Part 3

In the beginning of this sketch I set out by stating that the peculiar constitution of Hindoo society bears an affinity to the old patriarchal system. This is true to a very great extent. The system has its advantages and disadvantages, which are, in a great measure, inseparable from the outgrowth of the social organism. If properly weighed in the scale, the latter will most assuredly counterbalance the former, so much so, that in the great majority of cases, discord and disquietude is the inevitable result of joint fraternisation. Leadership is certainly organisation; it formed the nucleus of the patriarchal system. But it is simply absurd to expect that there should always be a happy marriage of minds in all cases, between so many men and women living together, endowed with different degrees of culture and influenced by adverse interests and sentiments. In the nature of things, it is impossible that all the members of a large family, having separate and specific objects of their own, should coalesce and cordially co-operate to promote the general welfare of a family, under a common leader or head. The millennium is not yet come. Seven brothers living together with their wives and children under one and the same paternal roof, cannot reasonably be expected to abide in a state of perfect harmony so long as selfishness and incongruous tastes and interests are continually at work to sap the very foundation of friendliness and good fellowship. Union is strength, but harmonious union under the peculiar regime indicated above, is already a remarkable exception in the present state of Hindoo society. If minutely probed, it will be found that women are at the bottom of that mischievous discord, which eats into the very vitals of domestic felicity. Segregation, therefore, is the only means that promises to afford a relief from this social incubus; and to segregation many families have now resorted, much after the fashion of the dominant race, with a view to the uninterrupted enjoyment of domestic happiness.

Having briefly indicated in the preceding lines the chief family constituents of a Hindoo household in their several relations and characteristics, it is scarcely necessary for me to add, that whenever this interesting group, consisting of sweet children, loving husbands and wives, and affectionate parents and brothers, is animated by the vital, indestructible principles of virtue, practically recognising the obligations of duty, the divinity of conscience, and the moral connection of the present and future life, it will be found to diffuse all the blessings of peace, joy and moral order around the social and domestic hearth.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The late Dr. Jackson, who was the family physician of the great Native millionaire,--Baboo Ashutosh Dey--seeing the very large number of men and women who resided in his family dwelling house, very facetiously remarked that the mansion was a small colony. A similar remark was made by Dr. Duff when he happened to see the numerous members of the Dutt family in Nimtollah, West of the Free Church Institution. If all the children and adults, male and female, of the family now, are counted, the actual number would, if I am not mistaken, come up to near 500 persons, perhaps more.

[2] Natives are always provident enough to lay in a month's supply of articles which are not of a perishable nature. In the Upper and Central Provinces, they generally provide a twelve-months' requirements at the harvest season when prices are moderate. They are thus enabled to husband their resources in the most economical manner possible.

[3] The following scene will clearly illustrate the point. At an assembly of some females on a festive occasion, among other current topics of the day, the conversation turned on the religion of the _Sahib logues_(Europeans). Impelled by a sense of duty and justice no less than by the convictions of conscience, I admired the disinterested exertions of the Christian Missionaries in endeavouring to spread among our benighted countrymen the benefits of a good education as well as the blessings of a good religion. Fearlessly encountering all the dangers of the deep, which, happily for the cause of human advancement, have now been greatly minimized, renouncing all the pleasures of the world, and fortifying their minds against persecution, suffering and reproach, they come, not only among us but travel through the most uncongenial climes "to preach Christ." The remarkable disinterestedness and self-denial of some of these Missionaries is a bright reality, to appreciate which is to appreciate Christianity. Before the propagation of the religion of Christ, said I, the most admired form of goodness was centred in patriotism or the love of one's own country, but Jesus brought with him a new era of philanthrophy, the main pervading principle of which is a spirit of martyrdom in the cause of mankind. Can we find traces of such catholicism in our Hindoo Shaster? The universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man is only practically enunciated in the religion of Christ. The females were all struck with the noble, sublime, yet humble, forgiving and disinterested virtues of the religion of the _Sahib logues_. But a pert young female, quite unschooled by experience and too much wedded to wordly attractions, rather thoughtlessly replied that "the act of giving education is a good thing in its own way, so far as it affords a means of earning money, but why do the _Padrees_ (Missionaries) strive to convert our Hindoo boys, and thereby compel them to forsake their parents to whom they owe their being? What advantage do they gain by such conversions? This is not good. Brahmo religion does not demand any such sacrifice. Why do the heads of the _Padrees_ ache for this purpose? They ought to give all their money to us, poor women, that we may buy ornaments therewith." Such is the low, grovelling idea they generally have of Christianity. It is useless to argue with them, simply because their minds are completely saturated with deep-rooted prejudice, and narrow, debased, selfish views.

[4] The following incident will doubtless contribute not a little to the amusement of the reader. One day a governess was giving instructions in needle-work to a young married girl of thirteen years of age. She, (the girl) was industriously plying the needle, when lo! an aged female cook from the house of her husband suddenly appeared before her, and simply enquired of her how she was. The shy girl, overpowered by a sense of shame, dropped down her veil almost to the ground, and not only stopped work but likewise ceased to talk to the governess. The latter struck with amazement, quietly asked her pupil if she had hurt her eyes because she held fast her right hand on that part of her face. Other ladies of the family stepped forward and explained to the governess the real cause of the awkward position the girl was placed in. It was nothing more nor less than the unexpected visit of the female cook to the family of the bride. From feelings of false delicacy in presence of her husband's cook, she hung down her face and dropped down her veil. The governess learning the true cause politely desired the female cook to retire that she might be enabled to give her lessons without any interruption.

[5] Whether descended from a Brahmin or Kayasth family, she goes by the general name of _Bamun Didi_ (sister) so named that the members of other families might unsuspectingly eat out of her hands. She is also called _Maye_ (woman). The entertaining of a middle aged female (generally a widow) is considered safe and irreproachable.

[6] In order to preserve the hair and keep it clean, all Hindu females in Bengal use cocoanut oil for the head; they however rub their bodies with mustard oil before bathing. Young ladies occasionally use pomatum, bear's grease, soap, etc., which, in a religious sense, is desecration.

II.

THE BIRTH OF A HINDOO.

The birth of a Hindoo into the household of which he is to form an essential constituent is attended with circumstances which partake, more or less, of the religion he inherits. It has been said that by tradition and instinct as well as by early habits, he is a religious character. He is born religiously, lives religiously, eats religiously, walks religiously, writes religiously, sleeps religiously and dies religiously. His every-day life is an endless succession of rites and ceremonies which he observes with the utmost of scrupulousness sanctioned by divine veneration. From his very birth his mind is imbued with superstitious ideas, which subsequent mental culture can hardly ever eradicate, so strong being the influence of his early impressions.

It is now generally known that Hindoo girls are betrothed even in their tenderest years, and that the solemnisation of the marriage takes place whenever they attain to the age of puberty. Thus it is not uncommon for a young wife to be delivered of her first child in her thirteenth year, although the glory of motherhood is more frequently not realised until the fourteenth or fifteenth year. When the period of delivery arrives, and to her it is an awful period, which can be more easily conceived than described, the girl writhing under agony is taken into a room called Sootikaghur or Antoorghur, where no male members of the family are admitted. She is made to wear a red-bordered robe and two images of the goddess _Shashthi_ made of cowdung are placed near the threshold of the room for her daily worship with rice and _durva_ grass, for one month--the period of her confinement. If in her tender age, the labor be a protracted one, she often suffers greatly from the want of a skilful surgeon or even a proper midwife. Before the founding of that noble Institution, the Calcutta Medical College, proper midwives were not procurable, because they had had no systematic training; their profession was chiefly confined to the Dome and Bagthee caste, yet some of them were known to have acquired a tolerable fortune. Their fee varied from 5 to 50 Rupees, besides clothes and other gifts; the poor, certainly, giving less. For some years past, a strong belief has sprung up among some women that delivery in the name of god Hari Krishna is very safe. They that follow this religious regime, are believed, in the majority of cases, to have passed through the struggle of childbirth quite scathless. They use no _jhall_ or _thap_,[7] bathe in cold water immediately after delivery, take the ordinary food of _dhall vath_, curry, fish and tamarind, after offering them to the god Hari, and on the 30th day make a Poojah (worship) consecrating in honor of the god a quantity of sweetmeats (_sundesh and batasha_) and finally distribute them among children and others. This distribution is called Hariloot. This strong faith in the god seems to enable them to pass the period of confinement without danger. If the offspring of such women become strong, their strength is attributed to the mercy of the said god.[8]

A woman that follows the old prescribed practice has to take _jhall_ and _thap_ and go through a strict course of dietetics, abstaining altogether from the use of cold water or any cooling beverage. She has to undergo the action of heat for at least five hours a day. The body and head of the newborn babe is rubbed with warm mustard oil--an application which is considered the best preservative of health in children. Exposure of the mother in any shape, is most strictly prohibited, and the use of certain indigenous drugs and warm applications is made as an antidote against all diseases of a puerperal character.

While undergoing the throes of nature, the exhausted spirit of the expectant mother is buoyed up by the fond hope of having a _male_ child, which, in the estimation of a Hindoo female, is worth a world of suffering.

In the event of the offspring turning out a female, her friends try to encourage her for the moment by their assurance that the child born is a male, and a lovely and sweet child, ushered into the world under the peculiar auspices of the goddess Shasthi. Such assurances serve very much to keep up her spirit for the time being, but when she is brought to her senses and does not hear the sound of a conch[9] her delusion is removed, sorrow and disappointment take the place of joy and excitement, her buoyant spirit collapses and a strong reaction sets in. Thus in a moment, a grace is converted into a gorgon, a beauty into a monstrosity, an angel into a fiend. She curses the day, she curses her fate. But "such is the make and mechanism of human nature" that she soon resigns herself to the wise dispensations of an overruling Providence. She gradually feels a strong affection for the female child and rears it with all the care and tenderness of a mother; she caresses and fondles it as if it were a boy, and her affection grows warmer as the child grows. This is natural and inevitable. At the birth of a male child, the occurrence is immediately announced by _sanka dhani_ (sound of a conch); musicians without being sent for, come and play the _tom tom_; the family barber bears the happy tidings to all the nearest relatives, and he is rewarded with presents of money and cloths. Oil, sweetmeats, fishes, curdled milk, and other things, are presented to the relatives and neighbours, who, in return, offer their congratulations. A rich Hindoo, though he studies practical domestic economy very carefully, is, however, apt to loosen his purse string at the birth of a son and heir. The mother forgetting her trouble and agony implores _Bidhátá_[10] for the longevity of the child. She cheerfully suckles it and her heart swells with joy every time she looks at its face.

On the second day after delivery, she gets a little sago and _cheeray vájáh_ (a sort of parched rice). On the third day the same diet, with the addition of a single grain of boiled rice, and a little fried potatoe or _pull bull_, that she may use those things afterwards with safety. On the fifth day, if everything is right, the room is washed and she is allowed to come out of it for a short time; a little boiled rice and _moong dhall_ is her diet that day.

On the sixth day, the image of the goddess _Shasthi_ is worshipped in front of the room where the child was born, because she is the protectress of all children. The Poojah is called the _Seytayra_ Poojah (worship). Offerings of rice, plantain, sweetmeat, clothes, milk, &c, are presented to the goddess by the officiating priest, and the following articles are kept in her room for the _Bidhátá Pooroosh_ (god of fate) in order that he may note down unseen on the forehead of the child its future destiny, _viz._, a palm leaf, a Bengalee pen with ink, a serpent's skin, a brick from the temple of the god Shiva, and two kinds of fruits, _atmora_ and _veyla_, a little wool, gold and silver. On the eighth day is held the ceremony of _Autcowroy_, or the distribution of eight kinds of parched peas, rice, sweetmeats, with cowries and pice, amongst the children of the house and neighbourhood. On the evening of that day, the children assemble and with a _Koolo_ (winnowing fan) going up three times to the door of the room beat it (the koolo) with small sticks, asking at the same in a chorus "as to how the child is doing," and shouting, "let it rest in peace on the lap of its mother." These juvenile ceremonies, if ceremonies they can be called, give infinite delight to the children, who are sometimes prompted by the adult members of the family to indulge in jocularity by way of abusing the father, not of course to irritate but to amuse him. At the birth of a female child, in common with the depreciation in which it is held, this ceremony is observed on a very poor scale. On the thirty-first day after the birth, the ceremony of _Shasthi_ Poojah is again performed. Hence a woman who has had as many as twelve or fifteen or more children, is called the _Shasthi Booree_, or "the old woman of Shasthi." Before a twig of a _Bátá_ tree, the priest, while repeating the usual incantation, presents offerings of rice, fruits, sweetmeats, cloths, parched peas and rice, oil, turmeric, betel, betel-nuts, two eggs of a duck, and twenty-one small wicker baskets filled with _khoyee_ (parched rice) plantain and _bátásá_, which are all given to a number of women whose husbands are alive. It is on this occasion that the priest is also required to perform the worship of the goddess _Soobachinee_,[11] said to be one of the forms of the goddess Doorga.

When the father first goes to see the child, he puts some gold coin into its hand and pours his benediction on its head. Other relatives who may be present at the time do the same.

All respectable Hindoos keep an exact record of the birth of a child, especially a male child. Every family has its _Dowyboghee_ or astrologer who prepares a horoscope in which he notes down the day, the hour and the minute of the birth of the child, opens the roll of its fate and describes what shall happen to it during the period of its existence. These horoscopes are so much relied on, that if it is stated therein that the stellar mansion under which the child was born was not good, and that it shall be exposed to serious dangers, either from sickness or accident, at such a period of its life, every possible care is taken through _Grohojag_ and _Sustyan_ (religious atonement) to propitiate the god of fate, and ward off the apprehended danger before it comes to pass. These papers are carefully preserved by the parents, who occasionally refer to them when anything, good or evil, happens to the child. A Hindoo astrologer is a man of high pretensions; he dives into the womb of futurity and foretells what shall happen to a man in this life, without thinking for a moment, that our Creator has not vouchsafed to us the powers of divination. In a court of justice these papers are of great value in verifying the exact age of a person, and at the time of marriage, or rather before it, they are carefully consulted as to the nature of the stellar mansion under which both the boy and girl were born, and the peculiar circumstances by which they were surrounded. Many a match is broken off because the twelve signs in the zodiac do not coincide; for instance, if the boy be of the _Lion rass_ (sign) and the girl of the _Lamb rass_, the one, it is said, will destroy the other; so these papers are of very great importance when a matrimonial alliance is in course of being negotiated.

When a male child is six months old, the parents make preparations for the celebration of the _Unnoprássun_, or christening, when not only a name is given to the child, but it gets boiled rice for the first time. On this occasion, the father is required to perform a _Bidhi Shrád_ so called from the increase and preservation of the members of the family. Some who live near Calcutta celebrate the rite by going to Kallee Ghaut, and procuring a little boiled rice through one of the priests of the sacred fane at a cost of eight or ten Rupees. When the rice is brought home a few grains are put into the mouth of the child by a male member of the family. The ceremony being thus performed the child from that day is allowed to take prepared food if necessary. Such families as do not choose to go to Kallee Ghaut observe the ceremony at home, and spend from 200 to 300 Rupees in feeding the Brahmans, friends and relatives, who, in return, offer their benediction and give from one to ten Rupees each to the child, which being shaved, clad in a silk garment, and adorned with gold ornaments, is brought out for the purpose after the entertainment. It is on such occasions that splendid dowries are settled on some children in grants of land or of Government securities, and I have known instances in which a dowry amounted to a lakh of Rupees. Of late years, the practice of making gifts to the child being held in the obnoxious light of a tax, the good taste of some has led them to confine the rite within the circumscribed limit of their own family. Superstition has its influence in making the choice of the name given to the child. The Hindoos are generally named after their gods and goddesses, under a belief that the repetition of such names in the daily intercourse of life will not only absolve them from sins, but give them present happiness and hope of blessedness in a state of endless duration. Some parents purposely give an unpleasant name to a child, that may be born after repeated bereavements, believing thereby the curses of the wicked shall fall innocuous on its head. Such names are Nafar, Goburdhone, Ghooie, Tincurry, Panchcurry, Dookhi, &c. In the case of females, she who has many daughters, and does not wish for more, gives them such names as _Khaynto_ (cessation,) _Arná_ (no more,) _Ghyrná_ (despised,) _Chee chee_ (expression of contempt.)[12]

Except under extraordinary circumstances, a Hindoo mother[13] seldom engages a wet nurse; she continues to suckle her child till it is three or four years old, and attends at the same time to her numerous household duties, which are by no means light or easy. Indolent loveliness, reclining on a sofa, is not a truthful picture of her life; it may be she has to cook for her husband, because he is such an orthodox Hindoo that he will on no account accept prepared food (such as rice, dhall, vegetables, curry, &c.) from any other hand. In such families, the woman has to rise very early, perform her daily ablutions and attend to the duties of the kitchen, and before nine the breakfast must be ready, as the husband has probably to attend his office at ten. It is not an uncommon sight to see a woman cooking, suckling her child, and scolding her maid servant at one and the same time. A Hindoo woman is not only laborious, but patient and submissive to a degree; let the amount of privation be ever so great, she is seldom known to murmur or complain. All her happiness is centred in the proper discharge of her domestic and social duties. So simple and unambitious is a Hindoo female, that she generally considers herself amply rewarded if the food prepared by her hands is appreciated by those for whom it is intended. It is a lamentable fact that, expert as she doubtless is in the art of cooking, she is totally incapable of nourishing the minds of her children with any solid intellectual food worthy of the name. As already indicated, she communicates to her child what she can out of her own store of simple ideas and superstitious beliefs, but her best gift is the care and tenderness which she lavishes upon it, and the wakening of its young soul to return the sense of her own love.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] _Jhall_ is a preparation of certain drugs to act as an antidote against cold, puerperal fever and other diseases incident to child birth. It often proves efficacious. _Thap_ is the application of heat to the body.

[8] For observances during the period of pregnancy, see Note A in appendix.

[9] According to custom, a conch or large shell is sounded at the birth of a male child. Its silence is the sign of sorrow.

[10] Bidhátá is the god of fate.

[11] For the popular story of the goddess Soobachinee see Note B.

[12] Apart from the horrid practice of female infanticide, now put a stop to by a humane Government, many instances might be given of the extreme detestation in which the birth of a girl is held even by her mother. Among others I may cite the following: A woman who was the mother of four daughters and of no son, at the time of her fifth delivery laid apart one thousand Rupees for distribution among the poor in the event of her getting a son, when, lo! she gave birth to a female child _again_, and what did she do? she at once flung aside the money, mournfully declaring at the same time, that "she has already four firebrands incessantly burning in her bosom and this is the _fifth_, which is enough to burn her to death."