of every pleasure, as well as for most of the ordinary accommodations of life, on the immediate existence of her husband; and it becomes her invariable interest to preserve his health, as much of her happiness is centered in his living to an old age. On the demise of the husband, the wife virtually devolves into a caput mortuum; she is not permitted to marry again, she is deprived of all consequence in the family, and divested of the marks of ornament and distinction. There are certain religious ceremonies not lawful for her to perform, and in some instances, she is held unclean; but on all occasions, after the husband's death, the widow is classed in the house as a slave or a menial servant.-But this usage has not so generally prevailed in latter times. The wives of the deceased Hindoos have moderated that spirit of enthusiastic pride, or impulse of affection, which was used to urge them to self-destruction on the pile of their husbands. Their grief can now be assuaged, and their religious duties reconciled, by a participation of domestic comforts; and many of the Hindoo widows, especially in the Marhatta country, have acquired by their ability, their wealth, connection, or intrigue, the possession of extensive power and influence. Amongst the superior tribes of the Hindoos, where the sense of honour or shame is more delicately preserved, rather than suffer a degradation, by which female attractions are extinguished, nnd the pride and spirit of the sex depressed, the women are impelled, by a furious courage, softened by the term of matrimonial affection, to terminate the misery of their condition in death. According to a passage of the Shaster of the Hindoos, which I examined by the help of an interpreter, it is specifically ordained, that a wife ought to burn herself at her husband's death; should she not possess the resolution of sustaining this trial, she is directed to make a pilgrimage to some of the sacred places of Hindoo ablution, as Benares, Allahabad, Ghyah, &c. and there, appropriating her property to charitable uses, offer up a sacrifice of her hair to the memory of her husband. She is not to decorate her person with jewels, with gold, silver, or any female ornament: she is not to use perfumes, nor eat flesh, fish, or butter; but to live on plain barley or wheaten bread, and eat but once in a day. Her time is to be employed in the constant worship of God, and the purification of her mind, from anger, malice, and avarice; and she is to withdraw herself from all the concerns of the world. If her life is passed in these acts, she is promised after death to enter heaven, without suffering intermediate purgation. In addition to the dread of so degraded a state of mortification, the widow on the progeny Though the the other side is told by the Bramins, that the performance of the act of self-destruction will entitle her to an ample participation of exquisite future joys, and will ensure to her pre-eminent favour of the Deity. issue of such a resolution forcibly affects those feelings of humanity cherished amongst European nations, yet as the usage appears to originate in a cause tending to strengthen domestic policy, it ought not to be hastily condemned, or imputed altogether to the dictates of cruelty or injustice. Conformably to the state of subordination in which Hindoo women are placed, it has been judged expedient to debar them the use of letters. The Hindoos hold the invariable language, that ace quired accomplishments are not necessary to the domestic classes of the female sex, whether for contributing to her individual happiness, or preserving the decorum of character, and simplicity of manners, which alone render her useful or amiable, in the estimation of her family. They urge that a knowledge of literature would conduce to draw a woman from her household cares, and give a disrelish to those offices, in which consist the only satisfaction and amusement that she can, with propriety, and an observance of rectitude, partake of; and such is the force of custom, that a Hindoo woman would incur a severe reproach, were it known that she could read or write. The Hindoo dancing girls, whose occupations are avowedly devoted to the public pleasure, are, on the contrary taught the use of letters, and are minutely instructed in the knowledge of every attraction and blandishment, which can operate in communicating the sensual pleasure of love. These women are not obliged to seek shelter in private haunts, nor are they, on account of their professional conduct, marked with opprobrious stigma. They compose a particular class of society, and enjoy the avowed protection of government, for which they are assessed according to their several capacities. No religious ceremony or festival is thought to be completely performed, without the accompaniment of dancing women. They usually attend on a certain day of the week, at the court of the prince or governor of the district, either to make an obeisance, or exhibit a professional entertainment; and in some of the provinces, they are endowed with grants of the public lands* * The Hindoo dancing-women are here only alluded to, and those particularly who assist (which is a numerous class) at the ceremonies of worship. As they receive a maintenance from the revenue of the pagoda, or from private persons, they are not driven by necessity into a promiscuous intercourse with the world. But it is to be observed, that those who do not receive any permanent stipend, are little less dissolute and abandoned in their habits of life, than a female of similar description in European countries. AN HINDOO family is governed with efficient power by the male senior member, to whom the other branches shew an attentive respect, and in domestic life a ready submission. A son will not sit in the presence of his father without express desire, and in his deportment and conversation, observes to him a dutiful, as well as affectionate, behaviour. In the course of a long residence in India, and rather a close investigation of Hindoo customs and manners, I never discovered what our language has termed a freethinker *. The most celebrated characters amongst the Hindoos, and their men of the world, as Scindia, Nanah Purnawees †, and the Bhohulla, believe the tenets of the doctrine of Brimha with as much sincerity, and practise the minutest ceremony with as much scrupulous attention, as the simplest or most bigoted peasant in the country, I am, Dear Sir, *There are some schismatic sects found amongst the Hindoos, and even classes of that people, who reject the authority of the Baids, and the whole construction of Bramin mythology; but however pure the original mode of their worship might have been, it is now grossly entangled with ceremony and emblem. The most considerable branch of these sectaries is denominated Pooje; who have bestowed on the object of their adoration, the title Pauruss Naut, which in the Sanscrit may be termed the lord of the alchymical philosopher's stone. + Marhatte chiefs of eminence. |
