Note 335.1 — Chapter XIV · MARRIAGE RITES.

Among several of the aboriginal tribes of Bengal a curious ceremony is practised. It is known as sindúr (or sindra) dán, and consists in the bridegroom’s marking his bride with red lead. This ceremony is the essential part of the entire performance, which renders the union indissoluble, in the same way as the putting on of the ring in the marriage service of this country. The sindúr, or red lead, is generally smeared on the bride’s forehead and the parting of her hair, but sometimes on her neck. It is usually done either with the little finger or with a knife.335.1 In either case this detail is significant, because it points to the origin of the custom. There can be no doubt that vermilion is a well-recognised symbol of blood. I have already mentioned the primitive usage of daubing the stone which was both god and altar with the blood of the sacrificed victim. Everywhere in India the idol, whether a finished simulacrum or a rude unchiselled stone, is dashed with vermilion. Sometimes the object of worship is a tree; and its stem in the same way is streaked with red lead. Sir William Hunter lays it down that the worship of the Great Mountain, the national god of the Santals, “is essentially a worship of blood.” Human sacrifices were common, until put down by the British. At the present day, “if the sacrificer cannot afford an animal, it is with a red flower or a red fruit that he approaches the divinity.”335.2 Nor is red as a symbol of blood confined to India. We do not need to go further afield than the Roman Catholic Church, or even certain sections of the English Church, to find red worn in ecclesiastical ceremonies on the day of a martyr’s commemoration, expressly as an allusion to the outpouring of that martyr’s blood. The use of the colour in the wedding ceremony has reference also to blood. Among the Dom, the Muchi, the Sánkhári and other Bengali tribes red is the bridal colour;336.1 as it is likewise in China, at least where the bride is a maiden.336.2 In Ukrainia at a certain stage of the proceedings a red flag is hoisted and red ribbons adorn the dresses of the bride and other members of the party. The meaning attached to them in this case does not admit of doubt;336.3 and it may be legitimately inferred in the others.