out of place to make a few observations on a branch of it, for the information of European readers. At all public entertainments of the kind I am referring to, respectable Hindoos strictly confine themselves to vegetable curries. Though those of the Sakto denomination (the followers of Kali and Doorga) have no religious scruples to use goat-meat (male) and onion in the shape of curry among select friends at home, they dare not expose themselves by offering it to strangers. Hence, in large assemblies, they strictly confine themselves to vegetable curries of different kinds. The principle is good, were it honestly observed; because meat, if not necessarily, yet generally, is the concomitant of drink. Privately, however, both meat and drink are largely used. Respectable females are entirely free as yet from these carnal indulgences.
25 The cause of the fear is as follows: When Kartick (the god of beauty and the son of the goddess Doorga) went out to marry, he had forgotten to take with him the usual pair of nut-crackers. When he remembered this on the way, he immediately returned home, and to his great surprise, saw his mother eating with her ten hands, she being a ten handed goddess. On asking the reason, he was told that it was lest, when he should bring his wife, she would not give her the proper quantity of food. Under what strange hallucinations, even the gods and goddesses of the Hindoos laboured!
26 The chamurs are fans made of the tails of Thibet cows.
27 Every commonplace minutiæ in the domestic economy of a Hindoo family is fraught with meaning: the nuts are kept all-day in the bride’s mouth and are saturated with her saliva. When cut by the hand of the bridegroom they are supposed to possess a peculiar virtue. Somehow or other, the bridegroom must be made to use them with the betel, in spite of the warning of his mother, forbidding him to use them on any account. When used, his love for his wife is supposed to be intensified, which is prejudicial to the interests of his mother.
28 The articles consist of Silver Ghará, Ghároo, Báthá, Thállá, Bátti, Glass, Raykáb, Dáhur, Dipay and Pickdán.
29 I have known a young collegian of a rather humourous disposition bleat like a lamb at the time of marriage, to the great amusement of all the females, except his mother-in-law, who, simple as she was, took the matter in a serious light, and felt herself almost dejected on account of the great stupidity of her son-in-law (for she could not take it in any other sense), but her dejection gave place to joy when in the Básurghur—the sleeping room of the happy pair for the night—she heard him outwit all the females present. It is obvious that the meaning of this part of the female rite is to render the husband tame and docile as a lamb, especially in his treatment of his wife.
30 In former days when education was but very scantily cultivated, unpleasant quarrels were known to have arisen between the two parties from very trivial circumstances. The friends of the bridegroom, often pluming themselves on their special prerogatives as members of the strong party readily resented even the slightest insult offered them rather incautiously by the bridal party. These altercations sometimes terminated in blows, if not in lacerated limbs. Instead of waiting till the conclusion of the ceremony, the whole of the bridegroom’s party has been known to return home without dinner, to the great mortification of the other party. There is a common saying among the Bengalees that “he who is the enemy of the house should go to a marriage party.” It was a common sport with the friends of the bridegroom to cut with a pair of scissors the bedding at the house of the bride. But happily such practices are of rare occurrence now-a-days.
31 An English gentleman, who, to a versatile genius, combined an intelligent knowledge of, and a familiar acquaintance with, the manners and customs of the country, once advised a Native friend of his to go to England and other great countries on the continent with a number of Hindoo females and exhibit there all the important social and domestic ceremonials of this country in a place of public resort. The very circumstance of Hindoo females performing those rites in the manner in which they are popularly celebrated here, would be sure to attract a very large audience. The marriage ceremonies alone would form a regular night of enchantment and amusement. The time will certainly come when the realization of such an ingenious idea would no longer be held Utopian.
32 Sweeper-caste females.
33 According to the prescribed rules of the Hindoo society, a mother-in-law is not permitted to appear before her son-in-law; it is not only considered indecorous, but is associated with something else that is scandalous; hence she always keeps her distance from her son-in-law, but on this particular night, her presence in the room with other females is quite consistent with feminine propriety. In the case of a very young son-in-law, however, a departure from this rule is not reprehensible.
34 In the suburbs and rural districts of Bengal, females, more particularly among the Brahmin class, are tacitly allowed to have so much liberty on this special occasion that they, putting under the bushel their instinctive modesty, entertain the bridegroom not only with epithalamiums but with other amorous songs, having reference to the diversions of Krishna with his mistress, and the numerous milk-maids. Under an erroneous impression of singing holy songs they unwittingly trumpet the profligate character of their god. These songs are generally known by the names of sákhisungbad and biraha; the former as the designation implies, consist of news as conveyed by the principal milk-maids regarding his mistress, to whom he oftentimes proved false, and the latter of disappointed love, which broadly exhibits the prominent features of his sensuous life. They feel such an interest in these low entertainments, that under the hallowed name of religion they are led to indirectly perpetrate a crime. Frail as women naturally are, the example of such a god, combined with the sanction of religion, has undoubtedly a tendency to impair the moral influence of a virtuous life. I have always regretted this from my personal observation, but to strike a death blow at the root of the evil must be the work of ages. The essential elements of the Hindoo character must be thoroughly recast.
35 The fee for the trouble of removing the bed and keeping up the night, the ladies who remained in the bed-chamber are justly entitled to it for their pains; a widow, be it observed, is not permitted to touch the bed lest her misfortune would befall the bride, but she gets, however, her portion or share of the fee.
36 It should be mentioned that a female after her marriage is not allowed to utter the name of her husband or of any of his male and female relatives save those who are younger than she. There is no harm done in taking the name of a husband, but through a sense of shame she does not repeat it.
37 The Urghi consists of dooav grass, rice and áltá (a thin red stuff made of cotton like paper with which Hindoo females daub their feet,) previously consecrated to the goddess Doorga, and is supposed to possess a peculiar virtue in promoting felicity and relieving distress.
38 Hindoos are so passionately fond of their children, male or female, that they can but ill brook the idea of a segregation, even under circumstances where it is unavoidable. Hence wealthy families often keep their sons-in-law under their own roof. Sometimes this is done from vanity. Such sons-in-law generally become indolent and effeminate, destitute alike of mental activity and physical energy. They eat, drink, smoke, play and sleep. Fattening on the ample resources of their father-in-law they contract demoralizing habits, which engender vice and profligacy. The late Baboos Ramdoolal Dey, Ramruttun Roy, Prannauth Chowdry, the Tagore families, the old Rajahs of Calcutta and some of the newly fledged English made Rajahs and others, countenanced this practice, and the result is, they have left with but few exceptions a number of men singularly deficient in good moral character. These men are called Ghar Jamayes, or home bred sons-in-law, which is a term of reproach among all persons who have a spark of independence about them. The late Baboo Dinno Bundho Mitter, the celebrated author of “Nil Durpun,” strongly satirises such characters in a book called “Jamay Bareek.” While on this subject I may as well mention here that Baboo Ramdoolal Dey of Calcutta, who had risen from obscurity to great opulence, had five daughters, to each of whom he gave a marriage dowry of Rupees 50,000 in Government securities, and 10,000 Rupees for a house. Of course all his sons-in-law were first class Koolins, and used to live under the roof of their father-in-law. Some of their sons and grandsons are now ranked amongst the Hindoo millionaires of this great City, while most of the members of the original stock have dwindled into insignificance, strikingly illustrating the instability of fortune.
39 The use of an iron bangle or bracelet has a deep meaning, it outlasts gold and silver ones. A girl may wear gold ornaments set in precious stones to the value of ten or fifteen thousand Rupees, but an iron bangle worth a pice,—a veritable insignia of ayestreehood opposed to widowhood—is indispensable to a married woman for its comparatively durable quality. A young widow may wear gold bangles till her twentieth year, but she is not privileged to put on an iron bangle after the death of her husband.
40 In the early part of the British Government in Bengal, cowries were the common currency of the Province in the ordinary transactions of life. People used to make their hautbazar (market) with cowries, and a family that made a daily bazar with sixteen or eighteen kahuns of cowries, equal to one rupee or so, was reckoned a very respectable family. The prices of provisions ranged nearly one-third of what they now are. Even the revenues of Government were sometimes paid in cowries in the Eastern districts, namely, Assam, Sylhet, &c.
41 There is a custom amongst the Hindoos that a married woman considers it no disgrace but rather an act of merit to eat the residue of her husband’s meal in his absence; so great is the respect in which a husband is held, and so warm the sympathy existing between them. Even an elderly woman, the mother of five or six children, cheerfully partakes of the residue, as if it were the orts of gods.
42 It is a noteworthy fact that in contracting matrimonial alliances, some families placed in mediocre circumstances are satisfied with taking a certain sum of money in lieu of the presents mentioned, partly because the articles are mostly of a perishable nature, and partly because the making presents of money to numerous servants for their trouble and feeding them, is regarded more as a tax than anything else. They prefer utility to show. Even in such cases of verbal contract, the father of the bride must send at least thirty servants with presents, besides 100 or 150 Rupees in cash as is stipulated before.
43 In making the above imitations, Hindoo females exhibit an astonishing degree of skill and ingenuity which, if directed by the hand of an expert, is capable of still further improvement. Naturally and instinctively they evince a great aptitude for learning all sorts of handiwork.
44 It is perhaps not generally known that the dinner of a native, Hindoo or Mussulman, male or female, is not considered complete, until he chews his pan beera or betel. The bridegroom after eating and washing his mouth chews his usual pan, and is asked to give a portion thereof to the bride; he hesitates at first, but consents at length to give it into the right hand of his elder brother’s wife, who forcibly thrusts the same into the mouth of the bride, observing at the same time that their mutual repugnance on this score will soon be overcome when their incipient affection grows into true love.
45 Jarawya jewellery is set in precious stones, the value of which it is not easy to estimate.
46 A Hindoo Ayistree female, i. e., one whose husband is alive, whether young or old, is religiously forbidden to take off balla (bangle) from her hands, if is a badge of Ayistreeism, even when dead red thread is substituted in the place of the balla, so great is the importance attached to it by Ayistree females. When the balla is not seen on the hand, it is called the raur hatha, or the hand of a widow, than which there could not be a more reproachful term.
47 Gharbasath implies dwelling in a father-in-law’s house. If the bride do not go there within eight days from the date of marriage, she could not do so for one year, but after gharbasath she can go and come back any time when necessary. The object is to impress on her mind that her father-in-law’s house is her future home. It is on this occasion that the worship of Shoobachini already described is performed, and both the bridegroom and bride are taken to Kally Ghat to sanctify the hallowed union and obtain the blessings of the goddess.
48 It is perhaps not generally known that some women, not from any malicious design but rather from the ennui of a monotonous life, as well as for the sake of amusement in which they might participate, make a secret combination, and invent some artificial means to prematurely drag the girl—the poor victim of superstition—into the Teerghur before she actually arrives at the age of puberty.
49 This part of the rite is called Kádá or mire. A small pool is dug in the court-yard and some water thrown into it;—two women, the one personating a Rajah (King) and the other, a Ranee (Queen) feign to bathe in the pool, change their clothes, put on straw ornaments and dine on the refuse of vegetables, while the songstress recites all sorts of obscene songs and the females hide their faces through shame. This loose and ludicrous representation proves nauseating even to those for whose amusement it is performed. We cannot regard in any other light than as a relic of unmitigated barbarism.
50 It appears to me rather anomalous, as far as Hindoo astrology is concerned, that such a national jubilee is fixed to be celebrated on this particular day, which is specially marked as an unlucky day for any good work. The Hindoo almanac places Shasthi, the sixth day of the moon, as dugdhá or destructive of any good thing in popular estimation. A Hindoo is religiously forbidden to commence any important work or set out on a journey on this day. It portends evil. Respectable Hindoo females who have children do not eat boiled rice on this particular day for fear of becoming Rakhasses, or cannibals prone to destroy their own offspring. The goddess Shasthi is the protectress of children. She is worshipped by all the women of Bengal six times in the year, except such as are barren or ill-fated enough to become virgin-widows.
51 Doorga is also worshipped in the month of April, in the time of the vernal equinox, but very few then offer her their devotion, though this celebration claims priority of origin.
52 For some general remarks on the religion of the Hindoos, see Note c.
53 “In this ancient story” says Tod, “we are made acquainted with the distant maritime wars which the princes of India carried on. Even supposing Ravana’s abode to be the insular Ceylon, he must have been a very powerful prince to equip an armament sufficiently numerous to carry off from the remote kingdom of Kousula the wife of the great king of the Suryas. It is most improbable that a petty king of Ceylon could wage equal war with a potentate who held the chief dominion of India; whose father, Dosaratha drove his victorious car (ratha) over every region (desa) and whose intercourse with the countries beyond the Bramaputra is distinctly to be traced in the Ramayana.”
54 This is also the day which is vulgarly called the Kalá kátá amabáshay when unripe plantain fruits are cut in immense quantities for offerings to Doorga.
55 This sacred jar is marked with two combined triangles, denoting the union of the two deities, Siva and Doorga,—the worshippers of the Sakti, female energy, mark the jar with another triangle.
56 The day before the Kalpa begins, these priests receive new clothes, comprising a dhootie and dubja, and some money for habishay, or food destitute of fish. Very few, however, abide by the rules enjoined in the holy writings.
57 Even in the observance of this religious preliminary, the Brahmins take advantage of their superior caste, and curtail five days out of six in order to save expense. Every thing is allowable in their case, because they assume to be the oracles between the god and man.
58 The vermilion is used by a Hindoo female whose husband is alive, the privilege of putting it on the forehead is considered a sign of great merit and virtue.
59 There is a singular coincidence between the Hindoos and the ancient heathen nations in regard to music. In both it is used as an indispensable accompaniment to religious worship.
60 It is no less strange than surprising that ornamental articles prepared by the hands of European artisans who are accustomed to eat beef and pork, the very mention, and much more, the touch of which contaminates the purity of religion, are put on the bodies and heads of Hindoo gods without the least religious scruple, simply for the gratification of vanity. So much for the consistent and immaculate character of the Hindoo creed!
61 These scented oils are mostly prepared by Mussulmans, whose very touch is enough to desecrate a thing; the Brahmins knowing this fact unhesitatingly use them for religious purposes. Thus we see in almost every sphere of social and domestic life the fundamental rules of religious purity are shamefully violated.
62 It is deserving of notice that the slaughter of oxen, cows or calves is most religiously forbidden in the Hindoo Shaster. Divine honors are paid to the species. The cow is regarded as a form of Doorga and called Bhuggobutty. The husband of Doorga, Shiva, rides naked on an ox. The very dung of a cow purifies all unclean things in a Hindoo household, and possesses the property of a disinfectant. The milk of a cow assuredly affords the best nourishment to the young and the old, hence the species was deified by the Hindoo sages. Even after the advent of the English into this country for above two centuries, an orthodox Hindoo is apt to exclaim “what impious times!” whenever he happens to see a Mussulman butcher carry a cow or calf in the street for slaughtering purposes. Not a few wonder how the English power continues to prosper amidst the daily perpetration of such irreligious acts. By way of derision, the English are called gokháduk or beef-eaters and the goylás (milkmen) Kásays or butchers. If such Hindoos had power enough they would certainly have delivered their country from the grasp of these beef-eaters and placed it above the reach of sacrilligious hands. But alas! in the present Kaliyaga or iron age, both they and their gods are alike impotent.
63 It is generally known that except the Brahmins, who are proverbially noted for their eating propensities, scarcely any respectable Hindoo condescends to sit down to a regular jalpan dinner at this popular festival. He comes, gives his usual pranámy of one Rupee to the goddess in the thácoordállán, talks with the owner of the house for a few minutes, is presented by way of compliment with otto of roses and pan, and then goes away, making the stereotyped plea that he has many other places to go to. Besides this, every man is expected to provide himself at home with a good stock of choice eatables on this festive occasion. The prices of sweetmeats, already too high, are nearly doubled at this time, because of the large demand and small supply. From 32 Rupees a maund (82 lbs) the normal price of sundesh in ordinary times, it rises to 60 or 70 Rupees in the Poojah time. Milk sells at four annas a pound, and without milk no sundesh could be made. It is the most expensive article of food among the Hindoos of Bengal, when well made with fresh channa (curded milk) it has a fine taste, but is entirely destitute of nutritive property. The Hindoos of the Upper Provinces, however, do not regard the preparation as pure, and consequently do not use it, because of its admixture with curded milk.
64 Rich men are in the habit of firing guns for the guidance of the people.
65 The flesh of buffaloes is used only by sweepers, shoemakers, &c., who sometimes quarrel for the possession of the slaughtered animals. The meat with country liquor ends in drunken feasts.
66 The late Rajah Rajkissen Bahadoor, Baboos Santiram Sing, Ramdoolal Dey, Shibnarain Ghose, Prankissen Holdar, the Mullick family, the Ghosal family of Bhookoylash and others, spent large sums of money from year to year in giving clothes, food and money to a very large number of poor men, and liberating prisoners from jail on payment of their debts. Any relief to suffering humanity is certainly an act of great merit for which the donors deserve well of the community. In our days there are several Baboos who do the same on a limited scale, but the name of Baboo Tarucknauth Puramanick of Kassiriparrah deserves a special notice. Naturally unassuming and unambitious, his character is as irreproachable as his large-heartedness is conspicuous. On every anniversary of the Doorga Poojah, and on almost every religious celebration, he gives alms to hundreds and thousands of poor people without distinction of caste or creed. On the occasion of the Doorga Poojah festival he would not break his fast until midnight, when he is assured that all the poor people who came to his door have been duly provided with food and coppers. For three nights this distribution of alms continues. The public road before his house is closed by order of the police for the accommodation of beggars. Five or six times in a month he feeds all the poor people that come to his house, hence the fame of his generosity is spread far and wide, and he is surnamed Taruck Baboo, “the datta” or charitable—a distinction which the more opulent of his countrymen (and there are not a few) should seek to covet.
67 An Urghy is a bunch of doorva grass tied up at the last, either with red cotton or a slip of plantain leaf. Two or three of such bundles are made, one is placed on the crown of the goddess and two on her two feet. It is usually stuffed with paddy and besmeared with sandal wood water and vermillion. It is a sacred offering and consequently preserved for solemn occassions.
68 Home made things are, in the long run, cheaper and more preferable to the questionable products of the market, which are not only inferior in quality but are more or less subject to defilement, being exposed for sale to people of all castes. This detracts from the absolute purity of the preparation.
69 It would not be out of place to observe here that liberal Hindoos as a body are not beef-eaters as is vulgarly supposed. They are content with fowls, goat, sheep and fish. About forty years ago before the Calcutta University was founded, the late Baboo Isser Chunder Goopto, the editor of Pravakur, a vernacular news paper, very cleverly hit off and satirised in popular ballads the then growing desire of the young Hindoo reformers to adopt a European style of eating. He commenced with Rammohun Roy—the pioneer of Hindoo reformation—and thus sarcastically described his public career. Addressing Saraswattee the Hindoo goddess of learning, he thus laments: “Oh goddess! in vain have you established schools in Calcutta, look at the end of that Roy (Rammohun Roy); profound learning had wafted him over the waters to a distant region (England), and never brought him back again.” As regards the young alumni, he makes a wife thus accost her husband: “Pran, Pran, my heart, my heart, you go to society and lectures every day, and when the Examination is held at the Town Hall you get prizes, heaps and heaps of books you read and always remain outside. Is it written in the books that you should never touch the body of a female? What sort of a gooroo (master) is your Sahib? he is a regular garu (bull) if he give you such lessons. You dislike loochee and mundá (Hindoo sweetmeats) but you get gunda and gunda of fowl eggs and satisfy your hunger, and for you all there is an end of cows and calves.” But this is an exaggeration about the eating of beef by the educated Hindoos. Except a few medical students, who have, in a great measure, overcome their prejudices by the constant handling of dead bodies, the rest still feel a sort of natural repugnance to eating beef. This is, perhaps, the effect of early impressions produced by the religious veneration in which a cow is held among the Hindoos. “The superstitious reverence,” says an eminent writer, “for the ox, points doubtless to a period when that useful animal was first naturalized in India and protected by a law for its preservation and encouragement, which, now that the original intention is lost sight of in the lapse of ages, has invested the cattle with a religious character, and, indeed, it is not 200 years since the Emperor Jehangir was obliged once to prohibit the slaughter of kine for a term of years, as a measure absolutely required to prevent the ruin of agriculture.” It is a striking fact that that loathsome disease, leprosy, is very common among the lower orders of Mussulmans who use this meat freely. Perhaps it is more suited to the inhabitants of milder regions than those of a tropical climate.
70 So great was the mania for extravagant, ostentations show, that instances were not wanting in which a lakh of Rupees was freely spent on this grand occasion. The late Prankissen Holdar, of Chinsurah, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, expended annually for three or four years the above sum in furnishing his house without stint of cost in truly oriental style, giving rich entertainments to Europeans and Natives, and distributing alms among the poor. There was no Railway then, and consequently the boat hire alone from Calcutta to Chinsurah for English and Native grandees might have cost four to five thousand Rupees. The very invitation cards written in golden letters with gold fringes cost eight to ten Rupees each. For the entertainment of his English friends he used to give ten thousand Rupees to Messrs. Gunter and Hooper, the then public Purveyors of Calcutta. First class wines and provisions were procured in abundance, and arranged in the corridor under European and Mahomedan stewards, while one hundred Brahmins were engaged in prayers, reciting Chundee and repeating the name of the god, Modosoodun, for the propitiation of the goddess and the interests of the family. It sometimes so happened that the clang of knives, forks and spoons was simultaneous with the sound of the holy bell and conch, the one neutralising what the other was supposed to produce in a religious point of view.
71 “The reader will recollect that the festivals of Bacchus and Cybele were equally noted for the indecencies practised by the worshippers both in their words and actions.”
72 The Reverend Mr. Maurice, a pious clergyman, who had never seen these ceremonies, attempted to paint them in the most captivating terms. Should he think that Hindoo idolatry is capable of exciting the most elevated conceptions about the godhead and leading the mind to the true path of righteousness, let him come and join the Brahmins and their numerous devotees in crying “Hurree Bole! Hurree Bole! Joy Doorga! Joy Kally!” “Mr. Forbes, of Stanmore Hill, in his elegant museum of Indian rarities, numbers two of the bells that have been used in devotion by the Brahmins. They are great curiosities, and one of them in particular appears to be of very high antiquity, in form very much resembling the cup of the lotus, and the tune of it is uncommonly soft and melodious. I could not avoid being deeply affected with the sound of an instrument which had been actually employed to kindle the flame of that superstition which I have attempted so extensively to unfold. My transported thoughts travelled back to the remote period when Brahmin religion blazed forth in all its splendour in the caverns of Elephanta: I was, for a moment, entranced, and caught the odour of enthusiasm. A tribe of venerable priests, arrayed in flowing stoles, and decorated with high tiaras, seemed assembled around me, the mystic song of initiation vibrated in my ear; I breathed an air fragrant with the richest perfumes, and contemplated the deity in the fire that symbolized him.” And again, in another place, “She, (the Hindoo religion) wears the similitude of a beautiful and radiant cherub from Heaven, bearing on his persuasive lips the accents of pardon and peace, and on his silken wings benefaction and blessing.” What strange hallucinations some of these Christian ministers labour under in attempting to reconcile the ideas of idolatry with those of the True and Living God!
73 The Hindoos put out their tongues when they are shocked at anything.
74 “The image of Minerva, it will be recollected, was that of a threatening goddess, exciting terror. On her shields she bore the head of a gorgon. Sir William Jones considers Kali as the Proserpine of the Greeks.”
75 A Reck is a small round basket, with which Natives measure rice, the staff of life in Bengal. Every family has its sacred Reck of paddy which is preserved with religious care and brought out on such special occasions.
76 A superstitious idea prevails among the Hindoos that unless they illuminate their houses on this particular night, devils would come and take possession of them. In the Upper and Central Provinces it is customary with the Hindoo inhabitants not only to illuminate but whitewash their houses and decorate the doors and walls of shops with colored China paper so that every thing may look “smart” according to Native taste. In the Jubbulpore District I have seen the poorest laborer whitewash the mud walls of his tiled-hut with one farthing’s worth of white earth called Sewmattee which is found in great abundance in that part of the country.
77 One Joy Ghose, a notorious buffoon, was once asked by his old mother to perform the above rite. Joy, instead of reciting the motto in the right way, purposely inverted it just to irritate the old lady, and repeated the first last and the last first. The joke was too much for the sensitive mother; she wrung her breast, tore her hair, and refused to be consoled until the son repeated the song in proper order, i. e., “bad luck out, good luck in.” Trifling with Luckee, the goddess of prosperity, is the height of folly. It is punished with misery here and perdition hereafter.
78 Young Bengal is no longer satisfied with Kali Ghat meat; his taste being improved and his mind disabused, he must needs have kid and mutton from the new Municipal market, which is certainly superior in quality to that of Kali Ghat.
79 The writer in his younger days remembers to have been once taken up on a Kali Poojah night by a gang of infamous drunkards in the very heart of Calcutta. When he was returning home about midnight in company with some of his friends after seeing the támáshá, he being the youngest of the lot had necessarily lagged behind, when to his utter dismay he was suddenly laid hold of by a man who smelt strongly of liquor and carried him hurriedly into an empty house on the roadside. The first shout at the very threshold was,—“here we have got a moori”, i. e. a victim; the ruffians, who had their faces covered with clothes, jumped up at the announcement, and one of them accosted him in the following manner—“what money and pice have you got?” The writer replied a few an his pice only. No Rupees? asked another; whereupon they all fell to searching his person and stripped him of all his clothes, which consisted of a dhooty, a chádur and a jamá, and finally bade him go. As a matter of course he was obliged to return home almost in a state of nudity, one of his friends lending him a chádur on the occasion. In these days the introduction of gas light and the posting of constables on the highway have greatly checked such ruffianism.
80 This idea is strengthened by the opinion of Native medical students, many of whom, it is a matter of regret, are not great advocates of temperance. Natives use liquor not for health but solely for intoxicating purposes. A very successful Native Practitioner to whom not only the writer but many of his respectable friends are under great obligation, not long ago fell a victim to the besetting vice of intemperance, and confessed his guilt like a penitent sinner in his dying moments. His reputation was so great at one time that it was said “patients felt half cured when he entered the room.” In the beginning of his brilliant career, he was one of the most staunch advocates of temperance. How frail is human nature!
81 For an account of the Bamacharee Sect, see note D.
82 A gift once made to a Brahmin must be continued from year to year till the donor dies; in some cases it is tenable from one generation to another.
83 Indeed, it has become a byword among the Natives in general that the compound word, “Ram-Rajya,” or the empire of Ram is synonymous with a happy dynasty. There existed peace, union and harmony among the people in the infancy of society. Almost every family had its assigned plot of land which they cultivated, and the fruits of which they enjoyed without the incubus of a rack-renting system, because the virgin soil always afforded an abundant harvest. The wants of the people were few and those were easily supplied. In fact there was a complete identity of interests between the rulers and the ruled. The result was universal contentment and happiness. But unhappily the present advanced stage of social organisation has considerably impaired the relation.
84 When the late Mr. Thomason, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, visited Benares, the far famed city of holy shrines and holy bulls, during this festival, he exclaimed in pious indignation, “what disgusting scenes are enacted and frightful crimes perpetrated in the name of religion by rational beings capable of purer and sublimer enjoyments. Surely the shameless ragamuffins are the fit subjects of a bedlam.”
85 Rajah Kissen Chunder Roy, in the latter end of the 18th century, used to restore persons and families who had forfeited their caste by their laches by recovering from them a heavy fine for which there used to be much higgling. This fine was in addition to the expenses incidental to the ceremony of Prayischittra. Many heads of Dalls or parties of our day follow the same practice.
86 The non-performance of religious rites does not now, however, entail forfeiture of caste. Hindu society is getting lax in our days.
87 I am inclined to believe that what the late Nuddea Raja did was his individual act; as the head of the Hindus of Bengal, the Rajah of Nuddea would strictly follow the practices of his great ancestor even to this day.
88 To one friend alone he gave two lacs of Rupees without any security, showing a degree of magnanimity seldom to be met with among the millionaires of the present day.
89 The young members of a family have no hesitation in partaking of food cooked by Mussulmans and forbidden in the Hindoo Shasters. On holidays or on special occasions, they send orders to the “Great Eastern Hotel,” and get supplies of English delicacies such as they have a liking for. It is a well-known fact that almost every rich family in Calcutta and its suburbs (the orthodox members excepted) recognised as the head of the Hindoo community, patronise the English Hotel-keepers. Mr. D. Wilson, the famous purveyor in Government Place, seeing the great rush of native gentlemen into his shop on a Christmas eve, was said to have remarked that the Baboos were amongst his best customers. The great purveyor was right, because the Baboos give large orders and pay regularly for fear of exposure. Such of them as are placed in mediocre circumstances arrange with their Mussulman syces and get fowl curry or roast as often as they choose. There are indeed a few honorable exceptions, who on principle do not encourage the English style of eating and drinking. A very little reflection will convince any one that the English mode of living is ill suited to the Natives. It not only leads a man into extravagance, but what is more reprehensible, begets a habit of drinking, which, I need hardly say, has been the ruin of many a promising young Baboo.
90 This gentleman was a Banian to several American and English firms, which used to deal largely in cow and other hides. From religious scruples he refused to accept the usual commission on such articles by which he might have obtained at least forty thousand Rupees per annum. In these days no Baboo declines to take the usual commission, but on the contrary, many are engaged in the trade, which is a sacrilegious act in the eye of the Hindoo Shaster.
91 As the natural consequence of this declension of supremacy, Brahminical learning, from this and other analogous circumstances, slept a winter sleep, occasionally disturbed and broken by brilliant coruscations of light thrown upon it by Western researches, contemporaneously sustained by the faint efforts of learned Pundits.
92 To so miserable a strait are some of them reduced that they actually strive to get a living by making these sacred thread poitas and strings for loins, indicating the pinching poverty and repulsive squalor in which they pine away their wretched existence. Indeed not a few of these widows are left “to the cold pity and grudging charity of a frosty world.” They might almost sing and sigh with the poet as he sat in deep dejection on the shore.
“Alas! I have nor hope, nor health,
Nor peace within, nor calm around;
Nor that content, surpassing wealth,
The sage in contemplation found;
Others I see whom these surround,
Smiling they live, and call life pleasure;
To me that cup hath been dealt in another measure.”
93 However learned a Pundit might be in philology, philosophy, logic and theology, he is lamentably deficient in scientific knowledge, notably in geography and ethnology. With a view to test the knowledge of his Pundit on those two subjects, Bishop Middleton was said to have once asked him two very simple questions, (1) whence are the English come? (2) what is their origin? The reply of the Pundit was somewhat to the following effect: The English are come somewhere from Lunka or Ceylon (the imaginary land of cannibals), and they are of mixed origin, sprung from monkey and cannibal, because they jabber like monkeys, and sit like them on chairs with their legs hanging down,—an attitude peculiar to the monkey species,—and they eat like cannibals half-boiled beef, pork, mutton, &c. Childish as the reply was, the pious Bishop, however, with his wonted benignity, smiled and corrected his error.
94 It is a disreputable fact, but it most assuredly is a fact, that when some years ago a teacher of the Government School of Art published a book in Bengallee on the ancient arts and manufactures of Hindoosthan, and sent a copy of it to one of these English-made Rajahs, he politely refused to take it—the price being one Rupee only—saying it was of no use to him though it was an instructive and suggestive manual. This refusal offers a sad comment on the liberality of my fellow countrymen towards the encouragement of learning. But turning from the dark to the bright side of the picture, I may perhaps be permitted to point with pardonable pride to the almost unparalleled munificence of the late Baboo Kally Prosono Singh of this City, in this respect. That distinguished patron of vernacular literature had, it is said, spent upwards of £50,000 on the compilation of Mohabharat, that grand Epic poem of the Hindoos, which says Talboys Wheeler, still continues to exercise an influence on the masses of the people “infinitely greater and more universal than the influence of the Bible upon modern Europe.”
95 Of all the English-made Rajahs of the present day, it is pleasing to recognise, in Moharajah Rajender Mullick of this City, some of the noble attributes of a Rajah. Modest and unassuming, he manifests to a great degree a generous disposition to relieve suffering humanity and to do good by stealth. Never did he struggle to thrust himself, by the nature of his work, upon public notice. Gifted with an intelligent mind, a refined taste, and considerable artistic ability, his moral greatness throws all other forms of greatness into the shade. He is not ambitious to make his name the theme, the gaze, the wonder of a dazzled community.
96 Of all the Hindoo millionaires whose life afforded the most ennobling example of a pious and disinterested man that of Lalla Baboo—the ancestor of the present Paikpárrá Rajah family, in the suburbs of Calcutta—was certainly one of the most remarkable. He possessed a princely fortune, a considerable portion of which he wisely set apart for the support of the poor and destitute. Unlike most of his wealthy countrymen, he renounced all the pleasures of the world, and in the evening of his life retired with only a shred of cloth into the holy city of Brindabun. As a practical illustration of self-denial he actually led the life of a religious mendicant, daily begging from door to door for a mouthful of bread. His religious endowments still continue to offer shelter and food to hundreds of poor people in and around Brindabun, which has been so graphically described by Colonel Tod. “Though the groves of Brinda” says he, “in which Kanaya (Krishna) disported with the Gopis, no longer resound to the echoes of his flute; though the waters of the Jumna are daily polluted with the blood of the sacred kine, still it is the holy land of the pilgrim, the sacred Jordan of his fancy, on whose banks he may sit and weep, as did the banished Israelite of old, the glories of Mathoora, his Jerusalem.”
97 Division always implies weakness and “estrangement intolerable isolation” impeding the expansion of genuine benevolent feelings in a comprehensive sense.
98 Very few persons remember the days when Chuckerbutty faction and grievance Thomson used to raise a hue and cry in the Fouzdarry Balakhánáh Debating Club, formed for the political emancipation of India before the people were fully prepared to appreciate the value of their rights and privileges.
99 The most popular and successful among them are, Gunga Prosad Sen, Chunder Coomar Roy, Gopee Bullub Roy, Prosono Chunder Sen, Brojendro Coomar Sen, Kally Dass Sen, &c. They profess to practise on the principles of Ayurveda, the best standard work on Hindoo Medical Science, and their mode of treatment is much appreciated by respectable Hindoos.
100 The general climate of Bengal has for some years past become very unhealthy, and as fever is the most prevalent epidemic in the Lower Provinces, Dr. D. N. Gupto’s Mixture has become a patent medicine, proving efficacious in the majority of cases, so that the doctor is said to have made a very large fortune by the sale of it within a few years. As far as success is concerned, Dr. D. N. Gupto has almost become the minimized Holloway of Bengal. Several other Native assistant surgeons have from time to time endeavoured to offer their anti-malarious mixture to the inhabitants of Lower Bengal, but they have signally failed in winning public confidence and favor. Attempts at counterfeit trade marks have also been tried, but on conviction before a Court of Justice the guilty have been punished.
101 The late indisposition of the Marquis of Ripon gave rise to many alarming rumours as to the probable turn and termination of the disease—malarious fever—with which he was unhappily attacked during his travels to and from Bombay, and which, according to telegraphic messages, had considerably weakened his constitution, and diminished the wonted activity and vigor of his mind. The antiquated notion that violent paroxysm of fever in a European in this country causes the abnormal depletion of the system by constant evacuations has still a strong hold on the popular mind. Hence a pessimist view was generally taken of the speedy and complete recovery of so good and beneficent a Governor-General, whose rule, though only just begun, has been happily inaugurated by several circumstances of a peculiarly hopeful character, tending, in no small degree, to make the people happy and contented by anticipation. The termination of the disastrous and ruinous Afghan war, the few public utterances of his Lordship bearing on the future policy of the Government of India for the general well-being of the subjects, and the sure prospect of an abundant harvest, and the consequent appreciable reduction in the price of rice—the main staff of life in this country—by nearly fifty per cent., have all combined to evoke a sincere desire and fervent hope among the people for the long continuance of a rule so nobly begun and beneficently administered. May undisturbed peace and undiminished plenty and prosperity be the distinguishing features of such a liberal, generous and pure administration, and may it end fitly what it has begun so auspiciously. In speaking thus favorably of the Marquis of Ripon’s Government, I merely echo the sentiments of my countrymen from one end of the vast British Indian empire to the other.
102 “The Ghikers, a Scythic race, inhabiting the banks of the Indus, at an early period of history were given to infanticide”. “It was a custom,” says Ferishta, “as soon as a female child was born, to carry her to the market place, and there proclaim aloud, holding the child in one hand, and a knife in the other, that any one wanting a wife might have her; otherwise she was immolated. By this means they had more men than women, which occasioned the custom of several husbands to one wife. When any husband visited her, she set up a mark at the door, which being observed by the others, they withdrew till the signal was removed.”
103 The Hindoo lawgivers, whatever their shortcomings in other respects, showed a great insight into human nature when they looked more to women than men for the comparative stability of their doctrines. That the perpetual ignorance of the former promises a permanent harvest of gain to the hierarchy, is quite evident. If a correct return were available as to the number of pilgrims who periodically visit the different holy places throughout the country, it would doubtless establish the fact that upwards of two-thirds of such pilgrims are females. If it were not for their pertinacious adherence to their traditional faith, the Brahminical creed, at least in the great centres of education, would have long since fallen into desuetude. The blind unquestioning faith of the female devotees in their gods and goddesses is the great secret of the very high estimation in which they are still held. If we educate the females and gradually disabuse their minds of early prejudices, we not only lay the axe at the very root of idolatry, but pave the way for the ultimate recognition of the true religion.
104 The late Baboo Rajbullub Roy Chowdhry, of Baripore, a very wealthy zemindar, south of Calcutta, used, it was said, to bring up the girls of his family, which was almost a small colony, in the art of cooking all sorts of native dishes, from the highly spiced polowyá to simple dhall-bath and vegetable curry; he also taught them to bring up water for culinary purposes from a tank inside of the house in silver ghara or pots. Though he possessed the most practical of all worldly advantages,—the power of a purse,—yet he did not hesitate to initiate the girls in the art of cooking, that they may be fully prepared to perform the duty in case of necessity. I can easily cite other instances of a similar nature, but I believe they are not necessary.
105 At the time of the Churruck Poojah or swinging festival, which takes place about the middle of April, the Kháshárees or Braziers of Calcutta are accustomed to make Sungs or caricature-representations of different sorts of familiar scenes, illustrative of the prevailing manners of the present age. In many cases they hit off the mark so admirably that they cannot fail to make a deep impression on the popular mind. Among other representations they once exhibited a caricature of a son taking a wife on his shoulder, while dragging a mother by a rope round her neck, exemplifying thereby the respective estimation in which each is held.
106 An annual fair or mela is held near Calcutta, at which the best specimens of needle-work executed by Hindoo females are exposed to public view, and prizes awarded by European and Native gentlemen. Great credit is due to Baboo Nobo Gopal Mitter, the editor of the National Paper, for this annual exhibition. Unfortunately the mela is languishing for want of sufficient public support.
107 “I have conversed for hours,” says Colonel Tod, “with the Boondi queen-mother on the affairs of her government and welfare of her infant son, to whom I was left guardian by his dying father. She had adopted me as her brother: but the conversation was always in the presence of a third person in her confidence, and a curtain separated us. Her sentiments shewed invariably a correct and extensive knowledge, which was equally apparent in her letters, of which I had many. I could give many similar instances. The history of India is filled with anecdotes of able and valiant females. Ferishta in his history gives an animated picture of Durgavati, queen of Gurrah, defending the rights of her infant son against Akbar’s ambition. Like another Boadicea, she headed her army, and fought a desperate battle with Asoph Khan, in which she was wounded and defeated; but scorning flight, or to survive the loss of independence, she, like the Roman of old in a similar predicament, slew herself on the field of battle.”
The accomplished Maharatta lady—Roma Bai—who lately visited Calcutta, affords a remarkable example of an educated Hindoo woman. She is an excellent Sanskrit scholar, well read in Sreemut Bhagabat. Several Pundits were astonished at her wonderful acquirements.
108 Eating the head means wishing death. When two rival wives fall out they literally become frantic through anger and jealousy. With shaking hands and dishevelled locks they abuse and curse each other most violently.
109 Such a widow is called a Korayraur, or one who has never enjoyed the company of her husband. A stronger term of female reproach can scarcely be found in the Hindoo vocabulary. From the day this terrible bereavement occurs she is constrained by conventional rules, in such cases, to put off from her hand the iron bangle, but owing to her tender age she is tacitly permitted to continue to wear the gold bangle and a bordered Saree cloth. She is forbidden to use fish—her most favorite dish,—and she must partially fast on every ekadossee, or eleventh day of the increase or decrease of the moon. When she arrives at the age of twenty her life presents an unvaried picture of despair and wretchedness. She becomes a regular widow.
110 It has been justly remarked, and I believe is in most cases borne out by facts, that a Hindoo widow generally lives to a very long age. Her simple and abstemious habits, her devotional spirit, her scanty meal once a day, her total abstinence from food of any kind on the eleventh day of the increase and decrease of the moon, besides other days of close fast, neutralising in a great measure the effects of every kind of irregularity from whatever cause arising, and the fearful amount of hardships she is accustomed to endure, all contribute to prolong her existence. Surely her life may be said to extend in the inverse ratio of her misery. It is a common expression used by a Hindoo widow, shewing her contempt of life, “will she ever die? Yama, Pluto, seems to have forgotten her?” If the statistics of the land are consulted, it will assuredly be found that Hindoo widows comparatively speaking enjoy a longer life than the adult male population, because the latter is subject to irregularities and other adverse contingencies of life which the former is almost entirely free from. It is not uncommon to see a Hindoo widow of eighty, ninety or a hundred years of age. In short, nature evidently seems to have exemplified in her the symbol of misery associated with longevity.
It is also a remarkable fact that idolatry and superstition chiefly owe their continued influence to the wide-spread ignorance of these female devotees. At a religious festival, nearly three-fourths of the assembly are composed of widows.
111 The worship of Juggodhatri (mother of the world), is performed by a widow for four years successively to forfend the calamity in the next birth.
112 It should be mentioned here that, except the widows of Brahmins and Káyestus of Bengal, those of lower orders continue to use fish without any scruple. It is a remarkable fact that Hindoo women are more fond of fish than men. There are some men, especially among the Boystubs, followers of Krishna, who feel an abhorrence to eat fish at all by reason of its offensive smell, but there is not a single woman whose husband is alive that can live without it. When a girl becomes a widow, she can hardly take half the quantity of boiled rice she was accustomed to take before for want of this, to her, necessary article of food.
113 This means that he must soon die.
114 Boyetarni is a river which must be crossed before one gets to heaven; the rite consists in distributing a certain amount of cowries among the Brahmins for guiding the soul through the Death Valley to the other side.
115 A Hindoo, especially a grown up man, if he die at home is branded as an unrighteous person; many a one otherwise esteemed righteous in his life-time is denounced as a sinful being should he not expire on the banks of the holy stream. In the rári, or inland provinces, through which the Ganges does not flow, people are constrained to breathe their last on the banks of a neighbouring tank and are consequently precluded, from their geographical position, from securing the benefit of this cheap mode of salvation. As a partial atonement for this natural disadvantage, they bring the navel of the dead and throw it into the holy stream, which, in their supposition, is tantamount to the purification of the soul.
116 A few years back the Calcutta Municipality proposed to have the burning Ghaut removed to Dháppá, a notoriously unhealthy marshy swamp, some six miles east of Calcutta, bordering on the Soonderbunds, because the present site was considered a nuisance to the city. As must naturally be expected, great sensation was produced among the Hindoo population, and memorials were submitted to the Government of Bengal, signed by the most influential portion of the Hindoo community. In spite of solicitation and remonstrance, the Municipality were determined to carry out their plan, but the mighty Ramgopal Ghose, as the late Mr. James Hume, the Editor of the “Eastern Star,” styled him, interposed and exerted his best, at great personal sacrifice, to nullify the proposal. The Hindoos called a meeting, and Ramgopal, moved by the entreaties of his countrymen, made an admirable speech at the Town Hall, on which occasion no less than fifty thousand people assembled on the maidan facing the Town Hall. In the speech he set forth, in a graphic manner, the suitableness of the present site, and the distress and hardship of the people, as well as the shock to religious feeling which the removal would involve. He eventually succeeded in prevailing on the authorities to withdraw the proposal. When he came out of the Town Hall, he was most enthusiastically cheered by thousands of people, Brahmins and Soodras, and loud cries of “may he live long” were heard on all sides.
117 Some forty years back these Brahmins and their whole crew of murdur-farashassys were a regular set of ragamuffins whose sole occupation was to fleece their victims in the most extortionate manner imaginable; the Brahmin would not read the formula, nor his myrmidons put up the funeral pile, without having received nearly four times the amount of the present cost. Great credit is due to Baboo Chunder Mohun Chatterjee, the late Registrar, for his strenuous exertions in making the Police frame a set of rules for regulating the funeral expenses at the burning Ghaut. It is a public boon which cannot be too highly appreciated.
118 In the case of a daughter (married) the mourning lasts for three days. On the morning of the fourth day she is enjoined to cut her nails, and perform the funeral ceremony of a departed father or mother. An entertainment is to be given to the Brahmins and friends. This is always done on a comparatively small scale, and in most cases the husband is made to bear all the expenses of the ceremony and the entertainment.
119 Apart from erroneous popular notions, which in this age of depravity are corrupted by vanity, the Hindoo Shastra, be it mentioned to its credit, abounds in explicit injunctions on the subject of a funeral ceremony in various ways according to the peculiar circumstances of parties. From an expenditure of lacks and lacks of Rupees to a mere trifle, it can be performed with the ultimate prospect of equal merit. It is stated in the holy Shastra that the god Ramchundra considered himself purified (for a Hindoo under mourning is held unclean until the funeral ceremony is performed) by offering to the manes of his ancestors simple balls of sand, called pindas, on the bank of the holy stream. In these days a poor man would be held sanctified or absolved from this religious responsibility by making a tilakánchán Shrád, or offering a small quantity of rice, teelseed and a few fruits, and feeding only one Brahmin, all which would not cost more than four Rupees.
120 At the Shrád of Raja Nubkissen, Nemy Churn Mullick and Ramdoolal Dey, very near 100,000 beggars were said to have assembled together; this mode of charity is much discountenanced now and better systems are adopted for the ostensible gratification of generous propensities. The District Charitable Society should have a preference in every case. Instead of making a great noise by sound of trumpet and raising an ephemeral name from vainglorious motives, it is far wiser that a permanent provision should be made for the relief of suffering humanity.
121 The appearance of Brahmins on such occasions has the ludicrous admixture of the learned and the ragged, exhibiting the insolence of high caste and the low cringe of poverty.
122 The Hindoos are so much accustomed to smoking that it has almost become a necessary of life. At a reception it is the first thing required. The practice is regulated by rules of etiquette, so that a younger brother is not permitted to smoke in the presence of his elder brother or his uncle. Even among the reformed Hindoos, I have seen two brothers eat and drink together at the same table in European style, but when the dinner is over the younger brother would on no account smoke in the presence of his elder brother, if he do, he would be instantly voted a bayádub, or one wanting in the rules of good breeding. The observance of this etiquette, however, is confined only to the high caste people; among the lower orders, a son smokes before a father with the same freedom as if he were taking his ordinary meal.
123 The following anecdote illustrating the very great honor shewn to first-class Koolins, will, I trust, not be considered out of place.
When the late Rajah Rajkissen Bahadoor of Calcutta had to perform the Shrád or funeral ceremony of his illustrious father, the late Moha Rajah Nubkissen (the ceremony was said to have cost about five lacks of Rupees or £50,000,) he had to invite almost all the celebrated Koolins of Bengal at considerable expense. On the day of the Shrád those who were invited assembled at his mansion in Sobha Bazar, when all eyes were dazzled at the unparalleled magnificence of the scene, displaying a gorgeous array of gold, silver and brass utensils for presents to Brahmins, exclusive of large sums of money, Cashmere shawls, broadcloth, &c. After the performance of the ceremony, as is usual on such occasions, the distribution of garlands and sandal paste had to be gone through; the whole of the splendid assemblage had been watching with intense anxiety as to who should get the first garland—the highest respect shewn, according to precedence of rank, to the first Koolin present. This is a very knotty point in a large assemblage to which all orders of Koolins had been brought together. The honor was eagerly contested and coveted by many, but at length a voice from a corner loudly proclaimed to the following effect: “Put the garland on my gode,” (elephantiasis) laying bare and stretching his right leg at the same time and thus suiting the action to his words. The attention of the assembled multitude was immediately directed in that direction, and to the amazement of all, the garland had to be put round the neck of the very man who shouted from a corner, because by a general consensus he was pronounced to be the first Koolin then present. But such artificial and demoralising distinctions, built on the baseless fabric of quicksand, having no foundation in solid, sterling merit, are fast falling, as they should, into disrepute.
124 Manu commands, “Should the king be near his end, through some incurable disease, he must bestow on the priests all his riches accumulated from legal fines.”
125 To preserve order and avoid such unseemly practices, a wealthy Baboo—the late Doorgaram Cor—when he invited a number of Brahmins allotted to each two separate rations, one on the plantain leaf for eating on the spot, and another in an earthen handy or pot for carrying home for the absent members of the family. Even this excellent arrangement failed to satisfy the greedy cravings of the voracious Brahmins. As a dernier ressort, he at last substituted cash for eatables, which was certainly a queer mode of satisfying the inner man.
126 There is a vast difference between a vojun and a jalpan dinner. If there be a thousand guests at the latter, at the most there would be only three hundred at the former, as none but the nearest relatives and friends will condescend to take rice (vath), which is almost akin to one and the same clanship, whereas in a jalpan, not only the members of the same caste but even those of the inferior order are tacitly permitted to partake of the same entertainment without tarnishing the honor of the aristocratic classes.
The following anecdote will, I hope, prove interesting:—
At the marriage procession of a washerman, confessedly very low in the category of caste, two Káyastas (writer caste) joined it on the road in the hope of getting a hearty Jalpan dinner; but lo! when, after the nuptial rites were over, rice and curries were brought out for the guests, the two Káyastas, who sat down with the rest of the company, tried to escape unnoticed, because if they ate rice at a washerman’s they were sure to lose their caste, but the host would not let them go away without dinner. They at last spoke the truth, asked forgiveness and were then allowed to leave the house. To such disappointments unfortunate intruders are sometimes subjected.
127 In the sacred city of Benares vast sums of money have been sunk in building Ghauts with magnificent flights of steps stretching from the bank to the very edge of the water at ebb-tide, affording great convenience to the people both for religious and domestic purposes, but the strong current of the stream in the months of August, September and October, has played a sad havoc with the masonry works. Scarcely a single Ghaut exists in a complete state of preservation.
128 A Saree is a piece of cloth, 5 yards long with colored borders.
129 A Hindoo god generally kept by the lower orders of the people, such as Domes, Cháráls and Bagthees.
130 Kacha means raw; the term Shád is synonymous with desire. The ceremony is so called from the female being allowed that day to eat all kinds of native pickles, preserves, sweetmeats, confectionery, several kinds of fruits then in season, sweet and sour milk, &c., but not rice or any sort of food grains. Her desire is gratified, lest the girl should not survive the childbirth. It should be mentioned here that from the second month of her pregnancy, she feels a great longing to eat Páthkholá (a sort of half burnt very thin earthen cake) which pregnant girls relish very much on account of its peculiar sodha flavour.
131 Paunchámrita means five kinds of delicacies, the food of the gods, consisting of milk ghee (clarified butter), dhahie (curded milk), cowdung and honey.
132 A rather contemptible practice still lurks in the Hindoo community at the time of dining on such public occasions. The females for the most part place a portion of the dinner aside for the sake of carrying it home for their absent children; even a rich woman feels no hesitation or humiliation in following the example of her less fortunate sisters. We can only account for this unseemly practice on the supposition that the Hindoo ladies do not like to partake of good things without sharing them with their beloved children at home. The wish is not an unnatural one but the practice most unquestionably is. In making provision for a grand feast, the Hindoos are obliged to treble the quantity of food for the number of guests invited, specially when it is a pucca jalpan, consisting of loochees and sundeshes (sweetmeats). If they invite 100 families they must provide for about 300 persons, for the reasons specified above. It is a pity that in a matter of public entertainment both males and females cannot resist the temptation of appropriating a portion of the food to other than the legitimate purpose. Here feminine modesty is violated by infringing the ordinary rules of etiquette.
133 That the Hindoos have, for a long time, manifested a strong passion for ornaments, is a historical fact. Even so far back as the Mahratta dynasty, it was said of Dowlut Rao Sindhia that “his necklaces were gorgeous, consisting of many rows of Pearls, as large as small marbles, strung alternately with emeralds”. The Pearl (moti) was his passion and the necklace was constantly undergoing change whenever a finer bead was found; the title of “Lord of a hundred Provinces” was far less esteemed by him than that of motiwalla the “Man of Pearls,” by which he was commonly designated in his Camp. It was perhaps a sight of this description that led Macaulay to say—“Our plain English coats command more respect than all the gorgeous orient pearl of the East,” indicating thereby the involuntary awe of savage for civilized life.
134 Such as Bore, Komurpatta, Nimfull, Neyboofull, Ghoomur round the waist, Tabeej, Bajoo, Balla, Jasum, Taga, &c. on the hands, pearl and gold necklaces of various sorts and gold mohurs or sovereigns strung together in the shape of a necklace.
135 Such as Bore, Komurpatta, Nimfull, Neyboofull, Ghoomur round the waist, Tabeej, Bajoo, Balla, Jasum, Taga, &c. on the hands, pearl and gold necklaces of various sorts and gold mohurs or sovereigns strung together in the shape of a necklace.