and advantages than what they now enjoy under the benign influence of the English nation. If there is any nation of Europe which has an innate love of justice and fair play, it is the English nation."1 The same journal, speaking of British charity, says: "The noble sympathy which England has recently shown to India, by raising within a short time thirty lacs of rupees in aid of the famine sufferers in the Madras Presidency, calls for the deepest gratitude from the people of India. We do not remember to have heard or read of such hearty and substantial sympathy shown by any other country to a foreign people in distress." The same sentiment regarding British rule is expressed by a Hindoo gentleman, in the following speech delivered at a public meeting in the city of Bombay: "I am sure that every sensible and well-informed man in this country is loyal. This country for many past centuries had no government deserving the name. There was neither internal peace nor security from foreign invasion. There was no power in India which could put a stop to the evil practices of sotee, infanticide, religious suicide, and human sacrifices. The whole nation presented a scene of stagnation and ignorance; but the case is now different. Under the auspices of a beneficent, civilised, and strong Government, we have become progressive. Light and knowledge are pouring in upon the country. Old prejudices and errors are vanishing. We therefore count it a great privilege to be loyal subjects of the Empress of India. There is now security of life and property as perfect as human institutions can make it. Those who are old enough are aware of the plundering excursions of the Pindarees, who, descending from the ghats, spread terror in the Concan. These professional robbers have been extirpated by the British Government. We enjoy liberty 1 Public Opinion, Saturday, 30th December, 1876, p. 831. of speech, of petition, and of the press. We enjoy the blessings of education, useful public works, internal peace, and freedom from foreign invasions." Whatever irritation there may be arising from subjection to a foreign yoke, to remove it is not a hopeless task. There was a day when the hostility of the Scotch to their southern neighbours never slept, when statesmen, poets, and divines, poured forth their effusions to intensify the national hate. But now wrathful passions are hushed; the two peoples heartily coalesce and vie with each other in rendering faithful service to the throne. Wisdom, justice, and clemency in conducting public affairs produced the change, and they will have the same salutary tendency in India. What was done in Bengal in 1874, and in Madras and Bombay in 1877, to mitigate the horrors of famine, must have drawn out the best feelings of the people towards the Government. To give food to the famishing, it expended sixteen millions of pounds sterling. It would be in vain to look for anything like this during the reign of native monarchs. Indeed, benevolence on so large a scale, and administered in such a kind and sympathetic spirit, was never witnessed before in any country or age. 2 1 "India and her Neighbours," by W. P. Andrew, pp. 194, 195. 2 Statement of Sir John Strachey, the Financial Minister, 27th December, 1877. 123 CHAPTER IX. THE INSTITUTION OF MARRIAGE. MARRIAGE is an institution established among all people that have emerged from barbarism. The order, progress, and happiness of civilized life are greatly influenced by itimpeded or promoted; for, according to the estimation in which it is held, evil is brought forth, or whatever tends to adorn and elevate human society is preserved and strengthened. In nearly all nations, its laws, rites, and ceremonies vary, indicating how one country differs from another in its condition, religion, or morals. The marriage laws of the Hindoos have been in force several thousand years, and continue to influence the condition and destinies of nearly a fifth part of the human race. In their nature and operation they are peculiar. To first and second cousins and to nieces, Hindoos cannot be allied, but may wed at the same time two or more girls who are sisters. It is their custom to intermarry in the same caste, but not in the same division of it. For instance, there are Kooleens distinguished by such titles as Banerjee, Mookherjee, Chatterjee, and Gangooly; but the daughter of a Banerjee cannot be contracted to a Banerjee, she must be affianced to a Brahmon of one of the other classes. And this applies to those who are Mookherjees, Chatterjees, or Gangoolies; their husbands must belong to a division of the Monoo says: caste which is different from their own. “Let the twice-born man espouse a wife of the same class with himself, and endowed with the marks of excellence. She who is not descended from his paternal or maternal ancestors, within the sixth degree, and who is not known by her family name to be of the same primitive stock with his father or mother, is eligible to be chosen by a twice-born man for nuptials and holy union." "1 Of It is also the custom for marriage to take place in the order of birth, for elder sons and daughters to be married before their younger brothers and sisters, and deviation from it is an act for which an atonement is offered.2 Therefore, except when under a very powerful inducement, a Hindoo father will not depart from it, and, if urged to do it, may say with Laban: "It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the first-born."3 native female beauty, some idea may be formed from the following description of Brohma's daughter: "This girl was of a yellow colour; had a nose like the flower of the sesamum; her legs were taper, like the plantain tree; her eyes large, like the principal leaf of the lotus; her eyebrows extended to her ears; her lips were like the young leaves of the mango tree; her face was like the full moon; her voice like the sound of the cuckoo; her arms reached to her knees; her throat was like that of a pigeon; her loins narrow, like those of a lion; her hair hung in curls down to her feet; her teeth were like the seeds of the pomegranate; and her gait like that of a young elephant or a goose." Speaking of marriage, Monoo says: "Let the twice-born man choose for his wife a girl whose form has no defect, who has an agreeable name, who walks gracefully, like a young elephant; whose hair and teeth are 1 Monoo, iii. 4, 5. 2 Ibid. xi. 61; iii. 170. 4 Shivo Poorano. "1 moderate respectively in quantity and size; whose body has exquisite softness.' At the period this counsel was given, which may have been about nine hundred years before the birth of Christ, Hindoos had freedom of choice and married at an adult age. Now, the choosing of a wife is done by proxy, and not by the person specially interested in the matter. Not anything like courtship ever takes place. Marriages are celebrated in childhood. To give a daughter in marriage before the age of puberty is deemed a religious duty; deferring it till she has attained her twelfth year and arrived at womanhood brings disgrace on the parents. "Reprehensible is the father who gives not his daughter in marriage at the proper time."2 What is the proper time? may be asked. The answer is-She may become a bride, "even though she have not attained her age of eight years." A Brahmon may enter the state of marriage after being invested with the sacred thread, which ceremony can be performed in his eighth year, or two or three years later. Boys of the Shoodra class, not having to undergo this ceremony of investiture, as they are not privileged to wear the sacred cord, can marry a little earlier than the priestly order. it Men who devote themselves to a life of seclusion from the world, passing their time in the practice of austerities, and prayer, and contemplation, may remain in a state of celibacy; but the option of continuing single is not allowed to any class of women-they are all destined to be married whenever husbands can be found for them; so that aged spinsters, who are numerous in other lands, are quite unknown in India, and the native mind can hardly conceive the possibility of their existence. Formerly it seems to have been otherwise, for ancient books make mention of virgins consecrated to a solitary life who attained great celebrity. Though two families, if they be well acquainted with 1 Monoo, iii. 10. 2 Ibid. ix. 4; 88. |