for their chasteness or immorality is a question much disputed.
Unfortunately, men with a favourite theory to support, have been so
extravagant in their assertions on either side that it is difficult,
or even impossible, to form a just opinion on the subject. Many have
represented the Hindus as a sensual, lascivious, profligate race; but
we have the weighty testimony of Professor Wilson to the contrary.
There is no doubt that the manners of the people have undergone a
remarkable improvement since the establishment of British rule. The
original institutions of the people were opposed to morality. The
prohibition against the marriage of widows was a direct encouragement
to prostitution. Many enlightened Hindus long ago recognised the
demoralizing influence of this law, and exerted themselves to abolish
it. A wealthy native in Calcutta once offered a dowry of 10,000 rupees
to any woman who would brave the ancient prejudices of her race,
and marry a second husband. A claim was soon made for the liberal
donation. A learned Brahmin of Nagpoor, high in rank and opulence,
wrote against the law. Among one tribe, the Bunyas, it was long ago
abolished; not, however, from a moral persuasion of its injustice, but
under the pressure of circumstances. Even then, however, in Bhopal, the
hereditary dignitaries of the priestly order, naturally attached to
ancient prejudices, sought to re-establish the prohibition. There were
very few exceptions of this kind among all the millions of the Hindu
race. Even the Mohammedans, with the precept and example of their own
prophet to encourage them, held the marriage of a widow disgraceful.
Temporary reform took place at Delhi, but the old custom was, until
recently, supreme. The moral evils were, that it led to depravity
of conduct on the part of the widow, caused a frightful amount of
infanticide and abortion, and induced these women by their practice
to corrupt all others with whom they came in contact. Female children
being married so early, hundreds and thousands were left widows before
they had ripened into puberty. The crowded house--containing men of
all shades of consanguinity, grandfathers, fathers-in-law, uncles,
brothers-in-law, and cousins, all dwelling with the young widow in
the inclosure of the family mansion--led to illicit and incestuous
connections being continually formed. Pregnancies were removed by
abortion. The Bombay code took cognisance of this, and punished it
severely. When a woman was known to be pregnant she was narrowly
watched, and if the father could be found he was compelled to support
his child.
A boy might be betrothed to a child. If she died he was free from the
engagement; but if he died she was condemned to remain a maiden widow,
and subject to the humiliating laws attached to that condition. It is
easy to imagine the demoralizing effects of such an institution. Under
the old system the hardships and indignities imposed on the widow made
her prefer suttee, or the sacrifice by fire, or else a retreat in a
brothel. Another corrupting custom is that of early marriages. Men
seldom have sentiments of affection for any woman, or, if at all, it is
for some fascinating dancing girl, for their wives are chosen while too
young to feel or excite the passion of love. They therefore--and the
Brahmins in particular--resorted to the company of the prostitutes, who
are all dedicated, more or less, to the service of some temple.
All the dancing women and musicians of Southern India formerly belonged
to the Corinlar, a low caste, of which the respectable members,
however, disdain connection with them.
They thus formed a separate order, and a certain number were attached
to every temple of any consequence, receiving very small allowances.
They were mostly prostitutes, at least to the Brahmins. Those attached
to the edifices of great sanctity were entirely reserved for these
priestly sensualists, who would have dismissed any one connecting
herself with a Christian, a Mussulman, or a person of inferior caste.
The others hired themselves out indiscriminately, and were greatly
sought after. Their accomplishments seduced the men. The respectable
women, ignorant, insipid, and tasteless, were neglected for the more
attractive prostitutes. Under the rule of the Mohammedans, who were
much addicted to this class of pleasures, the Brahmins did not dare
enforce their exclusive privileges, but afterwards resumed their sway
with great energy. A set of dancers was usually hired out at prices
varying from twelve shillings to six pounds sterling. They performed
at private entertainments as well as public festivals. Each troop
was under a chief. When one became old she was turned away without
provision, unless she had a handsome daughter following the same
occupation, and in this case was usually treated by the girl with
liberality and affection. Buchanan tells us that all he saw were of
very ordinary appearance, inelegant in their dress, and dirty in their
person. Many had the itch, and some were vilely diseased.
In the temples of Tulava, near Mangalore, a curious custom prevailed.
Any woman of the four pure castes who was tired of her husband, or as
a widow was weary of chastity, or as a maiden, of celibacy, went to
the sacred building and ate some of the rice offered to the idol. She
was then publicly questioned as to the cause of her resolution, and
allowed the option of living within or without the precincts of the
temple. If she chose the former, she got a daily allowance of food
and annually a piece of cloth. She swept the holy building, fanned
the image of the god, and confined her prostitution to the Brahmins.
Usually some priestly officer of the revenue appropriated one of these
women to himself, paying her a small fee or sum, and would flog her, in
the most insulting manner, if she cohabited with any other man while
under his care. Part of the daughters were given away in marriage, and
part followed their mother’s calling.
The Brahminy women who chose to live outside of the temple might
cohabit with any men they pleased, but were obliged to pay a sixteenth
part of their profits to the Brahmins. They were an infamous class.
This system still obtains, though in a modified degree. In other
parts of the region it prevails more or less. In Sindh every town of
importance has a troop of dancing girls. No entertainment is complete
without them. Under the native government this vice was largely
encouraged. The girls swallowed spirits to stimulate their zeal. They
are, many of them, very handsome, and are all prostitutes. To show the
system of manners prevailing before the British conquest, it may be
remarked that numbers of these women accumulated great fortunes, and
that the voices of a band of prostitutes were louder than all other
sounds at the Durbars of the debauched Amirs. In consequence of this
the people of Sindh were hideously demoralized. Intrigues were carried
on to an extraordinary extent in private life, and women generally were
very lax. An evident reform is already perceptible.
Among the Hindus immorality is not a distinguishing characteristic,
though many men of high grade pass their nights with dancers and
prostitutes. In the temples of the south lascivious ceremonies still
occur, but in Hindustan Proper such scenes are not often enacted. This
decency of public manners appears of recent introduction, which is
indeed a reasonable supposition, for the people have now aims in life,
which they never enjoyed in security under their former rulers. It was
for the interest of the princes that their subjects should be indolent
and sensual. It is for the interest of the new government that they
should be industrious and moral. Great efforts have been made with this
object, and much good has resulted.
Towards the close of the last century an official report was made
by Mr. Grant, and addressed to the Court of Directors. It was the
result of an inquiry instituted into the morals of British India.
India and Bengal were especially held in view. Much laxity of morals
in private life then prevailed, and he believed that many intrigues
were altogether concealed, while many that were discovered were
hushed up. Receptacles for women of infamous character everywhere
abounded, and were licensed. The prostitutes had a place in society,
making a principal figure at all the entertainments of the great.
They were admitted even into the zenanas to exhibit their dances.
Lord Cornwallis, soon after his arrival in Bengal, was invited by the
Nawab to one of these entertainments, but refused to go. The frightful
punishments against adultery appeared enacted far more to protect the
sanctity of caste than public or private virtue. A man committing the
crime was threatened with the embraces, after death, of an iron figure
of a woman made red hot. Connection, however, with prostitutes and
dancing girls was permitted by the written law.
If that account was correct--and it is corroborated by many others--an
immense amelioration must have taken place. The Hindus are now
generally chaste, and the profligacy of their large cities does not
exceed that of large cities in Europe. In Benares, in 1800, out of a
population of 180,000, there were 1500 regular prostitutes, besides
264 Nach or dancing girls. They were all of the _Sudra_, which is a
very low caste. In Dacca there were, out of a population of 35,238
Mohammedans and 31,429 Hindus, 234 Mohammedan and 539 Hindu prostitutes.
At Hurdwar it was one of the duties of the female pilgrims to the
sacred stream to bathe stark naked before hundreds of men, which does
not indicate any great modesty.
The better order of Nach girls are of the highest grace and
fascination, with much personal charm, which they begin to lose at 20
years of age. They mostly dress in very modest attire, and many are
decent in their manners.
The Gipsies of India, many of whom are Thugs, have numbers of handsome
women in their camps, whom they send out as prostitutes to gain money,
or seduce the traveller from his road.
It is said that many of the Europeans scattered over India encourage
immorality, taking temporary companions. A large class of half-caste
children has been certainly growing up in the country, whose mothers
are not all the children of white men.
The institution of slavery in Malwa was principally confined to women.
Almost all the prostitutes were of this class. They were purchased when
children by the heads of companies, who trained them for the calling,
and lived upon the gains of their prostitution. The system is even
at present nearly similar, the girls being bargained away by their
parents into virtual servitude. Many of the wealthy Brahmins, with
from 50 to 200 slaves, employed them all day in the menial labours of
the establishment, and at night dispersed them to separate dwellings,
where they were permitted to prostitute themselves as they pleased. A
large proportion of the profits, however, which accrued from this vile
traffic formed the share of the master, who also claimed as slaves the
children which might spring from this vile intercourse. The female
slaves and dancing girls could not marry, and were often harshly used.
Society was disorganized by the vast bastard breed produced by this
system.
The Europeans at Madras, a few years ago, did not consider their
liaisons with the native women so immoral as they would have been
considered in England. The concubines were generally girls from the
lower ranks, purchased from their mothers. Their conduct usually
depends on the treatment they receive. Many of them become exceedingly
faithful and attached, being bitterly jealous of any other native women
interfering with their master’s affections, but never complaining
of being superseded by an English wife. They are often, however,
extravagant gamblers, and involve their “lovers” in heavy debts.
An Indian mother will sometimes dedicate her female child to
prostitution at the temple; and those who are not appropriated by the
Brahmins may go with any one, though the money must be paid into a
general fund for the support of the establishment.
Some of the ceremonies performed in the temples of the south, by the
worshippers of the female deities, were simply orgies of the impurest
kind. When a man desired to be initiated into these rites, he went
with a priest, after various preliminary rites, to some house, taking
nine females (one a Brahmin) and nine men--one woman for himself,
and another for his sacerdotal preceptor. All being seated, numerous
ceremonies were performed until twelve o’clock at night, when they
gratified their inflamed passions in the most libidinous manner. The
women, of course, were prostitutes by habit or profession. Men and
women danced naked before thousands of spectators at the worship of the
goddess Doorga. The impurities originated usually with the priests.
Many of the Brahmins persuaded their disciples to allow them to gratify
their lust upon their young wives, declaring it was a meritorious
sacrifice. At the temple of Juggernaut, during the great festivals, a
number of females were paid to dance and sing before the god daily.
These were all prostitutes. They lived in separate houses, not in the
temple.
The daughters of Brahmins, until eight years old, were declared by the
religious code to be objects of worship, as forms of goddesses. Horrid
orgies took place at the devotions paid them. Other women might be
chosen as objects of adoration. A man must select from a particular
class--his own wife or a prostitute: she must be stripped naked while
the ceremony is performed, and this is done in a manner too revolting
to describe. The clothes of the prostitutes hired to dance before the
idols are so thin that they may almost be said to have been naked. Thus
the immorality of the Hindoos, as far as it extended, was encouraged by
their religion.
In another way some classes of Brahmins contributed to demoralize the
people. A man of this profession would marry from three to 120 wives,
in different parts of the country. Many, indeed, earned a living in
this manner; for as often as they visited any woman, her father was
obliged to make a present. Some go once after their marriage, and never
go again; while others visit their wives once in three or four years.
Some of the more respectable Brahmins never hold sexual intercourse
with any of their wives, who dwell at home, but treat them with great
respect. These neglected women often take to prostitution. The brothels
of Calcutta and other large cities are crowded with such cast-off
mistresses of the Brahmins. They procure abortion when pregnant. In the
city of Bombay a whole quarter is inhabited chiefly by prostitutes.
Riding in the environs, the European resident is frequently assailed
by men, or sometimes boys, who inquire by signs or words, whether he
desires a companion; should he assent, the woman is privately brought
to his house in a close palanquin, or he is taken to a regular place of
resort, in one of these vehicles, which are contrived for secrecy.
Among the Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, the institution of marriage
has never been strictly or completely introduced. Polyandrism is
practised. A woman receives four or five brothers as her husbands, and
a slipper left at the door is a signal that she is engaged with one
of them. The mother is thus the only parent known, and the children
inherit the property of the family in equal divisions. In some cases
the Nairs marry a particular woman, who never leaves her mother’s home,
but has intercourse with any men she pleases, subject to the sacred law
of caste. In the mountain community of Tibet the same custom prevails.
It is to be regretted that our information on this subject is not more
explicit and full.
The venereal disease is known in most parts of Hindustan. Some, with
little reason, suppose it was carried there after the discovery of
America. Had it been so, its introduction would probably have been
noticed in history or by some tradition. It is not, indeed, called by
any Sanscrit word, but is known by a Persian name[73].
OF PROSTITUTION IN CEYLON.
In Ceylon the influence of Christianity, accompanied by the moral law
of England, is working a reform in the manners of large classes among
the people. Under the original institutions of the Singhalese, they
never licensed public prostitution; and whatever effect the Buddhist
religion produced, it produced in the cause of virtue. The temples
were never made brothels; but the character of the people is naturally
sensual, and the capital vices of society widely prevail among them.
The Buddhist code, indeed, abounds with precepts inculcating not only
chastity, but rigid continence. Profligacy, however, among the men,
and want of chastity among the women, are general characteristics of
all classes, from the highest to the humblest caste. To this day the
disregard of virtue is a crying sin of the women, even of those who
profess Christianity. Murders often occur from the jealousy of husbands
or lovers detecting their wives or mistresses with a paramour.
In Ceylon, as in continental India, the division of castes is by the
ancient and sacred law absolute, though custom sometimes infringes the
enactments of the holy code. Marriage from a higher into a lower caste
is peremptorily forbidden; though occasionally it is tolerated, but
never approved, between a man of honourable and a woman of inferior
rank. If a female of noble blood engage in a criminal intrigue with
a plebeian, his life has on many occasions been sacrificed to wash
out the stain, and formerly hers was also required to obliterate the
disgrace. A recent and striking instance of this kind came to the
knowledge of Mr. Charles Sirr. The daughter of a high-caste Kandian,
enjoying the liberty which in Ceylon is allowed to women of all
grades, became attached to a young man of lower caste, and entreated
her parents’ consent to the match, begging them to excuse her for her
affection’s sake, and declaring she could not live unless permitted
to fulfil the design on which her heart was set. They refused, and,
though the petition was again and again renewed, remained obdurate in
their denial. The girl was some time after found to have sacrificed her
honour to the man whom she loved, but dared not wed. He was all the
while willing and desirous to marry her, and would have married her
then, but her parents were inexorable. To preserve the honour of the
family, the father slew his daughter with his own hand. The English
authorities at once arrested the murderer, brought him to trial, and
condemned him to death. He resolutely asserted his right to do as he
pleased with the girl, protesting against any judicial interference
of the English with his family arrangements. He was, nevertheless,
executed, as a warning; and several of these examples have had a
most salutary influence in restraining the passions of the natives
in various parts of the island. It was undoubtedly the man’s sense
of honour that impelled him to murder his daughter; and she was thus
the victim of caste prejudices, which in Ceylon are so rigid that a
man could not force his slave to marry into a rank below him, whether
free-born or otherwise.
In Ceylon, as in most other parts of Asia, marriages are contracted
at a very early age. A man, by the law, “attains his majority” when
sixteen years old, and thenceforward is released from paternal
control; all engagements, however, which he may form previous to that
time, without the consent of his friends in authority, are null and
void. A girl, as soon as she is marriageable according to nature,
is marriageable according to law; and her parents, or, if she be an
orphan, her nearest kindred, give a feast--grand or humble, according
to their means--when she is introduced to a number of unmarried male
friends. If she be handsome or rich, a crowd of suitors is sure to be
attracted. Free as women are in Ceylon after their marriage, they are
rarely consulted beforehand on the choice of a partner. That is settled
for the girl. To this custom much of the immorality prevalent in the
island, as well as in all parts of the East, may without a doubt be
ascribed. Where the sexes are not free to form what lawful unions they
please, it may be taken as an axiom that they will have recourse to
irregular intrigues.
When the feast is given at which a young girl is introduced as
marriageable--a custom very similar in form and _object_ to that which
obtains in our own country--numerous young unmarried men of the same
caste are invited to the house. In a short time after, a relative or
friend of any young man who may desire to take the maiden as his wife,
calls upon her family, and insinuates that a rumour of the intended
union is flying abroad. If this be denied, quietly or otherwise, the
match-maker loses no time in withdrawing; but if it is answered in a
jocular bantering strain, he takes his leave, with many compliments, to
announce his reception to the father of the bridegroom. This personage,
after a day or two, makes _his_ call, inquires into the amount of the
marriage dowry, and carries the negotiation a few steps further. Mutual
visits are exchanged, and all arrangements made, with great precision.
The mother of the young man, with several other matrons, take the girl
into an inner room, where she is stripped, and her person examined, to
see that it is free from any corporal defect, from ulcers, and from
any cutaneous disease. Should this investigation prove satisfactory,
numerous formalities succeed, and an auspicious day is fixed upon for
the wedding. This takes place with much ceremony, the stars being in
all things consulted. Should the bridegroom’s horoscope refuse to
agree with that of the bride, his younger brother may wed her for him
by a species of proxy. The whole is a tedious succession of formal
observances, not so much the ordinance of religion as the details of
an ancient ritual etiquette. This is the Buddhaical custom; but it is
immensely expensive, and cannot be followed by the very poor classes.
It is also forbidden to people of extremely low caste, even though
they should be wealthy enough to afford, or sufficiently improvident
to risk it. Among the humble and indigent the marriage is confirmed by
the mutual consent of the parents and the young couple passing a night
together.
One of the most remarkable features in the social aspect of Ceylon is
the institution of polyandrism, which among the Kandians is permitted
and practised to a great extent. A Kandian matron of high caste is
sometimes the wife of eight brothers. The custom is justified upon
various grounds. Sirr expressed to a Kandian chief of no mean rank
his abhorrence of this revolting practice. The man was surprised at
these sentiments, and replied that on the contrary it was an excellent
custom. Among the rich it prevented litigation; it saved property from
minute subdivision; it concentrated family influence. Among the poor it
was absolutely necessary, for several brothers could not each maintain
a separate wife, or bear the expense of a whole family, which jointly
they could easily do. The offspring of these strange unions call all
the brothers alike their fathers, though preference is given to the
eldest, and are equal heirs to the family property; should litigation,
however, arise concerning the inheritance, they often all claim the
senior brother as a parent, and the Kandian laws recognise this claim.