The more capricious and presuming they are, the more likely are they
to receive attention; if gentle and reserved, they would be overlooked
in the crowd. The favorite always makes despotic use of her transient
power. On all occasions, she causes the pleasure of her presence to
be purchased with long delay and impatience; and when she visits her
female relatives, she makes it a point not to return till her husband
has sent many times for her. The Persians are generally scrupulously
neat in their persons and apparel.
The baths are a great place of amusement for ladies. Here they pass
hours and hours, listening to stories of fairies and genii, eating
sweetmeats, sharing each other’s pipes, and painting their persons. The
Jewesses are the oracles of the seraglio. From them the young beauties
purchase all manner of cosmetics, charms, amulets, love-potions, &c.
The endearing duties of a mother become a source of fear and sorrow
within the walls of the royal harem; for, in order to prevent quarrels
about the succession to the throne, it is customary to put large
numbers of children to death, or to deprive them of their eyes. The
queen-mother herself superintends these executions, to which she
becomes hardened by custom. The Persian mothers possess the only shadow
of power which women are allowed to have. They regulate the education
and settlement of their children, and it is said a marriage is not
concluded, even with the father’s consent, if they oppose it.
Sometimes when one of the king’s women offends him, or his mother, she
is married to some menial of the palace, which is considered a very
disgraceful punishment. But fortunate is her lot, who is transferred
from the royal harem to some favorite grandee. She receives the title
of a lawful wife, and is treated like a princess. Notwithstanding the
painful sacrifices and perpetual fear belonging to those who form the
king’s household, parents are extremely anxious to obtain the splendid
bondage for a daughter; for if she happens to be a favorite, the
greatest honors and emoluments are heaped on her relations.
Women of the middling class are more occupied than the wives of
grandees, and therefore unavoidably have more freedom. They spin, sew,
embroider, superintend the house, keep account of expenses, pay the
servant’s wages, and see that proper care is taken of the horses. Sir
Robert Porter, speaking of this class of Persian females, says, “They
do all the laborious part of the household establishment; each having
her own especial department, such as baking the bread, cooking the
meat, drawing the water, &c. Though the latest espoused is usually
spared in these labors, and the best dressed, still the whole party
seem to remain in good humor. When their lord shows himself among
them, it is like a master coming into a herd of favorite animals.
They all rush forward, frisking about him, pleased with a caress, or
frisking still if they meet with a pat instead. The four wives of my
worthy host retire at sunset, and each taking her infant and cradle
to the roof of her division of the house, not forgetting the skin of
water she has brought from the well, deposits her babe in safety, and
suspends the water-case near her, on a tripod of sticks, in order that
the evaporation may cool it for next day’s use. Our communicative host
told me that to preserve amity among these women, he was accustomed,
like all husbands who valued peace, to divide his time and attention
equally and alternately among them. Indeed the law of Mohammed, though
it allows four wives, expressly stipulates that the first married shall
experience no diminution of wardrobe, or accustomed privileges, in
consequence of the introduction of a new bride into the family.
When women of the common classes leave their houses they scrupulously
conceal their faces with a veil woven like a fine net, or a cloak with
two holes just big enough for their eyes; but the neck is often less
carefully covered than the face. Like all oriental women, they are very
fond of perfumes and ornaments. Their clothing is usually chosen and
purchased for them, as we do for little children.
On the death of a husband, they lay aside all rich and showy apparel,
and assume the garb of mourning, which among the Persians is pale
brown. For months and months they pay daily visits to the grave,
watering it with tears, rending their garments, and tearing their hair.
The law allows widows to marry again, but they seldom take a second
husband. In many cases, the anniversary of the birthday of the deceased
is for years kept as a solemn festival by his family and friends.
Several years ago, a beautiful Circassian accompanied the Persian
ambassador to London, where she excited great attention, and was
treated with distinguished kindness. Sir Robert Porter met her when she
was returning to Persia, mounted on a miserable post-horse. He says,
“The poor creature, perceiving that I was a European, rode forward to
address me; but in a moment the rough fellow who was her conductor
laid his whip over her shoulders, with so terrible an admonition into
the bargain, that, closing both her lips and her veil, she travelled
on, doubtless with heavy recollections. To interfere in behalf of a
woman so situated would cast a sort of contamination on her, and only
redouble her stripes.”
Women whose husbands are not rich enough to furnish palanquins, ride
astride a horse, muffled in a great sheet, which makes them look like a
bag of flour placed upright. Sometimes they are stuffed into panniers
slung across a mule or a camel, like poultry on the way to market. If
there be but one traveller, some heavy article is put into the opposite
basket as a balance.
When the ambassador Meerza Abul Hassan was in England, nothing excited
his surprise so much as the fact that women sometimes undertook
voyages. “Is it possible!” he exclaimed: “if I were to tell our
Persian women that there were English women in ships, they would never
believe me. They consider it a great undertaking to go from one town
to another; but your women go from one end of the world to the other,
and think nothing of it. If it were even known to my family that I was
now in a ship, on the high seas, there would be nothing but wailing and
lamentation from morning till night.”
* * * * *
The architectural remains and ancient literature of Hindostan give a
high idea of their knowledge and refinement in remote ages. According
to their old poets, women were then regarded with a kind of chivalrous
gallantry, and enjoyed a degree of personal freedom, to which modern
Asiatic women are entire strangers: Sacontalu, the adopted daughter of
a holy Bramin, is the heroine of an interesting old drama, in which she
is mentioned as receiving strangers with the most graceful hospitality;
and when Dusmantha was absent from his capital, his mother governed in
his stead. Women were then admitted as witnesses in courts of justice,
and where the accused was a female, their evidence was even preferred.
Malabar boasts of her seven sages, and four of them were women. The
celebrated Avyar, one of the most ancient of these sages, probably
lived more than a thousand years ago. Her origin and birth are involved
in poetic fable; but her works are still extant, and held in much
estimation. They principally consist of short moral sentences, like
the following: “Speak not of God but with reverence.” “The sweetest
bread is that earned by labor.” “The genuine object of science is to
distinguish good from evil.” “Let thy books be thy best friends.”
“Modesty is the fairest ornament of a woman.” “There is no virtue
without religion.”
The Mohammedan creed, which everywhere produces a miserable effect
on the destiny of women, has considerably changed their condition in
Hindostan. The higher classes among the Hindoos, without adopting the
religion of the Mussulmans, copied their jealous precautions with
regard to females.
Wives are numerous, according to the wealth and character of their
owners. A petty Hindoo chief has been known to have several hundred
female slaves shut up in his zananah.[4] Under these unnatural
circumstances, we cannot wonder at the character of women given by
one of their pundits, as the Braminical expositors of law are called:
he says, “Women are characterized, first, by an inordinate love of
jewels, fine clothes, handsome furniture, and dainty food; second, by
unbounded profligacy; third, by violent anger and deep resentment, no
one knowing the sentiments that lie concealed in their hearts; fourth,
another person’s good appears evil in their eyes.” This is but one
among many instances wherein men have reproached the objects of their
tyranny with the very degradation and vices which their own contempt
and oppression have produced. How can it be wondered at that women,
with all the feelings and faculties of human nature, and unnaturally
deprived of objects for their passions, affections, or thoughts, should
seek excitement in petty stratagem and restless intrigue?
No Hindoo woman is allowed to give evidence in courts of justice. The
Bramins have power to put their wives to death for unfaithfulness;
but it is said that milder punishments are more usually inflicted.
Sometimes reconciliation takes place, and the event is celebrated by a
feast, to which the neighboring Bramins are invited, and the culprit
waits upon them at table.
This crime in Hindoo women is generally punished by expulsion from
their caste, a heavy fine, and the bastinado. It is considered a still
more disgraceful penalty to have the hair cut off. This is rarely
inflicted, except upon very abandoned females, who are afterward
plastered with filth, and led about on a donkey, accompanied with the
sound of tamtams.
Instances of extreme injustice sometimes occur, as must always be the
case where human beings are invested with arbitrary power.
One of the rajahs of Hindostan had a beautiful wife, whom he loved
better than all the rest of his women. A young man, who was originally
his barber, gained his confidence to such a degree, that nothing
could be done but through his interest. The rajah, having accepted an
invitation to an annual festival held at a great distance, trusted
every thing to the integrity of this prime minister. Before his master
had been gone a week, the villain dared to make love to his favorite
wife. She treated him with indignation and scorn, and threatened, if
he continued to repeat professions of his love, that she would expose
his baseness. He knew the rajah had a most fiery and impetuous temper,
and he at once resolved how to escape danger, and to be revenged upon
his virtuous victim. He sought an interview with his master the very
first moment he returned, and by a tissue of plausible falsehoods, made
him believe that his favorite wife was a faithless creature, entirely
unworthy of his confidence. The rajah, in a fit of blind fury, flew
into the zananah, and without speaking a word, murdered the beautiful
object of his recent attachment.
The circumstance was soon forgotten; for such murders were common, and
punishable by no laws. Even the nearest relatives of the deceased did
not ask the reason of such violence.
Thus precarious must all attachments be where moral and intellectual
sympathy have no share in the union.
After a considerable time had elapsed, one of the rajah’s wives, on her
death-bed, said she had something important to disclose to her husband;
the guilty favorite immediately imagined that his murdered victim had
made her a confident of his infamous designs, and he fled with all
possible precipitation. His fears proved true; the dying wife disclosed
the whole history of his treachery. The rajah tore his hair, and ran
round the palace like a madman. Horsemen were despatched in every
direction, but the wicked minister escaped. The agonized prince did all
he could--he raised a splendid temple to the memory of his murdered
wife. Within the temple is her image, the eyes of which are costly
diamonds. The unfortunate rajah at last went mad. He would look at his
hands, and wash them a hundred times a day; but he could not cleanse
the blood from his memory.
The Hindoo women frequently follow their husbands to battle, and perish
by their side. Rather than fall into the power of conquering enemies,
they often commit suicide, or entreat their husbands to kill them.
Females are engaged in almost every variety of occupation, according
to the caste of their husbands. They cultivate the land, make baskets
and mats, bring water in jars, carry manure and various other articles
to market in baskets on their heads, cook food, tend children, weave
cloth, reel skeins of thread, and wind cocoons. A single cocoon is
divided into twenty degrees of fineness; and these silk-winders have
such an exquisite sense of touch, that when the thread is running
swiftly through their fingers, they break it off exactly as the
assortments change. Cashmere shawls are sometimes woven in a manner
so delicate, that they can be drawn through a wedding ring; and they
manufacture muslin so transparent, that when laid on the grass it does
not at all intercept the color.
It has been said that there is no country in the world where so many
people live in idleness. This is no doubt in a great measure to be
ascribed to the enervating influence of their brilliant climate,
the abundance produced by a luxuriant soil, and the slight shelter
or clothing required, where the air is so uniformly mild, and the
sky serene. All travellers agree that the scenery of Hindostan is
beautiful, almost beyond imagination. Magnificent temples and tombs
indicate the grandeur of former times, while the gorgeous edifices of
more recent periods denote the wealth, if not the classic taste of her
princes; innumerable rivers fertilize and adorn the land, while the
air is perfumed with the lavish abundance of blossoms and fruit. The
inhabitants love to repose in the cool shadow of their broad-leaved
foliage; and the women are said to be so languidly indolent, that they
will hardly stretch forth their arms to save their children from being
trodden to death. One of their favorite authors says: “It is better to
sit still than to walk; better to sleep than to be awake; and death is
the best of all.”
In pictures of Hindoo women of the higher classes, I have always
observed a dangling and listless position of the arms and fingers,
which indicates all the writer has expressed. If any thing affects them
disagreeably, they are apt to signify it by lolling out their tongues.
When a father dies, the eldest son supplies his place, in protecting
and providing for his mother and younger members of the family. The
widow can only claim an allowance necessary for her support; but filial
piety is so highly reverenced by the Hindoos, that children often stint
themselves that their parents need not suffer. The greatest insult that
can be offered a Hindoo is to speak contemptuously of his mother.
The features of the Hindoos differ little from those of Europeans;
but their complexion is of a deep mahogany hue. A very perceptible
difference of physiognomy characterizes the various castes. Those who
do not labor are less vigorous than Europeans, but more elegantly
shaped. The women are said to be extremely beautiful, with delicate,
regular features, and remarkably fine dark eyes; but they lose their
beauty at an early age. They are generally distinguished by a childish
simplicity and modest gracefulness, which is very attractive. If the
husband is dissatisfied with his wife, he parts from her and seeks
another; and the wife can do the same with regard to her husband.
Some reasons are required to be given, but where both parties agree
in wishing for divorce it is very easily obtained. Sometimes when a
man desires a separation he calls his wife mother, and after that it
is considered indelicate to live with her. Sometimes an occasional
visiter addresses the females of the house in this way, as a pledge of
his purity. The poor seldom have more than one wife; and if she has
children they rarely part from her as long as they live. The women are
generally faithful and submissive to their husbands, and very fond of
their families. Even the poorest of them esteem it a great misfortune
to be childless. They regard it, as the Jews did of old, as a peculiar
visitation of God, and spare neither prayers, alms, offerings, nor
penances, to avert this calamity. They are often seen performing long
journeys, with two or three little children, whom they lead by the hand
or carry on their backs.
Women, even of the higher classes, are forbidden to read or write;
because the Hindoos think these acquirements would inevitably spoil
them for domestic life, and assuredly bring some great misfortune upon
them. Many stories are circulated concerning the dreadful accidents
that have happened to women, who could read and write. Poetry, music,
and dancing, are cultivated only by a class of women, openly and
avowedly licentious. The wives of rajahs, and the numerous favorites of
the Mohammedan grandees, do indeed divert their lords with dancing in
the interior of the zananah, but it would be deemed highly disgraceful
to indulge in this amusement before strangers. Nothing shocks an East
Indian more than the European custom of ladies and gentlemen dancing
with each other; they cannot believe that it does not indicate great
corruption of manners.
From the remotest antiquity, dancing has been associated with religion
in India. The _devedassees_ are young girls devoted to the service
of the temple almost from their infancy; and this is considered so
great an honor, that even the rajahs are anxious to obtain it for
their daughters. They must be well shaped, of pleasing features, of
good constitutions, and of very tender age; the parents are likewise
required to renounce all further claim to the child. The _devedassees_,
after bathing the novitiate in the tank belonging to the temple, dress
her in new clothes and adorn her with jewels; the high priest puts into
her hand an image of the deity, to whose service she devotes herself
with a solemn vow; the lobes of her ears are then bored, and the seal
of the temple imprinted on her with red-hot iron. The great pagoda of
Juggernaut contains five or six hundred of these girls. The Bramins
teach them to read, write, sing, and dance. They must likewise be
versed in the history of their gods; but they are forbidden to read
the _vedas_.[5] They take care of the temples, light the lamps, and
sing and dance before the statue of the god, on solemn festivals. Some
say the devedasses are entirely subservient to the pleasures of the
Bramins, who are exceedingly jealous of them; others say they are at
liberty to choose any lovers, in or out of the temple, provided they
be of the higher castes. The tips of their nails are stained red. The
long braided hair, the neck, the naked arms, and the feet are covered
with jewels; rings on the hand, rings on the feet, rings in the ears,
and sometimes rings in the side of the nose; literally, according to
the old nursery story, “with rings on her fingers and bells on her
toes.” The silver chains and bells with which they decorate the ankles
and feet, make a monotonous but agreeable sound, as they dance, that
mingles pleasantly with the small drums, tambourines, and silver
cymbals, to which they keep time. In their hands they hold wooden
castanets, which they strike in cadence. At the end of each dance they
turn toward the idol, with their hands clasped before their faces. All
make precisely the same movements and gestures at the same moment. When
they become old, or the Bramins, for any other reason, wish to have
them leave, they are dismissed from the pagoda. The temple where they
serve furnishes them with food, clothing, and pay; but when they leave,
they are obliged to relinquish all articles of ornament. They are ever
after received in society with peculiar respect, a degree of sanctity
is attached to their character, and it is considered an honor to marry
them. If turned out of the temple in their old age, they are liable to
be in destitute circumstances, unless they have a handsome daughter to
succeed them; if so, they may safely rely upon filial kindness.
There is another class of Hindoo dancers, called _canceni_, or
_bayaderes_. They are avowedly courtesans; but not disgraced by
assuming that character, as women are in Christian countries. They
receive the same education as the _devedassees_, or sacred dancers; but
they are not like them confined to the service of the temples. Wealthy
men hire them at entertainments, and some grandees keep a whole company
constantly in their service. They too are load with jewels, bracelets,
armlets, carcanets, coronals, rings, ear-rings, nose-rings, bells, and
chains. The dress of a distinguished dancer often costs from fifteen to
twenty thousand rupees. They surround their eyes with a black circle,
made with the head of a pin dipped in powder of antimony. Those who are
accustomed to it think it increases beauty of expression.
To preserve the comeliness of their forms, they cover the bosom with
hollow cases of wood, linked together, and buckled at the back. These
cases are made so very thin and pliable, that they move freely with the
slightest motion of the body; they are plated with gold or silver, and
sometimes set with gems. There is nothing loud or bold in the manners
of these degraded women. They are all softness, gentleness, and
coquetry; but their dances, and the songs that accompany them, in which
the Orientals take unbounded delight, are voluptuous beyond description.
There is another genuine Hindoo dance, called _nautch_, that differs
in all respects from the dances performed by the _devedassees_, or
the _canceni_. “It is executed by three women, who display in their
steps and attitude a degree of seductive gracefulness astonishing to
Europeans.” These dancers are called _ramdjenies_. Their dress is
embroidered with gold and silver. They wear trowsers of very rich
stuff, with a circle of bells around the ankles. Their lower garment is
very ample, and becomes inflated like a balloon, when they turn swiftly.
One of the most remarkable features of Hindostan, is the division of
society into distinct _castes_. Nearly a hundred different castes
exist, the distinctions of which the Bramins themselves are puzzled to
define.
The parias, who are considered the scum of all the castes, have a most
deplorable lot. These absurd regulations subject the masters of houses
to great expense, as the meanest domestic absolutely refuses to perform
any office but the one allotted to his or her caste.
A religious and civil law forbids any mixture of blood between the
different castes. It is singular that a man is not degraded from his
caste for being vicious, or for believing or disbelieving certain
articles of religion; but he _is_ degraded for intermarrying with an
inferior caste, forming a friendship with any such, or partaking food
with them. Customs that have some degree of similarity are hereditary
among the descendants of the Jewish nation, and in some parts of the
Chinese empire; but the nearest parallel to the Hindoo distinction
of castes exists between the white and colored population of the
United States of America. There is indeed some difference. The wealthy
American, if starving, would gladly partake food with the mulatto,
whose companionship would disgrace him under other circumstances; but
the high caste Bramin would die rather than receive sustenance from a
paria.
“A Bramin, being oppressed with thirst as he journeyed along, met a
woman of low condition carrying a vessel of water on her head. He asked
her for some to drink; but, that he might not receive water from an
impure hand, he formed a little channel on the ground; the woman poured
the water in at one end, while the Bramin drank at the other. One of
his own caste, who happened to be passing at the time, accused him
before the council of the Bramins; the affair was investigated, and he
narrowly escaped the sentence of exclusion from his caste.”
It is said that all distinctions cease in the temple of Juggernaut, on
the occasion of a yearly festival; in commemoration of the primitive
equality of mankind, the Bramin and the paria then eat together,
without any disastrous consequences.