Volume 1 — ASIA. (continued 2)

These excursions on the canals are said to be sometimes the scenes of love-intrigues, carried on by means of signals from those in the neighboring houses to those in the boats. The police officers are on the watch for such misdemeanors; how often their vigilance is eluded, is best known to those who reside near the Bosphorus. The natural love of overcoming obstacles is a strong incentive to intrigue, and the custom of wearing veils favors concealment. In case of detection, the prompt punishment of despotic countries follows without much ceremony. All the public know, is that some woman is seen hanging lifeless from her own window, with her lover, or supposed lover, by her side; or that her body, inclosed in a sack, is found floating on the Bosphorus.

In former times the Turks considered it so improper to display a female face, that they used to fire at English merchant-ships the figure-head of which represented a woman; but the custom of veiling the face, by a muslin tied over the mouth and chin, is gradually going out of fashion, especially with the young.

The Turkish ladies spend some of their most agreeable hours in the public baths appropriated to their use. These baths are lighted by bell glasses at the top, and consist of apartments of different degrees of temperature. The last room is so hot that high wooden clogs must be worn to protect the feet from the pavement, and a sudden perspiration trickles from the pores at the moment of entrance. Yet the women go very frequently, and sometimes remain in this atmosphere five or six hours, while their attendants rub them with a kind of brush, and pull the joints till they crack. This operation, at first a little painful, is said to be followed by a sensation peculiarly agreeable. Having made plentiful use of perfumed soap and pomatum, braided their tresses, and pared their nails, the bathers pass into the next room, the temperature of which is lower. Here clean beds are prepared for delicious repose after the relaxation of the bath. Coffee and cordials are likewise furnished in this room, and sometimes a whole party of women dine there, and stay till evening, listening to stories, and discussing the important affairs of love and dress.

Turkish women generally have a sallow complexion with dark eyes. A face like a full moon, and a person decidedly fleshy, are among their requisites for beauty. The grandees are said to place a peculiar value upon fair-haired girls, probably on account of their rarity.

The wedding ceremonies are simple. All the relations send presents of furniture, clothes, or jewels, which are the property of the wife in case of her husband’s death. Sometimes, when the marriage contracts are signed, a solemn promise is exacted from the man that he will never marry again during the lifetime of his wife. The bridal ceremony is performed by an iman or priest, who joins the hands of the parties, and recites certain prayers from the Koran. It sometimes takes place at the bridegroom’s house, but more generally at a mosque. The day before the wedding the bride goes to the bath, where her female relations and friends take off her dress, sing a bridal song, and offer their various gifts. The parties are escorted to the mosque in state, accompanied by friends and relations in arabahs,[3] drawn by oxen decorated with ribbons and garlands. The arabah in which the bride is conveyed is closed, but the others are open. The bridal veil is bright red bordered with yellow. The eyebrows of the bride are united in one broad black streak, by means of antimony and gall nuts; and her fingers are stained with hennah. When the new part of the nail forms a contrast with the stained part, it is considered peculiarly beautiful. Sometimes a childish love of ornament is carried so far, that gilt paper cut in the form of crescents, and various fantastic shapes, are stuck upon the face. Before the arabah which contains the bride are borne several trees surrounded with hoops, from which hang festoons of gold thread or tinsel, which wave in the breeze, and glitter when the sun glances on them. The procession consists of dancers, musicians, mountebanks, horses loaded with the furniture and apparel of the bride, and the relatives and friends on horseback, or in carriages.

When the bridegroom leaves the mosque, his friends strike him smartly on the shoulders for good luck. Girls are usually betrothed at the age of three or four years, and receive the nuptial benediction at twelve or fourteen. The custom of not allowing the bridegroom to see the bride until after the ceremony is contrary to the precepts of the Koran; for Mohammed says to one of his disciples, who was about to take a wife, “First see her, that you may judge how you should like to live with her.”

The wedding festivities last four days; the men feasting and frolicking in one set of apartments, the women in another. They usually begin on Monday, to avoid interfering with the Mohammedan Sabbath, which comes on Friday. A single life is very disreputable, and widows almost invariably marry again, unless they are very old. A Turkish woman is respected by her family and the world in proportion to the number of her children. In general they have very numerous claims to this kind of distinction. The Koran declares that a woman who dies unmarried is in a state of reprobation.

The common idea that Mohammedans believe women have no souls, is not founded upon any thing contained in the Koran. Mohammed expressly says: “Whoso worketh good, male or female, shall enter paradise;” and the pilgrimage to Mecca, for the salvation of their souls, is enjoined upon women as well as men, with the proviso that they must be accompanied by their husbands, or near male relations.

The Mohammedan law forbids pigs, dogs, women, and other impure animals to enter a mosque; and the hour of prayers must not be proclaimed by a female, a madman, a drunkard, or a decrepit person. The first prohibition was no doubt intended to prevent the frequent meetings between the sexes which would be likely to take place during religious services. The last regulation implies no peculiar contempt for women; the same classes would be excluded from the priesthood in Christian countries.

The Turkish proverb, that “A woman causes the ruin or prosperity of a house,” implies that female influence is in some degree acknowledged and appreciated.

Jests at the expense of women prevail in Turkey, as they do all over the world. Nass-red-dyn, the Turkish Æsop, wishing to propitiate the conquering Tamerlane, proposed to carry him some fruit. “Hold,” said he, “two heads are better than one; I will ask my wife whether I had better carry quinces or figs.” His wife replied, “Quinces will please him best, because they are larger and finer.” “However useful the advice of others may be,” rejoined Nass-red-dyn, “it is never well to follow that of a woman; I am determined to take figs.”

When he arrived in the camp, Tamerlane amused himself with throwing the figs at his bald head. At every blow Nass-red-dyn exclaimed, “God be praised!” Tamerlane inquired what he meant. “I am thanking God that I did not follow my wife’s advice,” replied Nass-red-dyn; “for if I had brought quinces instead of figs, I should certainly have a broken head.”

Women do not attend funerals in Turkey, the ceremonies of which are very simple. At the death of a husband they put on a particular kind of head-dress, and wear no ornaments for twelve months. At the grave the iman repeats a prayer, and calls the deceased three times by his name, and by that of his mother, never by his father’s. If the mother’s name be unknown, they call him “son of Mary,” the blessed virgin; if the deceased be a woman under similar circumstances, they call her “daughter of Eve.” A column with a sculptured turban on the top designates the grave of a man; a kind of vase, or marble bowl, is placed on the top of columns erected for women. After a rain, the birds come to these vases to drink. In Syria, Armenia, and Turkey, the color of mourning is celestial blue.

In 1755, Othman III. made very severe ordinances with regard to women. He forbade their going abroad on Friday; would not allow them to do their own shopping; (that task being transferred to their husbands and male relations;) ordered them to wear coarse dull-colored cloth instead of fine Cashmeres; and made an express edict against their high head-dresses. The women, to avoid this last ordinance, contrived a species of machinery by which they could suddenly diminish their caps, and raise them again, when the police officers were out of sight.

These regulations were but temporary. The wives and daughters of the wealthy Turks dress with extreme magnificence. Rich colored damask brocades embroidered with silver and gold, and looped up with buttons of diamond or pearl, are much worn. Though the national costume remains the same, fashion plays a thousand freaks with the details of dress.

The Turks do not consider it polite to make inquiries concerning each other’s wives. Among the class of vicious women in cities the number of Mohammedans is said to be very small, because the laws restraining them are peculiarly severe. If it be discovered that a Mohammedan woman has a Christian lover, he is compelled to marry her, and renounce his religion.

Perhaps there is no country where slavery exists in so mild a form as in Turkey. The children of slaves are brought up in the same way as the legitimate children, and enjoy the same privileges and rights. Female slaves are free by law at the end of six years, and allowed to form the most advantageous marriages they can.

Instances are numerous of slaves rising to the highest dignities of the empire. The black eunuchs of the seraglio often acquire immense wealth and influence.

It is a singular fact, that the Mohammedan nations treat slaves better than the Christian; and that, among Christians, the Catholic nations treat them better than the Protestant.

Both European and Asiatic Turkey have been described under the head of Asia, because their manners and customs are so decidedly and entirely oriental.

Of the Asiatic Greeks nothing is here said, because their character and condition is essentially the same as that of the Greeks in Europe.

Numerous Frank and Armenian merchants reside in Smyrna, the manners and costumes of which are a curious combination of various nations. It seems very odd to travellers to meet ladies with English or French names, wearing the Turkish or Greek costume, and speaking the Greek language. The Carnival is celebrated at Smyrna with extraordinary splendor. On this occasion the ladies appear in their richest attire, and there is a continual succession of waltzing parties, concerts, and theatricals.

The wealthy Frank merchants residing in Turkey are extremely cautious in arranging the marriage contracts of their daughters. The bridegroom engages to secure his wife a certain portion of his fortune, in case she survives him, and receives, on his part, a written promise from her father of the money, jewels, clothes, &c. constituting the dowry, and of the portion he intends to leave her at his death.

The Persians seem to have been remarkable among the ancient nations for a savage jealousy of women, which led them to keep the objects of their love perpetually imprisoned and guarded. Their severity is spoken of as extraordinary, by Plutarch, and other authors, who wrote at a period when even the most enlightened nations allowed very little freedom to their women. Yet the Persians are said to have been the first who carried their wives and children into the field of battle: “We do it,” said they, “that the sight of all that is most dear to us, may animate us to fight more valiantly in their defence.”

The Medes and Persians are likewise supposed to have been the first who introduced dancing and singing women to entertain their guests at a banquet; but the fact that Cyrus gave two captive female musicians to his uncle Cyaxares, proves that music was cultivated at a very early period, by nations which yielded to the dominion of Persia.

The character of Cyrus is the brightest page in Persian history. At a time when female captives taken in war were treated with the utmost indignity, and sometimes with savage barbarity, he was distinguished for a degree of respectful gallantry, which would have done credit to the most refined prince of modern times.

When told that the exquisitely beautiful wife of Abradatas had been assigned to him among other spoils of the Assyrian camp, and that the woman wept incessantly for her husband, to whom she was fondly attached, Cyrus at once resolved not to see her, lest her unrivalled loveliness should make it difficult for him to do his duty. In fact, he protected her against himself, and against one of his favorite officers, who, being appointed to attend upon the beautiful Panthea, had become a captive to her charms. Nothing could exceed the gratitude of the princess, when she found herself and her attendant maidens living in the midst of the Persian camp with as much safety and seclusion, as if she had been in the palace of her husband. Abradatas having received information of the magnanimous conduct of Cyrus, immediately hastened to engage himself, his troops and treasures, in the service of the virtuous monarch. When he was about to go forth to battle with Cyrus, Panthea brought him a golden helmet and arm-pieces, with broad bracelets for his wrists, which without his knowledge she had caused to be made from her own jewels. When he asked, with affectionate surprise, if she had sacrificed her ornaments for him, she replied that her husband was her greatest ornament. She then reminded him of their obligations to Cyrus, and told him that much as she loved him, she had rather be buried with him than live to know he had been deficient in courage. Abradatas laid his hand gently on her head, and looking upward, exclaimed, “O, great Jove, make me worthy of such a wife as Panthea, and such a friend as Cyrus!” As the princess put on his armor, she turned aside to conceal her tears; and when the door of his chariot was closed, she kissed the steps by which he had entered, and followed after him. When he perceived this, he again bade her farewell, and entreated her to return. Her attendants placed her on a litter, and threw a tent-covering over her, to conceal her from the admiring troops. When the dead body of Abradatas was brought from the battle, Panthea reproached herself that she had urged him to such desperate courage. With the stern enthusiasm of ancient times, she stabbed herself to the heart, and died on her husband’s breast; having first given directions that their corpses should be wrapped in the same mantle. The Persian monarch, with sincere lamentations, ordered magnificent funeral rites, and a monument to be erected to their memory.

There is reason to suppose that Cyrus was blessed in his own domestic relations; for we are told that he mourned for his wife Cassandana with the sincerest grief, and commanded public demonstrations of sorrow throughout the empire.

The virtuous decorum of Cyrus was an exception to the general character of Persian princes. Men of rank, who could indulge their whims without control, sometimes married their own sisters and daughters. Artaxerxes Memnon, being in love with his beautiful daughter Atossa, had some fears that the affair would not redound to his credit; but his mother quieted these scruples by saying, “Are you not set over the Persians by the gods, as the only rule of right and wrong?”

Another of the Persian kings called the magi together to give their opinion on a similar occasion. The accommodating priests answered, “We can find no law that authorizes a man to marry his own daughter; but our laws authorize a king to do whatever he pleases.”

Some idea of the excessive voluptuousness of the Persian court in ancient times may be derived from the account given of Ahasuerus.

By an old custom the queen had a right to ask any favor she thought proper on the king’s birthday, and he was bound to grant it. Amestris, the wife of Xemes, on one of these occasions, being filled with vindictive jealousy, demanded that her sister-in-law should be mangled in a most shocking manner and thrown to the dogs. The innocent victim, who had in fact discouraged and resisted the king’s passion, was destroyed in the most cruel manner.

The splendor which now characterizes Persian princes prevailed in ancient times. The revenues of provinces were devoted to particular articles of the queen’s wardrobe. This was implied by their names; one being called the Queen’s Sandals, another the Queen’s Girdle, &c. The use of false hair was not uncommon in Media and Persia.

The account given of Alexander’s marriage with the daughter of Darius seems to imply that the ancient marriage ceremonies were very simple. A great feast was prepared, the bride was seated beside her lover, he took her hand and kissed her in presence of the assembled guests, and she became his wife.

The ancient Persians considered matrimony so essential, that they believed those who died single would infallibly be unhappy in another world; for this reason, when a relation of either sex died unmarried, they hired some person to be formally married to the deceased as soon as possible.

It was considered a great misfortune to be childless. “Children,” said the prophet Zerdhust, “are a bridge that reaches to paradise; and how shall ye pass if he have provided no bridge? The angel shall ask every soul, if he have provided children; if he answer, no, the soul that has contributed so little to society shall himself be left desolate on the banks of a river, where he shall see the fresh springs and blooming fruits of paradise, but shall never be able to reach them.”

A boy was kept in the female apartments, and not permitted to see his father, till his fifth year, in order that his parent might not experience so much uneasiness in case he died before that period.

The slightest rudeness to a Persian woman was punished with instant death by her husband or guardian. He who spoke to one of the numerous inmates of the king’s harem, or touched their persons even in the most accidental manner, or passed their chariots on the road, was killed immediately. The modern laws are but little less severe.

A Persian woman, under the dominion of the kindest master, is treated in much the same manner as a favorite animal. To vary her personal graces for his pleasure is the sole end and aim of existence. As moral or intellectual beings, it would be better for them to be among the dead than the living. They are allowed to learn a little reading, writing, and embroidery; but their reading is confined to the Koran, and even that they generally read very imperfectly. Dancing and music are little practised, except by a public class of women, usually hired at festivals and entertainments, and of a character notoriously profligate. These girls are more remarkable for agility than grace in their motions.

The Persian women are kept continually shut up in the harem, which they rarely leave from the cradle to the grave. They are visited only by female relations, or female teachers, hired to furnish them their scanty apparatus of knowledge. The mother instructs her daughter in all the voluptuous coquetry by which she herself acquired precarious ascendency over her absolute master; but all that is truly estimable in female character is neglected, as it ever must be where nothing like free and kind companionship exists between the sexes. A resident in Persia declares that the women are ignorant, and inconceivably gross in their ideas and conversation. Under such a system it could not be otherwise.

The contempt in which women are held is singularly exemplified by a Persian law, which requires the testimony of four of them in cases where the declaration of two men would be deemed sufficient. While talking with a person of rank, it would be considered grossly impolite to make the most remote allusion to the female part of his family; even if his beloved wife were on her death-bed, it would be deemed an almost unpardonable insult to make any inquiries concerning her.

A large black eye, full of amorous softness, is considered the chief requisite in Persian beauty. To increase this voluptuous languor of expression, they make lines around the eyes with powder of antimony. They take great pains to make their eyebrows meet; and if this charm be denied, they paint them, so as to produce the effect. They not only dye their hair and eyebrows, but also stain the face and neck with a variety of figures of birds, beasts, and flowers, the sun, moon, and stars. A large proportion of the noble families are descended from Georgian and Circassian mothers, and consequently have fair complexions.

When a Persian father has selected a family with which he wishes to have his son connected, he sends an elderly female to ascertain the girl’s personal endowments, and the probable consent of her parents or guardians. If the report prove favorable, the bridegroom sends messengers to explain his merits, and make a formal offer of marriage. The heads of the family meet to make all arrangements concerning presents, ornaments, dowry, &c.; and the papers are sealed and witnessed before magistrates.

On the morning of the wedding, the bridegroom sends a train of mules laden with presents to the bride, preceded by music, and followed by numerous servants, bearing costly viands on silver trays, to be spread before the inmates of her father’s house. The day is spent in mirth and feasting. Toward evening, the bride veiled, in scarlet or crimson silk, is mounted on a superbly caparisoned mule, preceded by music, and followed by a long train of relatives and friends to the house of her destined husband, who rides forth with a similar procession to meet her. The female attendants conduct her to the apartments prepared for her, and she is from that moment a lawful wife. The bridegroom prepares a sumptuous feast for his friends and relatives, who generally keep up the festivities for three days.

The jointure settled upon a wife varies according to the wealth of the husband. If he is in middling circumstances, he merely bestows two dresses, a ring, and a mirror; but he is likewise expected to supply all the requisite furniture.

It is deemed an irretrievable disgrace for a bride to be sent back after she has left her father’s house. Sometimes the bridegroom promises a jointure beyond his means; and in these cases, curious scenes sometimes take place. He shuts the door against the cavalcade, and declares the girl shall not enter his dwelling, unless the jointure be reduced. Under these circumstances he is generally able to make his own terms.

The harems of grandees are the most magnificent portion of their palaces. In the king’s seraglio the same offices and places exist as at court; but the chief equerry, the captain of the gate, the captain of the guards, &c., are all of them women. Women likewise read public prayers, and perform the rites of the Mohammedan religion within the inclosures of the harem. Women practise medicine, and bury the dead. A Persian harem is in fact a miniature city, with its mosques, cemeteries, bazaars, &c. The inhabitants are divided into four classes. The princesses of the blood are called begum; such of the king’s women as have brought him children are called kanoom; inferior women are called katoon; and those kept for the purpose of waiting upon them are termed slaves. Each female has an apartment to herself, or lodges with some aged women, and cannot go into the other rooms, without express permission. The harem is watched by three sorts of guards, over all of whom is placed a governor, or superintendent. White eunuchs guard the outside, and are never permitted to enter the interior; black eunuchs dwell round the second inner inclosure; and within are stationed elderly women to watch day and night by turns. It is indispensably requisite that the governor of the seraglio should be very old, and exceedingly ugly. The inmates are sometimes allowed to walk in the garden, after it has been well searched, and all persons ordered to retire.

When it is necessary to remove the king’s women from one dwelling to another, public notice is given five or six hours beforehand of the road they are to pursue. All the inhabitants of the villages through which they are to pass must forthwith quit their habitation. A horseman rides before the cavalcade, calling with a loud voice, Prohibition! Prohibition! The ladies sometimes ride astride on horseback, closely veiled; but the wealthy generally travel in palanquins, or cages of wicker-work, covered with cloth, and supported by mules or camels. No excuse avails if any male, over seven years of age, is caught in any place where he could so much as see the camels that carry these women; even if a traveller were to stumble in his hurry to get out of the way, the guards would beat him almost to death.

The first wife generally has a rank above her numerous rivals, particularly if she be the mother of children; but this depends entirely on the caprice of the master. Misdemeanors are punished according to the discretion of the husband. When divorces take place, the dowry originally given to the wife is set aside for her support. The Persians have a superstition that the spilling of a woman’s blood brings ill luck; for this reason, when the inmates of the harem are discovered in any love-intrigue they are generally muffled up in their long veils, and thrown from the top of a high tower.

Interest compels these women to practise all manner of coquettish arts. The more capricious and presuming they are, the more likely are they to receive attention; if gentle and reserved, they would be overlooked in the crowd. The favorite always makes despotic use of her transient power. On all occasions, she causes the pleasure of her presence to be purchased with long delay and impatience; and when she visits her female relatives, she makes it a point not to return till her husband has sent many times for her. The Persians are generally scrupulously neat in their persons and apparel.

The baths are a great place of amusement for ladies. Here they pass hours and hours, listening to stories of fairies and genii, eating sweetmeats, sharing each other’s pipes, and painting their persons. The Jewesses are the oracles of the seraglio. From them the young beauties purchase all manner of cosmetics, charms, amulets, love-potions, &c.

The endearing duties of a mother become a source of fear and sorrow within the walls of the royal harem; for, in order to prevent quarrels about the succession to the throne, it is customary to put large numbers of children to death, or to deprive them of their eyes. The queen-mother herself superintends these executions, to which she becomes hardened by custom. The Persian mothers possess the only shadow of power which women are allowed to have. They regulate the education and settlement of their children, and it is said a marriage is not concluded, even with the father’s consent, if they oppose it.

Sometimes when one of the king’s women offends him, or his mother, she is married to some menial of the palace, which is considered a very disgraceful punishment. But fortunate is her lot, who is transferred from the royal harem to some favorite grandee. She receives the title of a lawful wife, and is treated like a princess. Notwithstanding the painful sacrifices and perpetual fear belonging to those who form the king’s household, parents are extremely anxious to obtain the splendid bondage for a daughter; for if she happens to be a favorite, the greatest honors and emoluments are heaped on her relations.

Women of the middling class are more occupied than the wives of grandees, and therefore unavoidably have more freedom. They spin, sew, embroider, superintend the house, keep account of expenses, pay the servant’s wages, and see that proper care is taken of the horses. Sir Robert Porter, speaking of this class of Persian females, says, “They do all the laborious part of the household establishment; each having her own especial department, such as baking the bread, cooking the meat, drawing the water, &c. Though the latest espoused is usually spared in these labors, and the best dressed, still the whole party seem to remain in good humor. When their lord shows himself among them, it is like a master coming into a herd of favorite animals. They all rush forward, frisking about him, pleased with a caress, or frisking still if they meet with a pat instead. The four wives of my worthy host retire at sunset, and each taking her infant and cradle to the roof of her division of the house, not forgetting the skin of water she has brought from the well, deposits her babe in safety, and suspends the water-case near her, on a tripod of sticks, in order that the evaporation may cool it for next day’s use. Our communicative host told me that to preserve amity among these women, he was accustomed, like all husbands who valued peace, to divide his time and attention equally and alternately among them. Indeed the law of Mohammed, though it allows four wives, expressly stipulates that the first married shall experience no diminution of wardrobe, or accustomed privileges, in consequence of the introduction of a new bride into the family.

When women of the common classes leave their houses they scrupulously conceal their faces with a veil woven like a fine net, or a cloak with two holes just big enough for their eyes; but the neck is often less carefully covered than the face. Like all oriental women, they are very fond of perfumes and ornaments. Their clothing is usually chosen and purchased for them, as we do for little children.

On the death of a husband, they lay aside all rich and showy apparel, and assume the garb of mourning, which among the Persians is pale brown. For months and months they pay daily visits to the grave, watering it with tears, rending their garments, and tearing their hair. The law allows widows to marry again, but they seldom take a second husband. In many cases, the anniversary of the birthday of the deceased is for years kept as a solemn festival by his family and friends.

Several years ago, a beautiful Circassian accompanied the Persian ambassador to London, where she excited great attention, and was treated with distinguished kindness. Sir Robert Porter met her when she was returning to Persia, mounted on a miserable post-horse. He says, “The poor creature, perceiving that I was a European, rode forward to address me; but in a moment the rough fellow who was her conductor laid his whip over her shoulders, with so terrible an admonition into the bargain, that, closing both her lips and her veil, she travelled on, doubtless with heavy recollections. To interfere in behalf of a woman so situated would cast a sort of contamination on her, and only redouble her stripes.”

Women whose husbands are not rich enough to furnish palanquins, ride astride a horse, muffled in a great sheet, which makes them look like a bag of flour placed upright. Sometimes they are stuffed into panniers slung across a mule or a camel, like poultry on the way to market. If there be but one traveller, some heavy article is put into the opposite basket as a balance.

When the ambassador Meerza Abul Hassan was in England, nothing excited his surprise so much as the fact that women sometimes undertook voyages. “Is it possible!” he exclaimed: “if I were to tell our Persian women that there were English women in ships, they would never believe me. They consider it a great undertaking to go from one town to another; but your women go from one end of the world to the other, and think nothing of it. If it were even known to my family that I was now in a ship, on the high seas, there would be nothing but wailing and lamentation from morning till night.”

The architectural remains and ancient literature of Hindostan give a high idea of their knowledge and refinement in remote ages. According to their old poets, women were then regarded with a kind of chivalrous gallantry, and enjoyed a degree of personal freedom, to which modern Asiatic women are entire strangers: Sacontalu, the adopted daughter of a holy Bramin, is the heroine of an interesting old drama, in which she is mentioned as receiving strangers with the most graceful hospitality; and when Dusmantha was absent from his capital, his mother governed in his stead. Women were then admitted as witnesses in courts of justice, and where the accused was a female, their evidence was even preferred.

Malabar boasts of her seven sages, and four of them were women. The celebrated Avyar, one of the most ancient of these sages, probably lived more than a thousand years ago. Her origin and birth are involved in poetic fable; but her works are still extant, and held in much estimation. They principally consist of short moral sentences, like the following: “Speak not of God but with reverence.” “The sweetest bread is that earned by labor.” “The genuine object of science is to distinguish good from evil.” “Let thy books be thy best friends.” “Modesty is the fairest ornament of a woman.” “There is no virtue without religion.”

The Mohammedan creed, which everywhere produces a miserable effect on the destiny of women, has considerably changed their condition in Hindostan. The higher classes among the Hindoos, without adopting the religion of the Mussulmans, copied their jealous precautions with regard to females.

Wives are numerous, according to the wealth and character of their owners. A petty Hindoo chief has been known to have several hundred female slaves shut up in his zananah.[4] Under these unnatural circumstances, we cannot wonder at the character of women given by one of their pundits, as the Braminical expositors of law are called: he says, “Women are characterized, first, by an inordinate love of jewels, fine clothes, handsome furniture, and dainty food; second, by unbounded profligacy; third, by violent anger and deep resentment, no one knowing the sentiments that lie concealed in their hearts; fourth, another person’s good appears evil in their eyes.” This is but one among many instances wherein men have reproached the objects of their tyranny with the very degradation and vices which their own contempt and oppression have produced. How can it be wondered at that women, with all the feelings and faculties of human nature, and unnaturally deprived of objects for their passions, affections, or thoughts, should seek excitement in petty stratagem and restless intrigue?

No Hindoo woman is allowed to give evidence in courts of justice. The Bramins have power to put their wives to death for unfaithfulness; but it is said that milder punishments are more usually inflicted. Sometimes reconciliation takes place, and the event is celebrated by a feast, to which the neighboring Bramins are invited, and the culprit waits upon them at table.

This crime in Hindoo women is generally punished by expulsion from their caste, a heavy fine, and the bastinado. It is considered a still more disgraceful penalty to have the hair cut off. This is rarely inflicted, except upon very abandoned females, who are afterward plastered with filth, and led about on a donkey, accompanied with the sound of tamtams.

Instances of extreme injustice sometimes occur, as must always be the case where human beings are invested with arbitrary power.

One of the rajahs of Hindostan had a beautiful wife, whom he loved better than all the rest of his women. A young man, who was originally his barber, gained his confidence to such a degree, that nothing could be done but through his interest. The rajah, having accepted an invitation to an annual festival held at a great distance, trusted every thing to the integrity of this prime minister. Before his master had been gone a week, the villain dared to make love to his favorite wife. She treated him with indignation and scorn, and threatened, if he continued to repeat professions of his love, that she would expose his baseness. He knew the rajah had a most fiery and impetuous temper, and he at once resolved how to escape danger, and to be revenged upon his virtuous victim. He sought an interview with his master the very first moment he returned, and by a tissue of plausible falsehoods, made him believe that his favorite wife was a faithless creature, entirely unworthy of his confidence. The rajah, in a fit of blind fury, flew into the zananah, and without speaking a word, murdered the beautiful object of his recent attachment.

The circumstance was soon forgotten; for such murders were common, and punishable by no laws. Even the nearest relatives of the deceased did not ask the reason of such violence.

Thus precarious must all attachments be where moral and intellectual sympathy have no share in the union.

After a considerable time had elapsed, one of the rajah’s wives, on her death-bed, said she had something important to disclose to her husband; the guilty favorite immediately imagined that his murdered victim had made her a confident of his infamous designs, and he fled with all possible precipitation. His fears proved true; the dying wife disclosed the whole history of his treachery. The rajah tore his hair, and ran round the palace like a madman. Horsemen were despatched in every direction, but the wicked minister escaped. The agonized prince did all he could—he raised a splendid temple to the memory of his murdered wife. Within the temple is her image, the eyes of which are costly diamonds. The unfortunate rajah at last went mad. He would look at his hands, and wash them a hundred times a day; but he could not cleanse the blood from his memory.

The Hindoo women frequently follow their husbands to battle, and perish by their side. Rather than fall into the power of conquering enemies, they often commit suicide, or entreat their husbands to kill them.

Females are engaged in almost every variety of occupation, according to the caste of their husbands. They cultivate the land, make baskets and mats, bring water in jars, carry manure and various other articles to market in baskets on their heads, cook food, tend children, weave cloth, reel skeins of thread, and wind cocoons. A single cocoon is divided into twenty degrees of fineness; and these silk-winders have such an exquisite sense of touch, that when the thread is running swiftly through their fingers, they break it off exactly as the assortments change. Cashmere shawls are sometimes woven in a manner so delicate, that they can be drawn through a wedding ring; and they manufacture muslin so transparent, that when laid on the grass it does not at all intercept the color.

It has been said that there is no country in the world where so many people live in idleness. This is no doubt in a great measure to be ascribed to the enervating influence of their brilliant climate, the abundance produced by a luxuriant soil, and the slight shelter or clothing required, where the air is so uniformly mild, and the sky serene. All travellers agree that the scenery of Hindostan is beautiful, almost beyond imagination. Magnificent temples and tombs indicate the grandeur of former times, while the gorgeous edifices of more recent periods denote the wealth, if not the classic taste of her princes; innumerable rivers fertilize and adorn the land, while the air is perfumed with the lavish abundance of blossoms and fruit. The inhabitants love to repose in the cool shadow of their broad-leaved foliage; and the women are said to be so languidly indolent, that they will hardly stretch forth their arms to save their children from being trodden to death. One of their favorite authors says: “It is better to sit still than to walk; better to sleep than to be awake; and death is the best of all.”

In pictures of Hindoo women of the higher classes, I have always observed a dangling and listless position of the arms and fingers, which indicates all the writer has expressed. If any thing affects them disagreeably, they are apt to signify it by lolling out their tongues.

When a father dies, the eldest son supplies his place, in protecting and providing for his mother and younger members of the family. The widow can only claim an allowance necessary for her support; but filial piety is so highly reverenced by the Hindoos, that children often stint themselves that their parents need not suffer. The greatest insult that can be offered a Hindoo is to speak contemptuously of his mother.

The features of the Hindoos differ little from those of Europeans; but their complexion is of a deep mahogany hue. A very perceptible difference of physiognomy characterizes the various castes. Those who do not labor are less vigorous than Europeans, but more elegantly shaped. The women are said to be extremely beautiful, with delicate, regular features, and remarkably fine dark eyes; but they lose their beauty at an early age. They are generally distinguished by a childish simplicity and modest gracefulness, which is very attractive. If the husband is dissatisfied with his wife, he parts from her and seeks another; and the wife can do the same with regard to her husband. Some reasons are required to be given, but where both parties agree in wishing for divorce it is very easily obtained. Sometimes when a man desires a separation he calls his wife mother, and after that it is considered indelicate to live with her. Sometimes an occasional visiter addresses the females of the house in this way, as a pledge of his purity. The poor seldom have more than one wife; and if she has children they rarely part from her as long as they live. The women are generally faithful and submissive to their husbands, and very fond of their families. Even the poorest of them esteem it a great misfortune to be childless. They regard it, as the Jews did of old, as a peculiar visitation of God, and spare neither prayers, alms, offerings, nor penances, to avert this calamity. They are often seen performing long journeys, with two or three little children, whom they lead by the hand or carry on their backs.

Women, even of the higher classes, are forbidden to read or write; because the Hindoos think these acquirements would inevitably spoil them for domestic life, and assuredly bring some great misfortune upon them. Many stories are circulated concerning the dreadful accidents that have happened to women, who could read and write. Poetry, music, and dancing, are cultivated only by a class of women, openly and avowedly licentious. The wives of rajahs, and the numerous favorites of the Mohammedan grandees, do indeed divert their lords with dancing in the interior of the zananah, but it would be deemed highly disgraceful to indulge in this amusement before strangers. Nothing shocks an East Indian more than the European custom of ladies and gentlemen dancing with each other; they cannot believe that it does not indicate great corruption of manners.

From the remotest antiquity, dancing has been associated with religion in India. The devedassees are young girls devoted to the service of the temple almost from their infancy; and this is considered so great an honor, that even the rajahs are anxious to obtain it for their daughters. They must be well shaped, of pleasing features, of good constitutions, and of very tender age; the parents are likewise required to renounce all further claim to the child. The devedassees, after bathing the novitiate in the tank belonging to the temple, dress her in new clothes and adorn her with jewels; the high priest puts into her hand an image of the deity, to whose service she devotes herself with a solemn vow; the lobes of her ears are then bored, and the seal of the temple imprinted on her with red-hot iron. The great pagoda of Juggernaut contains five or six hundred of these girls. The Bramins teach them to read, write, sing, and dance. They must likewise be versed in the history of their gods; but they are forbidden to read the vedas.[5] They take care of the temples, light the lamps, and sing and dance before the statue of the god, on solemn festivals. Some say the devedasses are entirely subservient to the pleasures of the Bramins, who are exceedingly jealous of them; others say they are at liberty to choose any lovers, in or out of the temple, provided they be of the higher castes. The tips of their nails are stained red. The long braided hair, the neck, the naked arms, and the feet are covered with jewels; rings on the hand, rings on the feet, rings in the ears, and sometimes rings in the side of the nose; literally, according to the old nursery story, “with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes.” The silver chains and bells with which they decorate the ankles and feet, make a monotonous but agreeable sound, as they dance, that mingles pleasantly with the small drums, tambourines, and silver cymbals, to which they keep time. In their hands they hold wooden castanets, which they strike in cadence. At the end of each dance they turn toward the idol, with their hands clasped before their faces. All make precisely the same movements and gestures at the same moment. When they become old, or the Bramins, for any other reason, wish to have them leave, they are dismissed from the pagoda. The temple where they serve furnishes them with food, clothing, and pay; but when they leave, they are obliged to relinquish all articles of ornament. They are ever after received in society with peculiar respect, a degree of sanctity is attached to their character, and it is considered an honor to marry them. If turned out of the temple in their old age, they are liable to be in destitute circumstances, unless they have a handsome daughter to succeed them; if so, they may safely rely upon filial kindness.

There is another class of Hindoo dancers, called canceni, or bayaderes. They are avowedly courtesans; but not disgraced by assuming that character, as women are in Christian countries. They receive the same education as the devedassees, or sacred dancers; but they are not like them confined to the service of the temples. Wealthy men hire them at entertainments, and some grandees keep a whole company constantly in their service. They too are load with jewels, bracelets, armlets, carcanets, coronals, rings, ear-rings, nose-rings, bells, and chains. The dress of a distinguished dancer often costs from fifteen to twenty thousand rupees. They surround their eyes with a black circle, made with the head of a pin dipped in powder of antimony. Those who are accustomed to it think it increases beauty of expression.

To preserve the comeliness of their forms, they cover the bosom with hollow cases of wood, linked together, and buckled at the back. These cases are made so very thin and pliable, that they move freely with the slightest motion of the body; they are plated with gold or silver, and sometimes set with gems. There is nothing loud or bold in the manners of these degraded women. They are all softness, gentleness, and coquetry; but their dances, and the songs that accompany them, in which the Orientals take unbounded delight, are voluptuous beyond description.

There is another genuine Hindoo dance, called nautch, that differs in all respects from the dances performed by the devedassees, or the canceni. “It is executed by three women, who display in their steps and attitude a degree of seductive gracefulness astonishing to Europeans.” These dancers are called ramdjenies. Their dress is embroidered with gold and silver. They wear trowsers of very rich stuff, with a circle of bells around the ankles. Their lower garment is very ample, and becomes inflated like a balloon, when they turn swiftly.

One of the most remarkable features of Hindostan, is the division of society into distinct castes. Nearly a hundred different castes exist, the distinctions of which the Bramins themselves are puzzled to define.

The parias, who are considered the scum of all the castes, have a most deplorable lot. These absurd regulations subject the masters of houses to great expense, as the meanest domestic absolutely refuses to perform any office but the one allotted to his or her caste.

A religious and civil law forbids any mixture of blood between the different castes. It is singular that a man is not degraded from his caste for being vicious, or for believing or disbelieving certain articles of religion; but he is degraded for intermarrying with an inferior caste, forming a friendship with any such, or partaking food with them. Customs that have some degree of similarity are hereditary among the descendants of the Jewish nation, and in some parts of the Chinese empire; but the nearest parallel to the Hindoo distinction of castes exists between the white and colored population of the United States of America. There is indeed some difference. The wealthy American, if starving, would gladly partake food with the mulatto, whose companionship would disgrace him under other circumstances; but the high caste Bramin would die rather than receive sustenance from a paria.

“A Bramin, being oppressed with thirst as he journeyed along, met a woman of low condition carrying a vessel of water on her head. He asked her for some to drink; but, that he might not receive water from an impure hand, he formed a little channel on the ground; the woman poured the water in at one end, while the Bramin drank at the other. One of his own caste, who happened to be passing at the time, accused him before the council of the Bramins; the affair was investigated, and he narrowly escaped the sentence of exclusion from his caste.”

It is said that all distinctions cease in the temple of Juggernaut, on the occasion of a yearly festival; in commemoration of the primitive equality of mankind, the Bramin and the paria then eat together, without any disastrous consequences.

It is rare to find an unmarried female in India, except those who have been betrothed in infancy, and lost their partners before the period of what they call “the second marriage.” These girls can never marry without losing caste; but as the affections cannot be controlled by custom, these unfortunate beings often forfeit their characters by imprudence. Suicides on this account were so common, that an officer of the British government, in order to prevent them in his district, commanded that all such corpses should be exposed to the public gaze. The law proved so effectual, that there was never any necessity for enforcing it.

Marriages between little girls and very old men are common in India. The Hindoo girls usually marry between the ages of seven and nine years, and the boys between twelve and fourteen. The wife must not only be of the same caste with her husband, but also of the same family. The Hindoo has a right to marry the daughter of his father, or of his mother’s brother. Parents cannot give a denial when their daughter is demanded, because brothers and sisters only, of the same caste, are forbidden to marry; but under that name the law includes the children of the father’s brothers, and of the mother’s sisters.

The ceremonies vary among different castes, and in different districts. The wealthy give very expensive entertainments, the cost of which is defrayed by the husband’s father. The practice likewise varies in regard to dowry. In the superior castes, the wife generally brings her husband a portion; but among the sooders, the bridegroom gives a sum of money to the bride’s father. One kind of the ancient Hindoo marriages required no ceremony but the mutual consent of the parties. Without witnesses, they exchanged necklaces or wreaths of flowers, the girl saying, “I am thy wife;” and the bridegroom replying, “It is true.” In the inferior castes the marriage ceremony is still very simple, but it is not considered legal unless performed in the presence of the chief of the tribe.

A singular custom has been said to prevail in a town of the Carnatic. When a young couple are conducted to the temple, the bride offers her hand to the priest, who cuts off the third and little finger at the second joint. In ancient times both parties sacrificed a joint of the finger; but as this sometimes made it difficult for the husband to follow his profession, the Bramins decided that the woman should make a double sacrifice, and lose two fingers instead of one. A woman of that caste considers it a disgrace to have all her fingers.

Before any match is concluded, great pains is taken to ascertain whether the aspect of the stars predicts a fortunate or unfortunate union. Marriages are solemnized only in February, May, June, October, and the beginning of November.

When a Hindoo has fixed his mind upon what he considers a suitable match for his son, he sends a stranger to sound the girl’s father, in order to save himself the shame of an open rejection. If the suggestion be favorably received, he goes and makes a formal proposition. He must be accompanied by some married woman, by several relations, and a Bramin skilled to explain omens. To meet a dealer in oil, a dog that shakes his ears, a crow flying over their heads, and a hundred other such things, are considered signs so unlucky, as to make it necessary to defer the visit. He generally carries the pariam, a sum of money from four to six guineas, as the price of the girl. Such marriages are said to be by pariam. The bride’s father returns the visit with great ceremony and pomp, carrying presents to the bridegroom. After these formalities, the girl is considered as sold; but the match may be broken off, and the pariam returned, if it be determined by a general meeting of the relatives, and sometimes of the whole caste, that the bride’s father has any justifiable reason for so doing. To avoid the expense of an entertainment which it is customary to give, the pariam is frequently paid on the wedding day; but some pay it a year beforehand. The bridegroom presents the bride with a piece of silk, which she wears on the wedding day. This garment is always silk, if the parties be ever so poor. If the pariam be in money, it is tied up in one corner of this robe; if it be a jewel, it is laid upon it.

There is another kind of marriage where the pariam is dispensed with. This is called cannigadanam, which signifies the gift of a maiden.

When the day is fixed for the wedding, the bride’s father builds a bower of lattice-work in the courtyard of his house. The erection of this pendal, or marriage bower, is considered a publication of the bans, and friends and relations immediately pay a ceremonious visit. The female friends, walking under a canopy, bring presents of betel to the young couple. In the midst of the court is set up a stone image of Polear, god of marriage. The Bramins make offerings of cocoas, bananas, and betel, praying that the god would be propitious to the marriage. As soon as the pendal is finished, the image is removed. The bridegroom, richly dressed, and accompanied by his friends in festal attire, is conducted to the house of the bride. Here a particular ceremony is performed, called taking away the looks; for the Hindoos believe the most deplorable consequences would ensue, if any person looked on the young man with envious, or malicious eyes. To avert this disaster, they prepare a basin of water colored red, which they turn round three times before the face of the bridegroom, and then throw it into the street; sometimes they tear a strip of cloth before him, and throw the pieces different ways; and sometimes they fasten certain mystic rings on the heads of the couple. The bridegroom and bride, splendidly dressed, are carried about for several days in palanquins, accompanied by a long train of relations and friends, some riding on horses, and some on elephants, preceded by musicians and dancing girls. These processions are generally in the evening, attended by illuminations and fireworks. While these ceremonies continue, the dancing girls meet in the pendal morning and evening, and rub the young couple with naleng, the small green seed of a plant sacred to marriage. While the assembled guests are dining, the bride and bridegroom eat together from the same plate. This is the only time during her whole life that a Hindoo wife is allowed to eat with her husband. On the wedding day, the bride and bridegroom sit beside each other, at one end of the pendal, which is lighted with a great number of lamps. The Bramins, on a raised platform, surrounded with jars of water, offer prayers to their gods. They then kindle the sacrificial fire, with various kinds of sacred wood, and repeat prayers and invocations, while they throw into the flames incense, sandal-wood, oil, butter, rice, and other things. When the prayers are ended, the father of the bride puts her hand within that of the bridegroom, calls the god of fire to witness his words, and then repeats after the Bramin: “I, ——, the son of —— and grandson of ——, give my daughter to thee, son of —— and grandson of ——.”

The Bramin breaks a cocoa-nut in two, blesses the tali, which all present are required to touch, and gives it to the bridegroom, who hangs it round the neck of the bride. The tali is a golden ornament for the neck, made in various forms, and is worn by all married women, in the same manner as the wedding-ring with us. The young couple walk three times round the fire, and the bridegroom swears in presence of the Bramin that he will take care of his wife. He then casts into the fire boiled rice and butter, and she casts in parched rice. The priest repeats prayers while he mixes a little saffron with raw rice. This he first sprinkles over the shoulders of the husband, and then of the wife; all who are present rise and perform the same ceremony, by way of benediction. In the marriages of princes, pearls are sometimes used instead of rice. The rest of the day is spent in diversions, and the last public procession takes place in the evening.

Next day, they hasten to pull down the pendal; because it would be considered a very bad omen if it should happen to take fire. The bride is often so very young that she remains at her father’s house for a considerable time after the wedding. When this is the case, she is afterward given to her husband with similar ceremonies and festivities, called “the second, or little, marriage.” The Hindoo brides wear a hymeneal crown, and the color of the nuptial robe is golden yellow.

Until a wife becomes a mother, she is obliged to obey the commands of her mother-in-law, and sees her husband by stealth. The birth of a child is attended with many religious ceremonies. The husband, assisted by Bramins, sprinkles the house with holy water, and all the inmates anoint themselves with oil, and wash themselves. The mother is bathed, and drinks a certain beverage prescribed for such occasions. On the tenth day, friends and relations assemble to give a name to the infant; but the Bramin first consults the planets, endeavors by prayer to avert any evil influence, and ties a zinar, or amulet, about the neck of the child. Presents are then made to the priests, and the ceremony is concluded with a feast and rejoicings.

The Hindoo women make no use of a cradle. The babe, unshackled by any clothing or bandages, is laid on a large piece of cloth stretched on pieces of wood, something like a small quilting frame. This is suspended by strong cords from the ceiling, and two women swing it, by pushing it from one to the other.

When the child has attained the age of six months, it is fed for the first time with rice prepared with milk and sugar. On this occasion a feast is made and all the relations invited.

If a child dies, the mother sits at the door, or by the river’s side, and utters loud lamentations, like the following: “Ah, my Huree-das, where has he gone? Who has taken my golden image? I never saw a face like unto his! He played round me like a golden top! Take me with thee!”

If any female neighbor tries to console her, she answers: “Ah, mother, the heart takes no advice. Was this a child to be forgotten? He had a forehead like a king! Since it was born the master never staid in the house; he was always walking about with the child in his arms! I nourished and reared him—where is he gone?”

While mourning in this way, they sometimes beat their foreheads, tear their hair, and roll about, as if in agony. Hindoo wives never call their husbands by name, but always say, “the master.”

Very singular customs prevail among the people called Garos. If a man’s wife prove unfaithful, he cannot obtain divorce, unless he chooses to give her all the property and children. A woman, on the contrary, may part from her husband when she pleases, and by marrying another person, convey to him the whole property of her former husband. The children go with her, but their rank is decided by that of the father. If the wife has a lover, the husband may indeed kill him, but he incurs the resentment of all the man’s relations, and the woman would be very likely to revenge herself by transferring the property to a new husband. Divorces are, however, said to be rare. When a chief dies, his heir is any one of his sister’s sons, whom his widow may choose as a successor. If the youth is married, he immediately separates from his wife, who takes all his private fortune and his children; he marries the widow, and receives the wealth and rank of his predecessor. When the old lady dies, he is at liberty to choose a young wife, who, if she survive him, will, in her turn, select one of his sister’s sons. The wife of a chief, when she divorces her husband, is obliged to choose one from the same noble family. The red turban and bell-metal bracelets, which are bestowed with great ceremony on the new chieftain, do not always make him contented with a partner so much older than himself. One, who was almost a boy, complained to an Englishman, with great simplicity, that he had married a toothless old woman, while his poor cousin had a pretty young wife, with whom he could play all the day long.

The Bramins, by a peculiar custom, often take wives against their own will. If a father has a marriageable daughter, on whom he wishes to see conferred the privileges belonging to a Bramin’s wife, he invites the Bramin to his house, and introduces the girl to him; she respectfully offers her hand to the unsuspecting visiter, and the moment he takes it, her father begins to repeat the genealogy of his family. This constitutes a legal marriage, and there is no way of escape from it.

Some writers have mentioned a tribe in the Carnatic, whose women are not allowed to be seen by any man, not even their husbands, who visit them only in the dark. Shut up in secluded apartments with their female companions, they employ themselves in weaving mats and baskets, and similar occupations. Even their sons are taken from them at three or four years old, and never suffered to look on them again. Women of their own tribe nurse them when they are ill, and when dead, their husbands sew them up in a sack, before they are carried to the funeral pile. This singular tribe was never large, and is now said to be nearly extinct.

The clothing of the Hindoos is seldom washed; for neatness is not their characteristic. The fashion of their garments is modest; the arms and upper part of the neck only being uncovered. Women of all castes, throughout India, load themselves with jewels. Common bracelets are made of vitrified earth, green, yellow, and black. Another kind are made of glass, and esteemed beautiful in proportion to the closeness with which they fit to the arm. Blood is often drawn, and the skin rubbed off, in getting them over the hand; and as they are continually breaking, the poor girls suffer not a little for their vanity. Gems, gold, and rare shells, exquisitely manufactured, are worn in the utmost profusion by those who can afford them. The loss of the precious metals in India, by friction alone, is said to be immense. The fashion is of ancient date, for the oldest statues of their gods and goddesses are almost buried in jewels.

Females of the higher castes, married or unmarried, never go abroad alone, and without being completely veiled. If by any accident their faces happen to be uncovered, and they meet a European, they run, as fast as they can, into the first Hindoo house that has an appearance of respectability. In the interior of the country, a whole village of women are put in consternation by the sight of a European; this is probably in some measure owing to the insults of intoxicated soldiers.

The rajpoots, one of the military tribes of Hindostan, treat their women with an unusual degree of respect. A rajpoot never forgives an insult offered to his wife or daughter, and nothing but the death of the culprit can atone for his offence. None but the grandees avail themselves of the privilege to take several wives; and even they seldom do it, except from political considerations. Their married women never visit any but their nearest relatives; and any female would be very much ashamed of being seen in public. The rajpoots, though exceedingly kind husbands and sons, have one strangely unnatural custom; they put to death new-born female infants when they have no prospect of an advantageous settlement for them. The daughters which they bring up are kept most rigidly secluded from society. Merely to have been seen by any other man than their very nearest relation is considered pollution. The rajpoots carry this feeling so far, that when they cannot escape from a besieging enemy, they murder all their women, to prevent their being seen by strangers.

The Mahrattas of Hindostan form a kind of military republic, and live in a miserably uncleanly, half-barbarous manner. The women have very little beauty, and have generally a bold look, different from any other Hindoo females. The poor sling their children over their shoulders in a bag, and march thus a whole day, without any apparent fatigue. They accompany the army on horseback, with faces uncovered, and seated in the same manner as the men. A circumstance related by Broughton, in his Letters, gives us reason to think highly of the morals of this rude tribe. A young girl served in Sindia’s army two or three years, without being discovered. She gained the confidence of her superiors, and the regard of her associates, by conduct remarkably regular and exemplary. She always dressed her own dinner, and ate it by herself; and she was never seen to wash in the presence of any person. The secret which she took so much pains to conceal, was discovered by a young comrade, who followed her when she went to bathe. As soon as it was known that a woman had served so long and so faithfully in the army, Sindia made her flattering offers of promotion in the corps to which she belonged, and his wife proposed to receive her into her own household; but Jooruor Singh, as the young soldier was named, refused all patronage, and continued to serve for some months. She was about twenty-two years of age, with a fair and interesting countenance, though not handsome. She frankly answered questions concerning her situation, alike without bashfulness or boldness. It was finally discovered that the affectionate creature had encountered the fatigues and perils of military life with the hope of raising money enough to liberate a beloved brother imprisoned at Bopal. As soon as this circumstance became known to Sindia, he discharged her from the army, made her a liberal donation, and gave her a letter to the nabob of Bopal, earnestly recommending her and her brother to his protection.

It is very much to the honor of all parties, that Jooruor Singh, from the moment she was known to be a woman, received increased deference and attention; not even the meanest soldier presumed to utter an offensive word in her presence.

This furnishes a good commentary on the severe but often-evaded laws of the harem. Perfect external freedom is always the greatest safeguard of virtue.

The Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, have very extraordinary customs, for the origin of which it is difficult to account. Their women are beautiful and remarkably neat. They are usually married before they are ten years of age; but it would be deemed exceedingly indecorous for the husband to live with his wife, or even to visit her, except as an acquaintance. She lives with her mother, and prides herself on the number of her lovers, especially if they be Bramins or rajahs; but if any of them were her inferiors, she would be immediately expelled from her caste, which is the greatest misfortune that can befall a Hindoo. Owing to these strange customs, a Nair has much more affection for his sister’s children than for those of his wife, and no one is offended at being asked who is his father. The husband is, of course, the lover of some other married dame. If he offers the lady cloth for a dress, and she accepts it, the matter is settled, until they see fit to change. Sons inherit the fortune of the maternal grandfather. The heir apparent to the throne of Travancore is not the son of the rajah’s wife, but of his oldest sister, who is treated as queen.

The Nairs treat their mothers with the utmost respect, and have a filial regard for maternal uncles and aunts; but they scarcely notice their fathers, and have little affection for brothers and sisters. Yet notwithstanding this allowed profligacy, these singular people are very jealous of the honor of their women. An intrigue with a European, or one of a different tribe, would be punished with death. The Bramins indeed are allowed to be the lovers of wives and daughters of the other superior castes; their proposals are deemed too great an honor to be refused. The disgusting class called fakirs likewise obtain great influence over the minds of women by their ostentatious sanctity. They often carry beautiful girls to their temples, under the pretence that the god has chosen them for wives; and this is considered an enviable distinction. The women among the Nairs go with the upper part of the person entirely uncovered; as is generally the case throughout Malabar, and even in the southern parts of the peninsula. They have their ears bored in childhood, and in order to enlarge the aperture, they put in a rolled leaf of the cocoa tree, or suspend a piece of lead; afterward they insert small round ivory cases. They wear the hair flowing loosely behind, or hanging in several tresses curiously braided. It is never cut off, except in seasons of mourning, or as a punishment.

The women in this part of Hindostan have a singular custom. When a young girl is betrothed, when she is married, and when a son is born, all the female relatives meet at her house, and make the event known to the neighbors by a long, loud, monotonous howl, which one would suppose was intended to express any thing but joy.

There is a caste in Hindostan, comprising all painters and gilders, in which brothers marry their sisters, and uncles their nieces.

At funerals, hired female mourners tear their hair, beat themselves, and utter dismal cries. The custom of widows burning themselves upon the funeral pile of their husbands is not commanded as a religious duty in any of their sacred writings; but enthusiastic devotees have been led to sanction the cruel ceremony by the following text: “The woman who dies with her husband shall enjoy life eternal with him in heaven.”

A woman who resolves upon this sacrifice, abstains from food as soon as her husband is dead, and continually repeats the name of the god he had worshipped. When the hour arrives, she adorns herself with rich clothes and jewels, and goes to the funeral pile, attended by her relations and friends, with the sound of musical instruments. The Bramins give her drink in which opium is mixed, and sing songs in praise of heroism. It is said that before the ceremony they try to dissuade her from her project; but the resolution once taken is sacred. One of them being warned of the pain she would endure, held her finger in the fire for some time, and then burned incense on the palm of her hand, to prove her contempt of suffering. Mr. Forbes mentions a female whose husband had amply provided for her by will, and, contrary to the usual custom of the Hindoos, had made her perfectly independent of his family. “She persisted in her determination to accompany him to a better world, and suffered not the tears and supplications of an aged mother and three helpless infants to change her purpose. An immense concourse of people of all ranks assembled, and a band of music accompanied the Bramins, who superintended the ceremony. The bower of death, enwreathed with sacred flowers, was erected over a pile of sandal-wood and spices, on which lay the body of the deceased. After various ceremonies, the music ceased, and the crowd in solemn silence waited the arrival of the heroine. She was attended by her mother and three lovely children, arrayed in rich attire, and wearing the hymeneal crown. After a few religious ceremonies, the attendants took off her jewels, and anointed her dishevelled hair with consecrated ghee, as also the skirts of her yellow muslin robe. She then distributed her ornaments among weeping friends, while two lisping infants clung around her knees to dissuade her from the fatal purpose; the last pledge of conjugal love was taken from her bosom by an aged parent in speechless agony. Freed from these heart-piercing mourners, the lovely widow, with an air of solemn majesty, received a lighted torch from the Bramins, with which she walked seven times round the pyre. Stopping near the entrance of the bower, for the last time she addressed the fire, and worshipped the other deities prescribed; then setting fire to her hair and the skirts of her robe, to render herself the only brand worthy of illuminating the sacred pile, she threw away the torch, rushed into the bower, and embracing her husband, thus communicated the flames to the surrounding branches. The musicians immediately struck up the loudest strains, to drown the cries of the victim, should her courage have forsaken her; but several of the spectators declared that the serenity of her countenance and the dignity of her behavior surpassed all the sacrifices of a similar nature they had ever witnessed.”

Such an event is deemed very glorious to the family of the victim, and that of her husband. They are proud of her in proportion to the calmness and heroism with which she meets her fate. If the resolution of the poor creatures fail them at the last moment, they bring irretrievable disgrace on their connections. If they try to go back, they are often put to death by relatives, or expelled from their caste, and forever cut off from all intercourse with relations or friends. But notwithstanding religious enthusiasm, and the prejudices of education, they are not always resigned to their cruel fate.

In 1796, the widow of a Bramin determined to be burned with the body of her husband. It was dark and rainy when the pile was lighted, and when she began to be scorched by the flames, she crept away unperceived, and hid herself in the brushwood. It was soon discovered, and they dragged her forth. Her own son insisted that she should be thrown on the pile again, or else hang herself. She pleaded hard for life, but pleaded in vain. The son said he should be expelled from his caste, unless the sacrifice were completed, and that either he or she must die. Finding her still unwilling to destroy herself, the son and his companions bound her limbs and threw her on the funeral pile, where she quickly perished. The bones are carefully collected in vases, and thrown into some sacred river. The next day the Bramins sprinkle milk and consecrated water over the place, and sometimes erect a chapel.

It not unfrequently happens that a number of wives are burned at once with the dead body of their husband; and a willingness to make this sacrifice is said to be still more a point of honor with mistresses than with wives. When the chief Rao Lacka died, fifteen mistresses perished with him, but not one of his wives offered to sacrifice herself. A Koolin Bramin of Bagnuparu had more than a hundred wives, twenty-two of whom were consumed with his corpse. The fire was kept kindled for three days, waiting the arrival of the numerous victims. Some of them were forty years old, and others no more than sixteen. Nineteen of them had seldom even seen the husband with whom they consented to perish.

It is said the widows of Bramins less frequently immolate themselves than women of the other superior castes, because the Bramins often take wives without any inclination for the union on either side.

In 1819, a girl of fifteen determined to become a suttee.[6] The person to whom she had been betrothed died when she was six years old, and, according to custom, she had ever after remained unmarried. No entreaties could prevail on her to consent to live. She asked for a fiddle which had belonged to her betrothed, and jumped into the flames.

Among the Mahrattas, and some other tribes, whose custom it is to bury their dead, the sacrifice is made in a different manner. The widow is escorted to the grave by a solemn procession; having listened to the exhortations of the Bramins, and parted her jewels among friends, she places upon her head a pot filled with rice, plantain, betel, and water; then with clasped hands she bids farewell to the spectators, and descends into the grave by means of a bamboo ladder; she seats herself by the body of her husband, the ladder is drawn up, and the music resounds, while the relatives throw in a quantity of earth to suffocate the poor creature.

The Shaster, or Hindoo Bible, forbids a woman to see dancing, hear music, wear jewels, blacken her eyebrows, eat dainty food, sit at a window, or view herself in a mirror, during the absence of her husband; and it allows him to divorce her if she has no sons, injures his property, scolds him, quarrels with another, or presumes to eat before he has finished his meal.

Truly, in no part of the world does the condition of women appear more dreary than in Hindostan. The arbitrary power of a father disposes of them in childhood; if the boy to whom they are betrothed dies before the completion of the marriage, they are condemned forever after to perpetual celibacy; under these restraints, if their affections become interested and lead them into any imprudence, they are punished with irretrievable disgrace, and in many districts with death; if married, their husbands have despotic control over them; if unable to support them, they can lend or sell them to a neighbor; and in the Hindoo rage for gambling, wives and children are frequently staked and lost; if they survive their husbands, they must pay implicit obedience to the oldest son; if they have no sons, the nearest male relative holds them in subjection; and if there happen to be no kinsmen, they must be dependent on the chief of the tribe. Having spent life with scanty opportunities to partake of its enjoyments, they become objects of contempt if they refuse to depart from it, in compliance with a most cruel custom.

The self-immolation of widows is of great antiquity. The natives have a tradition that women many centuries ago frequently murdered their husbands; and the Bramins, finding the severest punishments of no avail, put an effectual check to it, by saying it was the will of the gods, that widows should be burned on the funeral pile of their husbands.

The English government have made great exertions to abolish this abominable practice, and it is now prohibited by law in every part of British India.

The Hindoo character is proverbial for patient mildness; yet their religious superstitions continually lead them to the most ferocious deeds. Fond as the women are of their children, they make a great merit of throwing them to the sacred crocodiles, and not unfrequently cast them from steep rocks, in fulfilment of some superstitious vow.

They themselves undergo the most frightful penances, and willingly lie down to be devoured by crocodiles, or crushed beneath the car of Juggernaut. Among the lighter penances, is that of conveying a great quantity of water from the sacred Ganges to a temple at some distance. Women of the higher castes, being unwilling to appear in the streets, hire others to perform this expiatory duty for them.

The Rev. Dr. Buchanan, in his description of the sacrifices at the temple of Juggernaut, says: “At the place of skulls, I beheld a poor woman lying dead, or nearly dead, with her two children by her, looking at the dogs and vultures which were near. The people passed by without noticing the children. I asked them where was their home. They said they had no home but where their mother was.”

This bigoted attachment to customs so horrid and unnatural, is remarkable in a people who are so tolerant of the opinions of others. It is a singular fact that the Hindoos reverence the objects held sacred by other nations; hence their women and children are frequently seen bringing offerings of fruit and flowers to the mosque of the Mohammedan, and the chapel of the Catholic. They say, “Heaven is like a palace with many doors, and every one may enter in his own way.”

The custom of murdering female infants, which formerly prevailed throughout several districts in India, is so unnatural that it could not be believed, if it were not proved beyond all possibility of doubt. The horrid act was generally done by the mothers themselves, either by administering opium as soon as a child was born, smothering it, or neglecting the precautions necessary to preserve life. Now and then a wealthy man saved one daughter, especially if he had no sons; but the practice of infanticide was so general, that when the young men wanted wives, they were obliged to seek them in such neighboring tribes as their laws permitted them to marry. The marquis of Wellesley, during his government in India, made great exertions to have this abominable custom abolished; but the natives were very stubborn in their prejudices. They urged the natural inferiority of females, the great responsibility which attended their bringing up, and the expense incident upon their marriages. The arguments of the English, aided by the influence of certain solemn sentences from some of their sacred books, did, however, at last persuade them to abolish the barbarous practice. Colonel Walker was the British officer who, after much difficulty, prevailed on the Jarejah tribe to relinquish the custom. A year or two after, many of the Jarejah fathers and mothers brought their infant daughters to his tent, and exhibited them with the utmost pride and fondness. Grateful for the change produced in their habits, the mothers placed their children in colonel Walker’s hands, called them his children, and begged him to protect those whom he had preserved.

The gentle and inoffensive character of the Hindoos is not without exceptions. Bands of robbers infest the more northern parts; and some of them make use of a singular stratagem to decoy travellers. They send out a beautiful woman, who with many tears complains of some misfortune that has befallen her, and implores their protection. No sooner has the unwary traveller taken her behind him on horseback, than she strangles him with a noose, or stuns him with a blow on the head, until the robbers come from their hiding-place, and complete his destruction. It is generally supposed that these murderers came into India with the Mohammedan conquerors.

The Hindoos are very fond of shows and amusements; but in these the women, especially of the higher classes, have little share. The female pastimes consist principally of bathing, dressing, chewing betel, listening to story-tellers, and playing a species of draughts.

In March the Hindoos keep a great festival called hohlee; and it is a singular coincidence that during one of these holydays it is common to send people on absurd errands, in order to create a laugh at their expense, just as we do on the first of April. They likewise divert themselves with throwing about great quantities of earth used in painting, and known by the name of India red. The sport is to cast it into the eyes, mouth, and nose. Sometimes it is powdered with talc to make it glitter, and then if it gets into the eyes it is very painful. They likewise splash each other all over, with squirts filled with orange-colored water, made of the flowers of the dak tree. These frolics usually take place under the front awning of wealthy houses, or the terraces of the gardens, but sometimes within the buildings. A rajah, surrounded by his numerous wives, has a fair chance to get his full share of powdering and drenching.

The hohlee is observed by all classes throughout Hindostan, with the most boisterous merriment. The utmost freedom is allowed to all ranks. Young men and old parade about the streets, singing indecent songs. Sometimes an individual dresses himself up in the most fantastic style, to personify the hohlee, and is followed by crowds throwing red dust and orange-colored water. This custom, which is said to be connected with some religious tradition, is very similar to the observance of the carnival in Catholic countries. The Hindoo ladies have their share of the festivities; but no one is allowed to join their parties except their husbands, or very young brothers.

The wives of jugglers follow the same profession as their husbands. It is a common sight to see young women walking on their heads, with their feet in the air, turning round like a wheel, or walking on their hands and feet, with the body bent backward.

A recent traveller thus describes one of the tricks which he saw performed: “A young and beautifully formed woman fixed on her head a stiff strong fillet, to which were fastened, at equal distances, twenty pieces of string, with a noose at the end of each. Under her arm she carried a basket containing twenty eggs. She advanced near us, and began to move rapidly round upon a spot not more than eighteen inches in diameter, from which she never deviated for an instant, though her rotation became so exceedingly rapid as to render it painful to look at her. She absolutely spun round like a top. When her body had reached its extreme point of acceleration, she quickly drew down one of the strings, which had formed a horizontal circle round her, and put an egg into the noose. She then jerked it back to its original position, and continuing her gyrations with undiminished velocity, she secured all the eggs in the nooses prepared for them, until they were all flying around her head in one unbroken circular line. After this she continued her motions with undiminished velocity for at least five minutes, then seized the eggs one by one, and replaced them in the basket. This being done, she stopped in an instant, without the movement of a limb, or the vibration of a muscle, as if she had been suddenly transformed to marble. She received our applauses with a calm countenance, and an apparent modesty of demeanor, which was doubtless the result of constitutional apathy, rather than refinement of feeling; for these jugglers are generally among the most depraved of their caste.”

The reputed wealth and fertile soil of Hindostan have attracted foreigners from all parts of the world. Some entered as conquerors, some sought refuge from persecution, and others went there for commercial purposes. The peculiar manners of these different nations have become too variously modified to be particularly described. The Mohammedans, who obtained certain districts by conquest, are extravagantly fond of pomp and splendor. The nabob Asuf gave a proof of this in the wedding of his adopted son Vizier Aly. The bridegroom was about thirteen years of age, the bride ten. The prince could hardly move under the weight of his jewels. The procession consisted of about twelve hundred elephants richly caparisoned, of which one hundred in the centre had houdas, or castles, on their backs, covered with silver. In the midst was the nabob himself, within a houda covered with gold and set with precious stones. On both sides of the road was raised artificial scenery of bamboo-work, representing arches, minarets, and towers, covered with lighted glass lamps. On each side were carried platforms, covered with gold and silver cloth, on which were musicians and dancing girls superbly dressed. The ground was inlaid with fireworks, and at every step of the elephants, rockets and fiery serpents shot forth, kindling the night into day. Three thousand flambeaux were likewise carried by men hired for the occasion.

The palanquins in which the wealthy are carried are sometimes very magnificent. They are painted and gilded, ornamented with gold, silver, and jewels, with cushions and coverings of crimson velvet.

The religion of Brama, as well as that of Mohammed, forbids women to appear in public; but the lower classes of Hindoos do not attempt to comply with the inconvenient requisition. The Mohammedan women, on the contrary, are extremely punctilious on this point; even the poorest never venture out of doors without being enveloped in a cotton veil made like a bag, with a slight net-work over the eyes and mouth. Those who cannot afford to travel in palanquins, ride astride on a bullock, which has a bell suspended to the neck, and a bridle passed through the nostrils. A more uncouth or unpleasant sight cannot well be imagined, unless it might be a shrouded corpse thus mounted.

Mrs. Graham, in her very entertaining account of India, gives the following description of a visit to the harem of a Mohammedan chief: “My sister and I were allowed to enter, but we could by no means persuade the cazy to admit any of the gentlemen of our family. We ascended to the women’s apartment by a ladder, which is removed when not in immediate use, to prevent the ladies from escaping. We were received by the cazy’s wife’s mother, a fine old woman dressed in white, and without ornaments, as becomes a widow. The cazy’s mother, and the rest of his father’s widows, were first presented; then Fatima, his wife, to whom our visit was paid; and afterward his sisters, some of them fine, lively young women. They all crowded round us to examine our dress, and the materials of which it was composed. They were surprised at our wearing so few ornaments; but we told them it was the custom of our country, and they replied that it was good. I was not sorry they so openly expressed their curiosity, as it gave us a better opportunity of gratifying our own. The apartment in which we were received was about twenty feet square, and rather low. Round it were smaller rooms, most of them crowded with small beds, with white muslin curtains; these were not particularly clean, and the whole suit seemed close and disagreeable. Most of the women were becomingly dressed. Fatima’s arms, feet, and neck were covered with rings and chains; her fingers and toes were loaded with rings; her head was surrounded with a fillet of pearls, some strings of which crossed it several ways, and confined her hair, which was knotted up behind. On her forehead hung a cluster of colored stones, from which depended a large pearl, and round her face small strings of pearl hung at equal distances. Her ear-rings were very beautiful; but I do not like the custom of boring the hem of the ear, and studding it all round with joys, or jewels; and not even Fatima’s beautiful face could reconcile me to the nose jewel. Her large black eyes (the chesme ahoo, or stag eyes, of the eastern poets) were rendered more striking by the black streaks with which they were adorned, and lengthened out at the corners. The palms of her hands, the soles of her feet, and her nails, were stained with henna, a plant, the juice of whose seeds is of a deep-red color.”

“Fatima’s manner is modest, gentle, and indolent. Before her husband, she neither lifts her eyes nor speaks, and hardly moves without permission from the elder ladies of the harem. She presented us with perfumed sherbet, (a drink little different from lemonade,) fruit, and sweetmeats, chiefly made of ghee, poppy seeds, and sugar. Some of them were tolerably good, but it required all my politeness to swallow others. Prepared as I was to expect very little from Mussulman ladies, I could not help being shocked to find them so totally devoid of cultivation as I found them. They mutter their prayers, and some of them read the Koran, but not one in a thousand understands it. Still fewer can read their own language, or write at all; and the only work they do is a little embroidery. They string beads, plait colored threads, sleep, quarrel, make pastry, and chew betel, in the same daily round. It is only at a death, a birth, or a marriage, that the monotony of their lives is interrupted. When we took leave, we were sprinkled with rose-water, and presented with flowers, and betel nut wrapped in the leaves of an aromatic plant.”