Though, chaste as Arundáti, in her soul In heaven all eyes, all minds, should emulate; In wedlock seek and give her all thy love. NOTE. As the second of these verses is often quoted in the original Sanscrit, I here add it, with another version in Tamil from the Níti-ven'bà, £: this is closer than the foregoing, though some instances of transposition occur in it. தாலிகாணெ வலூாருக்ஷக்ஷயோயரிச் ஸெஹெஷுஜாதாயநெவெயா க நொரி கூனுயாவைதி அனவனதயையுமடியாளபணியுமலா 15 ம பொன்னதழகும் புவிபொறையும் -வனன முகல The affection of a mother, the assiduity of a slave, the beauty of the flower-borne goddess of prosperity, the humility of the earth, the freedom of a fair-bosomed courtezan in the chamber, and the wisdom of a successful counsellor; she who possesses these qualities may be truly termed a woman. These rules for selecting a wife seemed worthy of a metrical dress, but to render the version generally intelligible some of the allusions require further explanation.Beveridge of the Gods-the word in the original, YF, might be rendered either nectar or ambrosia, as it is a species of butter, which may either be drunk or eaten.— The honey of the bough is a literal version: various sorts of honey are distinguished in India, according to the situations to which the several castes of bees resort to build them combs; those containing this kind of honey are formed round the branches of shrubs, and so disposed as to be supported by two or more forks passing through them.-In India the moon is always masculine.-The Goddess mentioned in the tenth line (in the original from gas to but at, as a ram &c. and beauty, also, a goddess, lit. the goddess whose beauty beats down all before it) is Lecshmi, the wife of Vishn'u and dispenser of felicity, beauty, and all prosperity. Like Venus, whom she resembles in her celestial character, she is feigned to have arisen from the waters enclosed, not in a shell, but in a lotos-flower, from which she sprang in the full maturity, of beauty.Arund,háti, whose name is commonly used as the exemplification of chastity and ma tronal virtue by Hindu writers, is the wife of Vasisht,ha, one of the seven Sages (Saptarshi), who jointly form the constellation we call the great bear; an acute eye will there discover her by the side of her husband, a station (G) she has obtained by her eminent virtue.-U'rvasi is one of the principal dancers of the choir of Indra, the king of the celestial regions; she is constantly cited as an example of female grace and elegance. 4 CHAP. VII. தலவரைப்பெறுதல் On the procreation of children. The term here used, ar, means sons especially, but, being in the plural it may be, and, in many of the verses, evidently is, extended to both sexes; signifies to obtain, tobeget, and the whole title, therefore, lit. the begetting of children. I. 10000 பெறும்வற்றுளயாமறிவதில்வல் யறிவறிந்தமக்கடபேறல்லபிற (க) Of all the world calls good, no good exists "I know no greater good"-The wisest of the Hebrews, also saith; "The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him,” The providing for the permanency of his race, especially if he belong to a superior caste, the maintenance of bis domestic fires, and the perpetuation of the sacred rites and honors rendered to his ancestors in the periodical solemnities, are duties incumbent above all others on a Hindu. To leave male descendants, therefore, is not merely desireable, as the means of conti-: nuing a name, or securing the descent of property in a family, but an obligation of primary importance, on which, according to the precepts of his religion, not merely his comfort in this world, but his happiness in the next depends. It is an article of his faith that those who neglect this great duty, or, under the influence of the evil destiny originating from their former sins, fail in their endeavour to discharge it, incur the vengeance of their forefathers, whose race has thus become extinct, and of the domestic deities, whose ceremonies have ceased. As long as the fires of their race burn bright, hospitality and other house-hold duties are maintained, and their descendants prosper, the Mancs, Pitri, who are supported by the daily offer, ings of the house-holder, rejoice and prosper, also; but when those cease their pale, thin ghosts are represented as wandering about, wailing, and uttering curses against him in whose generation this misfortune befel them. When a man dies, therefore, without leaving male progeny, whatever his other virtues may have been, he is cast into in a peculiar hell, or rather purgatory, appointed for the expiation of the guilt by the effects of which this misfortune has overtaken him. This purgatory is called put and the notions respecting. it are primatively interwoven with the language; for in Sanscrit putrah, 2, the word most frequently used for son, is derived from put, 28 and trayatè, Fu, he draws forth, because a son redeems his father from this purgatory. Female descendants, having no part in sacred rites, distinct from their husbands, are in this respect productive of no benefit to their parents; nor is it sufficient that a man should have had sons born to him, it being required that he should leave at least one qualified to represent him and to fulfil the duties of his race, cula-dhermàh, on his decease. The notions entertained relative to the state of reprobation in which the sonless man quits the world have given rise to the various modes of affiliation permitted by the Hindu lawgivers; these according to the ancient codes amount to sixteen though they are in the present age limitted to a much smaller number: in an extract from the Cási-cándam appended to this Chapter seven only are enumerated. The descriptions of sons now considered lawful are―AURASA, 8, from 2, the breast, the son of the body; DATTAH 2 from 2 to give, the son regularly adopted, according to certain prescribed forms, with the consent of his natural parents; DAUHITAH, 25, the son of the daughter, appointed by her father to raise up seed to him; and, in Southern India, CRÉTAH, %, the son purchased, from his parents, under the express condition, to distinguish. him from a slave, of his-becoming the heir of the purchaser. The doctrines inculcated by the Hindu religion, as to the necessity of leaving male descendants are, as far as they extend, calculated to produce very beneficial effects. Under their influence, the meanest use every exertion to rear a family; after a certain age no one, whatever his situation in life, remains unmarried, and whatever distress of his parents, no male child, except in times of extreme famine, when all the bands of nature are broken, is ever exposed or abandoned.. That the ancient lawgivers did not extend the protection their institutions, thus afforded to the males, to the females, also, is one circumstance among many for which a modern European is not qualified to account. In this and other instances he is incapable of entering wholly into the train of their ideas; he sees that they often feel rightly and reason correctly, but he is obliged to confess that this sensibility and this accuracy are constantly paralyzed in operation by what appears to him to be a mere flash of fancy, alike unconnected with feeling or judgment, It must not, however, be imagined, though allowed or even commanded by the barbarous laws of other nations, that any legal or moral code received by the Hindus, sanctions or connives at the abandonment or destruction of infants of either sex; on the contrary these are denounced as the greatest of crimes, and the killing of any female of any age is considered, so heinous, that according to some codes they are not legally subject to capital punishment, or according others to liable to it only for the highest offences, among which child-murder is expressly included. The first of the following passages is attributed to Menu by the commentators, but I cannot verify the quotatithe second is a text of Yájnyavalcya. on; நவயளுவெெவறிஉரவயச் It is ordained that the woman who walketh according to her own will shall be put away: No woman should be put to death, nor her limbs mutilated. For Vivaswan (the sun) saith those who irregularly follow their own wills should be put away, But that no woman should suffer death or be disfigured. She, who is a poisoner, an incendiary, or murderer of her husband, her preceptor, or her own children, Should be deprived of her ears, hands, nose and lips, and be trodden to death by cattle. Obedience to laws has never been secured in any age or nation by mere enactments, however peremtory, or by denunciations, however severe. They require, to ensure their perfect operation, to be connected with those feelings. of awe which religion alone can inspire. It is in this respect that the Hindu code has not been sufficiently regardful of those to whom their care ought most especially to have extended; it has not placed infants of the female sex, as it has the males, under the protection of their parents' fears, and the preservation of the former, therefore, is a matter of cold deity, not, as in the case of the latter, of anxious solicitude. Hence the prevalence in some parts of India of female infanticide, practised, not occasionally from inability to provide for them, but as an established usage, which all are required to observe; thus the Cumárs in the province of Benares and some of the Rajaputras of Gajaráshtram, raised none of their female children, but resorted for wives to kindred tribes, among whom this custom did not prevail, or prevailed in a less degree. In the countries of Southern India, among the various tribes of the nations speaking the several dialects of the Tamil, the Telugu and the Cannad'i, no trace of this crime is any where to be found: if it ever occur, it is occasioned, as among us, by the high-wraught feelings of female shame. The law regarding fathers and their children is in India very favorable to the latter. On the birth of a son he becomes immediately a co-parcenar with his father in the family estate; a right of which he cannot by any circumstance be deprived, except by actual degradation from his caste, and even then he has a claim to maintenance. The period of minority is limited to sixteen years, and it is a disputed point, whether after that age the son can demand the delivery of his share of the paternal property, some authorities allowing it, others not: all agree, however, that by mutual consent a division many then take place, and in this case the son becomes entirely independent of his father and family. If the son continue, as, with few exceptions, is always the case, in union with the father, the tie between them is that of nature only, as the law gives to the latter no direct authority over the person or conduct of his male offspring: the general management of the common property is indeed vested in him, but it is necessary that they should join in every legal act affecting it. The duties of parent and child, as inculcated by all writers, legal and ethical, are reciprocally founded in affection; for, though the son is enjoined to conduct himself with the profoundest reverence towards his parents, his mother especially, and ought, also, to pay due obedience to all his father's desires, this, however obligatory on his conscience, is voluntary as regards the law, and never extends to blind submission to his will. In return the father is instructed to regard him, not as dependant, but as a companion and equal: this sentiment is well expressed in the following ethical verse from the Níti-sáram, ராஜவகஉவவஜாணியேவஜ்ாணிதாஸவகி For five years he should be treated like a prince, for ten years as a slave, But, when he has attained to of sixteenth year, a son should be treated as a friend. As among the Hindus there is no divorce, so, also, strictly speaking there is no illegitimacy. According to the ancient text, the intermarriage of males of superior castes with females of all tribes of pure descent, equal or inferior to them, was lawful, and the offspring, which ranked in the same grade with A |