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is represented by [t.] as in "ba[t.]h".
THE
HINDOOS AS THEY ARE
A DESCRIPTION OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS
AND
INNER LIFE OF HINDOO SOCIETY
IN BENGAL.
BY
SHIB CHUNDER BOSE.
WITH A PREFATORY NOTE BY
THE REV. W. HASTIE, B. D.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S INSTITUTION, CALCUTTA.
London:
EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS.
Calcutta:
W. NEWMAN & Co., 3, DALHOUSIE SQUARE.
1881.
PRINTED BY W. NEWMAN AND CO.,
AT THE CAXTON PRESS, 1, MISSION ROW, CALCUTTA.
[_The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved._]
CONTENTS.
_Page._
PREFATORY NOTE. i
INTRODUCTION. iii
I. THE HINDOO HOUSEHOLD 1
II. THE BIRTH OF A HINDOO 22
III. THE HINDOO SCHOOL-BOY 30
IV. VOWS OF HINDOO GIRLS 35
V. MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 41
VI. THE BROTHER FESTIVAL 90
VII. THE SON-IN-LAW FESTIVAL 92
VIII. THE DOORGA POOJAH FESTIVAL 93
IX. THE KALI POOJAH FESTIVAL 136
X. THE SARASWATI POOJAH 151
XI. THE FESTIVAL OF CAKES 155
XII. THE HOLI FESTIVAL 159
XIII. CASTE 165
XIV. A BRAHMIN 180
XV. THE BENGALEE BABOO 191
XVI. THE KOBIRAJ, OR NATIVE PHYSICIAN 209
XVII. HINDOO FEMALES 216
XVIII. POLYGAMY 227
XIX. HINDOO WIDOWS 237
XX. SICKNESS, DEATH, AND SHRAD OR FUNERAL CEREMONIES 246
XXI. SUTTEE, OR THE IMMOLATION OF HINDOO WIDOWS 272
XXII. THE ADMIRED STORY OF SABITRI BRATA, OR THE
WONDERFUL TRIUMPH OF EXALTED CHASTITY 280
APPENDIX 293
ERRATA.
Page 49, line 4, for "_Butterfly_," read, "_Prajapati_--the (Lord.)"
PREFATORY NOTE.
Babu Shib Chunder Bose is an enlightened Bengali, of matured conviction
and character, who, having received the stirring impulse of Western
culture and thought during the early period of Dr. Duff's work in the
General Assembly's Institution, has continued faithful to it through all
these long and changeful years. His extended and varied experience, his
careful habit of observation and contrast, his large store of general
reading and information, and his rare sobriety and earnestness of
judgment, eminently qualify him for lifting the veil from the inner
domestic life of his countrymen, and giving such an account of their
social and religious observances as may prove intelligible and
instructive to general English readers. In the sketches which he has now
produced we are presented with the first-fruits of "the harvest of a
quiet eye" that has long meditatively watched the strange ongoings of
this ancient society, and penetrated with living insight into the
springs and tendency of its startling changes.
Although I had no special claim to any right of judgment upon the
present phases of Hindu life, the writer took me early into his
confidence, and from the apparent quality and sincerity of his work I
had no hesitation in encouraging him to persevere, recommending him,
however, to leave historical speculation to others and to confine
himself to a faithful delineation of facts within his own experience.
While his manuscripts were passing through my hands, I took pains to
verify his descriptions by frequent reference to younger educated
natives, who, in all cases, confirmed the accuracy and reliability of
the details. The book will stand on its own merits with English readers,
whose happily increasing interest in the forms and movements of Hindu
life at this transitional period when the picturesque institutions and
habits of thousands of years are visibly and irrevocably passing away,
should gladly welcome its fresh and opportune representations. And all
who, viewing without regret the decay of the old order and animated by
the faith of nobler possibilities than it has ever achieved, are
actually engaged in the great work of religious regeneration and social
reform in India, should find much in these truthful but saddening
sketches to intensify their sympathies and give definite direction and
guidance to their best efforts.
W. HASTIE.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S INSTITUTION,
_23rd March, 1881_.
INTRODUCTION.
In presenting the following volume to the Public, I am conscious of the
very great disadvantage I labor under in attempting to communicate my
thoughts through the medium of a language differing from my
mother-tongue both in the forms of construction and in the methods of
expression. My appeal to the indulgence of the public is based on the
ground of my work being true to its name. It professes to be a simple,
but faithful, delineation of the present state of Hindoo society in
Bengal, and especially in Calcutta, the Athens of Hindoosthan. I cannot
promise anything thrilling or sensational. My principal object is to
give as much information as possible regarding the moral, intellectual,
social and domestic economy of my countrymen and countrywomen. The
interest attaching to the information and facts furnished will greatly
depend on the spirit in which they may be received. To such of my
readers as feel a genuine interest in a true reflection of the present
state of society in this country, passing from a condition of almost
impenetrable darkness to that of marvellous light, through the general
and rapid diffusion of western knowledge, I do not think the details I
have given will be found dull or dry. Not a few of the facts stated
will, I fear, prove painfully interesting to those who are cognisant of
the many incrusted defects and deficiencies still lurking in our social
system. But if we carefully look at it we shall doubtless discover that
it is not all darkness and clouds, "it has its crimson dawns, its rosy
sunsets." The multitudinous phases of Hindoo life, though sadly
revolting and repulsive in many respects, have nevertheless some
redeeming features, revealing radiant glimpses of simple and innocent
joys. In discussing the various social questions in their purely earthly
aspects and relationships, it may be I have treated some of them
inadequately and superficially, but in so doing I claim the merit of a
humble endeavour after perfect honesty. I have in no wise exaggerated,
but have simply followed the golden maxim of "nothing extenuate nor set
down aught in malice."
* * * * *
The men of the land, and not the land of the men, form the subject
matter of my work. My attention has long been directed to the domestic,
social, moral, intellectual and religious condition of the Hindoos. The
deep researches of European savants have from time to time thrown a
flood of light on the learning and antiquities of India. We have every
reason to admire the great truthfulness and accuracy of their
observations in many respects. As foreigners, however, they were
naturally constrained to pay but a subordinate attention to the peculiar
domestic and social economy of the Natives. The idea of attempting a
sketch of the inner life and habits of the Hindoos in this age, was
originally suggested to the writer by the Revd. Drs. Duff and
Charles--two Christian philanthropists, whose names are deservedly
enshrined in the grateful memory of the Hindoo community of Bengal, the
great centre of their educational and religious achievements. It was
cordially approved by that high-minded statesman, Sir Charles
Theophilus, afterwards Lord Metcalfe, who practically taught the Indian
Public what a writer in the "_Nineteenth Century_" so aptly calls the
great Trinity of liberty,--freedom of speech, freedom of trade, and
freedom of religion.
To supply this desideratum, and not merely to gratify the natural
curiosity to know the inner life of the Hindoos, but to do something in
the line of social amelioration by "bringing the stagnant waters of
Eastern life into contact with the quickening stream of European
progress," have been the chief aim of the following pages. Should a
liberal Public, here as well as in Europe and America, vouchsafe its
countenance to this my first literary enterprise, I purpose to continue
my humble labor in the same sphere, extending my observation, if
advisable, to a picture of the social life of Upper, Western and
Southern India. The vastness of the subject is one great difficulty. It
will open to all civilized and philanthropic nations a wide and yet
unexplored field for the exercise of their thoughts and sympathies.
To Europeans, and more especially to Englishmen, who have, for more than
a century and a half, been the great and beneficent arbiters under
Providence of the destiny of this vast empire, a correct knowledge of
the domestic and social institutions of the Hindoos, is of the most
vital importance, being essentially indispensable to a right
understanding of the existing wants, wishes, feelings and sentiments,
condition and progress of the subject race. Many erroneous ideas
concerning the singular customs and observances of the people of India
still prevail in Europe and America. They are partly due to defective
observation, and partly to the prejudices of men whose minds are too
pre-occupied to properly understand and appreciate the peculiar phases
of character, manners and usages among nations other than their own.
Such men are unfortunately led to associate the Natives "with ways that
are dark and tricks that are vain." To remove the mass of misconception
yet prevailing in some quarters by placing before the general reader a
true and comprehensive knowledge of the daily life of a people, who
occupy such a huge spot on the earth's surface, and whose numbers are
counted by hundreds of millions, is indeed an important step towards the
solution of a great social problem, and towards the removal of the gulf
that divides the sons of the soil from the English rulers of the
country. The tendency of close and constant intercourse is to promote an
identity of interests between the two races. As a Native, the author may
be allowed to have had the facilities requisite for acquiring a clear
idea of the manners and customs of his countrymen, which may
counterbalance in some degree the drawbacks and deficiencies naturally
experienced by him on the score of language.
The Rev. W. Hastie, B. D., Principal of the General Assembly's
Institution, and Mr. J. B. Knight, C. I. E., have laid me under great
and lasting obligations by their kind suggestions and encouragement. I
have particularly to thank the former for the prefatory note which he
has written in response to my special request.
SHIB CHUNDER BOSE.
I.
THE HINDOO HOUSEHOLD.
It is my intention in the following pages to endeavour to convey to the
mind of the European reader some distinct idea of the present manners
and customs, usages and institutions of my Hindoo countrymen,
illustrative of their peculiar domestic and social habits and the
_inner_ life of our society, the minutiae of which can never be
sufficiently accessible to Europeans. "It is in the domestic circle that
manners are best seen, where restraint is thrown aside, and no external
authority controls the freedom of expression."
I shall begin with a general account of the normal Hindoo household, as
at once the living centre and meeting point of the various elements of
our society. But as it is impossible to describe the manifold gradations
of social condition in a single sketch, I shall draw from the domestic
arrangements of a family of one of the higher castes and provided with a
convenient share of worldly prosperity. Only the principal elements in
the group can now be alluded to, and some of them will be described with
greater detail in separate sketches.
The family domicile of a Hindoo is, to all intents and purposes, a
regular sanctum, not easily accessible to the outside world. Its
peculiar construction, its tortuous passages, its small compartments and
special apportionment, obviously indicate the prevalence of a taste
"cabined, cribbed, confined," and preclude the admittance of free
ventilation and free intercourse. The annals of history have long since
established the fact that the close confinement system which exists in
Bengal, was mainly owing to the oppressions of the Moslem conquerors,
and more recently to the inroads of the Pindaree marauders, commonly
termed _Burghees_, the tales of whose depredations are still listened
to with gaping mouths and terrified interest.
The gradual consolidation of the British power having established on a
firm basis the security of life and property, the people are beginning
to avail themselves of an improved mode of habitation, affording better
facilities of accommodation and a wider range of the comforts and
conveniences of life. From time out of mind there has existed in the
country a sort of domestic and social economy, bearing a close
resemblance to the old patriarchal system, recognising the principle of
a common father or ruler of a family, who exercises parental control
over all. The system of a joint Hindoo family[1] partaking of the same
food, living under the same roof from generation to generation,
breathing the same atmosphere, and worshipping the same god, is
decidedly a traditional inheritance which the particular structure of
Hindoo society has long reared and fostered. This side of the subject
will be enlarged upon in its proper place.
A few words about the respective position and duties of the principal
members of a Hindoo household will be in place at the outset. I shall,
therefore, begin with the _Karta_ or male head, who, as the term
imports, exercises supreme control over the whole family, so that no
domestic affair of any importance may be undertaken without his consent
or knowledge. The financial management, almost entirely regulated by his
superior judgment, seldom or never exceeds the available means at his
disposal. The honor, dignity and reputation of the family wholly depend
on his prudence and wisdom, weighted by age and matured by experience.
His own individual happiness is identified with that of the other
members of the household. There is a proverbial expression among the
Natives, teaching that the counsel of the aged should be accepted for
all the practical purposes of life (except in a few unhappy instances to
be noticed hereafter) and the rule exerts a healthy influence on the
domestic circle. As the supreme Head he has not only to look after the
secular wants of the family but likewise to watch the spiritual needs of
all the members, checking irregularities by the sound discipline of
earnest admonition. In accordance with the usual consequences of a
patriarchal system, a respectable Hindoo is often obliged to support a
certain number of hangers-on, more or less related to him by kinship. A
brother, an uncle, a nephew, a brother-in-law, etc., with their
families, are not unfrequently placed in this humiliating position,
notwithstanding the currency of the trite apothegm,--which says, "it is
better to be dependent on another for _food_ than to live in his
_house_." This saying is to be supplemented by another which runs thus:
"_Luckhee_, the goddess of prosperity, always commands a numerous
train." The proper significance of these phrases is but too practically
understood and felt by those who have been unfortunate enough to come
under their exemplification.
Next in point of importance in the category of the domestic circle is
his wife, the _Ghinni_, or the female Head, whose position is a
responsible one, and whose duties are alike manifold and arduous. She
has to look after the victualling department, report to her husband or
sons the exact state of the stores,[2] order what is wanted, account for
the extra consumption of victuals, adopt the necessary precaution
against being robbed, see that everyone is duly fed, and that the rite
of hospitality is extended to the poor and helpless, watch that the
rules of purity are practically observed in every department of the
household, and make daily arrangements as to what meals are to be
prepared for the day. The study of domestic economy engages her
attention from the moment she undertakes the varied duties in the inner
department of a household, the proper management of which, is, to her, a
congenial occupation, becoming her sex, her position, her habitude, her
taste. Independent of these domestic charges which are enough to absorb
her mind, she has other duties to discharge, which shall be indicated
hereafter.
The next chief constituents in the body of the household, are the
daughters and daughters-in-law, whose relative positions and duties
demand a separate notice. Viewed from their close relationship it is
reasonable to conclude that they should bear the kindliest feelings to
each other and evince a tender regard for mutual happiness, returning
love for love and sympathy for sympathy. But, as elsewhere, unhappily,
such is the depravity of human nature that the operation of antagonistic
influences arising from dissimilar idiosyncracies, embitters some of the
sweetest enjoyments of life. In the majority of cases, a _nanad_, the
sister of the husband, though allied to another family, is nevertheless
solicitous to minister to the domestic felicity of her _vaja_ or the
wife of his brother, but unhappily her intent is often misconstrued, and
the sincerity of her motive questioned. Instead of an unclouded
cordiality subsisting between them, the generous affection of the one is
but ill-requited by the other. Hence, an unaccountable coldness commonly
springs up between them which materially subtracts from the growth of
domestic felicity. Shame on us that a vast amount of ignorance and
prejudice yet renders us incapable of appreciating the highest end of
the social state.
When the several female members of a household meet together, enlivened
by the company of their neighbours and friends (such visits being few
and far between), these first object of inquiry is generally the amount
of ornaments possessed, their workmanship, their value. Few things
please them better than a conversation on this subject, which from the
absence of mental culture, almost wholly monopolizes their mind, despite
the natural tendency of human intellect to a progressive development. If
not thus absorbed, the time is usually frittered away by sundry petty
frivolous inquiries of a purely domestic character. On matters of the
most vital importance their notions are as crude and irrational as they
are absurd and childish.[3] Except in isolated instances, their bearing
towards each other is generally marked by suavity, and kindliness of
manners which has a tendency to draw closer the bond of union between
them all.
It is on such occasions that the amiable loveliness of human nature, is
displayed,--brightening, for a time, at least the otherwise dark region
of a Hindoo zenana and cheering the hearts of its inmates. In a thickly
populated city like Calcutta, with its broad roads and dense crowds at
all hours of the day, without a closed conveyance, either a palkee or a
carriage, no married female is permitted to leave the house even for a
single moment, for that of her sister, perhaps some three doors from her
own. So great is the privacy, and punctiliousness with which female
honor is guarded in the East. The sanction of the male or female head
must, as a standing rule of female etiquette, be obtained before any one
is at liberty to go out even to return a friendly or ceremonious visit.
The reader may form an idea as to the tenacity with which the close
zenana system in a respectable family is enforced, from the circumstance
of a young _Bahou_ or daughter-in-law (the rules being not so strict in
the case of a daughter) being set down as immodest and unmannerly, if
she were accidently seen to tread the outer or male compartment of the
house. If she but chance to articulate a word or a phrase so as to reach
the ear of a male outside, she is severely censured, and steps are
instantly taken, to teach her better manners for the future. Even the
_Ghinni_, or female Head, does not escape censure for a like offence.
With such scrupulous pertinacity is the privacy of the _inner_ life of
the Hindoo society observed. A social line of demarcation is drawn
around the zenana which a genteel Hindoo female is told and taught never
to overstep, either in her conversation or bearing. Woe be to the day
when she is incautiously led to move beyond her sphere, which, for all
the practical purposes of life, is closely hemmed in by a ring of
miserable seclusion, illustrating the scornful lines of the poet:
"Let Eastern tyrants from the light of heaven
Seclude their bosom slaves."
A few advanced Hindoos, more especially the Brahmos, who have received
the benefits of an enlightened education, are making strenuous efforts
to ameliorate the degraded condition of their wives and sisters (the
mothers being too old and conservative to acquiesce in the spirit of
modern innovation) and bring them to the front, if possible, by ignoring
the rules of orthodoxy. But it is the firm belief of such as have been
schooled by experience and observation, that the time is yet far distant
when this bold, sweeping, social revolution shall be brought about with
the general consensus of the people at large. The moral tone of Native
society must be immensely raised, its manners and customs entirely
remodelled, and its traditional institutions and prescriptive usages
thoroughly purified before the consummation of so desirable an object
can be successfully effected.
A Hindoo girl, even after marriage, enjoys greater liberty and is
treated with more indulgence at her father's house than at her
father-in-law's. The cause of this is obvious. From the very period of
her birth, she is nurtured by her mother, aunts, sisters and other
female relatives, no less than by her father, uncle, brothers and other
male members of the family, all of whom naturally continue to bear her
the same love and affection throughout her after life. A mother hugs her
more tenderly, caresses her more fondly, hangs about her more
affectionately, feels greater sympathy in her joy and sorrow, and
watches more carefully how she grows up in health to her present state,
than a mother-in-law. Whether she is eating, talking or playing, her
mother's care never ceases. Should maternal admonition fail to produce
the desired effect, as it does in a few isolated instances, the usual
threat of sending her to her father-in-law's, acts as the most wholesome
corrective.
The social relaxations of Hindoo females have a very limited range. Some
delight in reading the Mahabharat, the Ramayan, tales, romances, etc.,
while others are fond of needle-work, playing at cards, or listening to
stories of a puerile description. Though they seldom come out of their
houses, except under permissive sanction, yet their stock of gossip is
almost inexhaustible. They are generally lively and loquacious, and the
chief passion of their life is for the acquisition of ornaments. They
possess a retentive memory, seldom forgetting what they once hear. Fond
of hyperboles, the sober realities of life have little attraction for
their minds. Their social tone is neither so pure nor so elevated as
becomes a polished, refined community. It is almost needless to add,
that their familiar conversation is not characterised by that chaste,
dignified language, which constitutes the prominent feature of a people
far advanced in the van of civilization. Objectionable modes of
expression generally pass muster among them, simply because they labor
under the great disadvantage of the national barrenness of intellect and
the acknowledged poverty of colloquial literature.
It is a well-known fact that Hindoo males and females do not take their
meals together. Both squat down on the floor at the time of eating.
Except in the case of little girls, it is held highly unbecoming in a
grown up female to be seen eating by a male member of the family. As a
rule, women take their meals after the men have finished theirs. There
is a popular belief that women take a longer time to eat than men. Of
the perfection of the culinary art, the former are better judges than
the latter. They chat and eat leisurely because they have no offices to
go to, nor any definite occupation to engage their minds in. A Hindoo
writer has said, that commonly speaking, they eat more and digest more
readily than men. Naturally modest, they take their meals without any
complaint, though sometimes they are served with food not of the very
best description. The choicest part of the food is offered in the first
instance to the males and the residue is kept for the females. A woman
is religiously forbidden to taste of anything in the shape of eatables
before it is given to a man. Simple in taste, diet and habits, but shut
up in a state of close confinement, and leading a monotonous life,
scarcely cheered by a ray of light, they are necessarily not receptive
of large communications of truth.
The children form an important link in the great chain of the domestic
circle. When sporting about in childhood they have commonly spare
persons, light brown skins, high foreheads beaming with intelligence,
large dark eyes, with aquiline noses, small thin-lipped mouths, and dark
soft hair. The fairness of their complexion is generally sallowed by
exposure to the sun in the earliest stage of childhood.
The child grows up under the fostering care of its parents amidst all
the surroundings of the family domicile. As it advances in years the
mother endeavours, according to her very limited capacity, to instil
into its mind the rude elements of knowledge. From the incipient stage
of early infancy when his mind is rendered susceptible of culture and
expansion, crude and imperfect religious ideas largely leavened with
superstition, are communicated to him, which subsequently mould his
character in an undesirable manner. His early affections and moral
principles are most entirely influenced by the impressions he receives
at the maternal fount, and he seldom comes in contact with the outer
world. He is taught to pay divine homage to all the idols that are
worshipped at stated periods of the year, and his indistinct ideas grow
into deep convictions, the pernicious influence of which can only
afterwards be effaced by the blessings of western knowledge. In the
villages "_chanaka sloaka_" or elementary lessons are still given as a
sort of moral exercise. The mother from want of adequate capacity or
culture is unfit to engraft on the youthful mind the higher divine
truths, to teach the child how to look on men, how to feel for them, how
to bear with them, how to be true, honest, manly, and how to "look
beneath the outward to the spiritual, immortal and divine." Solid,
practical wisdom, however, is often extracted from the most commonplace
experiences, even by untutored minds.
"Honor thy father and thy mother," is the first scriptural commandment
with promise, the importance and excellence of which is early impressed
on the mind of a Hindoo child by wise, discreet parents. And Hindoos are
honorably distinguished by their affections for their parents, and
continue to be so even in the maturer years of their life.
In the case of a girl, even the most elementary sort of instruction is
neglected except that she occasionally studies the Bengallee primer,--an
innovation which the spirit of the times countenances. When of proper
age, she is sent to a female school where she pursues her studies until
finally withdrawn therefrom after her marriage. As a rational being she
may continue to evince a natural desire and aptitude for intellectual
progress and to carry it on by home study according to her taste and
position in life. A few have made astonishing progress, despite certain
formidable obstacles which an abnormal state of society inevitably
interposes. The traditional bugbear of becoming a widow if she were to
learn to read and write has happily passed away, not only in the great
centres of education but likewise in several parts of the rural
districts, where, to all appearances, females are just beginning, as it
were, to assert their right to the improvement of their minds. This is
certainly an unerring presage, foreshadowing the advent of national
regeneration in the fullness of time. Many families being well-to-do in
the world engage a Christian governess[4] both for elementary
instruction as well as for needle-work, the latter being an
accomplishment which even the most matronly ladies have now taken a
great liking for. The introduction of this art of tasteful production
has, in a great measure, superseded the idle, unprofitable gossip of the
day, driving away ennui and slothfulness at the same time.
In almost every respectable Hindu household there is a tutelar god,
chiefly made of stone and metal after one of the images of Krishna, set
up on a gold or silver throne with silver umbrella and silver utensils
dedicated to its service. Every morning and evening it is worshipped by
the hereditary _Purohit_, or priest, who visits the house for the
purpose twice a day, and who, as the name implies, is the _first_ in all
religious ceremonies, second to none but the _guru_ or spiritual guide.
The offerings of rice, fruits, sweetmeats and milk, made to the god, he
carries home after the close of the service. A conch is blown, a bell is
rung, and a gong beat at the time of the Poojah, when the religiously
disposed portion of the inmates, male and female, in a quasi-penitent
attitude, make their obeisance to the god and receive in return the
hollow benediction of the priest. The daily repetition of the service
quickens the heartbeats of the devotees and serves to remind them,
however faintly, of their religious duties. Such a worship is popularly
regarded in the light of an act of great merit paving the way to
everlasting bliss. A suitable endowment in landed property is sometimes
set apart for the permanent support of the idol, which is called the
_debatra_ land or inalienable property, according to the Hindu Shastras.
Some families that have been reduced to a state of poverty through the
reverses of fortune now live on the usufruct of the _debatra_ land,
which serves as a sheet-anchor in stormy weather.
Besides the daily Poojah of the household deity there are some other
extraordinary religious celebrations, such as Doorga, Kali, Lakshmi,
Jagaddhatri, Saraswati, Kartik, Janmashtami, Dole, Rash, Jhoolun,
Jatras, etc., (the latter four being all Poojahs of Krishna) which
excite the religious fervor of the Vaishnavas, as contra-distinguished
from the Saktas, the followers of Kali or Doorga the female principle.
The internal daily details of a Hindu household next demand our
attention. In the morning when the breakfast is ready the little
children are served first as they have to go to their schools, and then
the adult male members, chiefly brothers, nephews, etc., who have to
attend their offices. They all squat down _vis-a-vis_ on small bits of
carpet on the floor, while the mother sits near them, not to eat but to
see that they are all properly served; she closely watches that each and
every one of them is duly satisfied; she would never feel happy should
any of them find fault with a particular dish as being unsavoury, she
snubs the cook and taxes herself for her own want of supervision in the
kitchen, because the idea of having failed to do her duty in this
respect is an agony to her mind.
As a mother, she avails herself of this opportunity to plunge into
conversation, and consult her sons about the conduct of all domestic
affairs, which necessarily expand as there are adjuncts to the original
stock. For example, she takes their advice as to the amount of
expenditure to be incurred at the forthcoming wedding of _Sharat
Shashee_, the youngest daughter, in the month of Falgun, or February.
This is an occasion, when the hearts of both the sons and the mother
overflow with the milk of human kindness, yet there is a desire to avoid
extravagance as far as possible.
A prudent mother wisely regulates her expenses according to the means
and earnings of her sons, and she seldom or never comes to grief. The
idea of an extravagant Hindoo mother is a solecism that has no existence
in the actual realities of life. She is a model of economy, devotion,
chastity, patience, self-denial, and a martyr to domestic affection. She
may be wanting in mental accomplishment, which is not her own fault, but
the very large share of strong common-sense she is naturally endowed
with, sufficiently makes up for every deficiency in all the ordinary
concerns of life. Accustomed to look upon her sons as the pride of her
existence, she seeks every legitimate means to promote their happiness.
If her daughters-in-law turn out querulous, and fall out one with
another, which is not unfrequently the case, she reconciles them by the
panacea of gentle remonstrance. But unhappily, such is the degeneracy of
the present age that the influence of wholesome admonition being
shamefully ignored is often lost in the cataclysm of discord, and the
inevitable consequence is, that vicious selfishness disturbs Heaven's
blessed peace, and "love cools, friendships fall off, brothers divide."
After the sons have gone to their respective offices, the mother
changing her clothes retires into the _thakurghar_(the place of worship)
and goes through her morning service, at the close of which she
prostrates herself, invokes the blessing of her guardian deity, and then
again changing her clothes, takes her breakfast and enjoys a short
siesta, while chewing a mouthful of betel sometimes mixed with tobacco
leaf, in order to strengthen her teeth.
In any sketch of a Hindu family it is necessary that something should be
said about the domestic servants attached to a Hindu household. The
cook, whose employment involves some very important considerations, may
be either a male or a female. In most families, a preference is
generally shewn for a female cook[5] for reasons which are obvious. The
kitchen, being as a rule, placed in the inner division of the house, the
females have an opportunity to assist her in various ways, so as to
facilitate and expedite her work, which certainly is not always of the
most pleasant nature. The dietary of a Hindu family, as may be easily
anticipated, is of the simplest description, consisting for the most
part of vegetables and fishes, with a little milk and ghee, but no eggs
or meat of any kind. Not like the prepared dishes of the French and
Moguls, highly flavored and richly spiced, the daily preparations are
very simple; no onion, garlic, or strong aromatic spices are used. They
are easy of digestion and palatable to taste, being altogether free from
offensive and foetid smell. The simple turmeric, pepper, cummin,
coriander and mustard seeds, etc., generally impart a fine flavor to the
preparations, which the frugal and abstemious Hindoos eat with great
zest. I have known the wives of several rich Baboos, take a delight in
preparing with their own hands the evening meal of their husband and
sons. This is entirely a labor of love, which they go through with the
greatest cheerfulness. It is necessary to mention here that without
fishes, which are very abundant, a nice little Hindoo breakfast or
dinner in Bengal is an impossibility. The art of cooking should not be a
mystery to all save the initiated few, it should be the study of every
good and thrifty woman who is willing to sacrifice needless elegance and
pomp to comfort and economy.
This gastronomical digression will serve to indicate the taste of the
Hindu in Bengal, and the very simple style of their living. Even in the
selection of articles of food a nice distinction is observed; fishes are
dressed in a part of the kitchen quite distinct from where the
vegetable dishes are prepared, because a widow is strictly forbidden to
use anything which comes in contact with fishes. Moreover, a widow would
not accept a dish unless it is prepared by a real Brahmin cook, male or
female. Should a male member of the family be ever disposed to eat goat
flesh (he being forbidden to use any other kind of meat, save mutton,
when sacrificed) a _Sakta_ cook undertakes to prepare it for him. When
finished, she changes her clothes and purifies her body by sprinkling
over it a few drops of Ganges water. Excepting little unmarried girls,
whose parents are _Saktas_ (worshippers of female deities) no other
Hindu female is permitted to use meat even by sufferance. In other
rigidly orthodox families a similar concession is withheld.
The wage of a female cook, who in nine cases out of ten is a widow, is
about six to seven Rupees a month, with a few annas extra for
_Ekadashi_--the day of close fast for all widows--and cocoanut oil for
her hair,[6] six pieces of grey shirtings each ten cubits long, and
three bathing napkins a year. She also gets an extra piece of cloth at
the Doorga Poojah festival, when the most wretched pauper, somehow or
other, puts on new clothes. Some of the widow cooks have certainly seen
better days, but the vicissitudes of fortune have made them hopelessly
destitute. As a rule, they bear the load of misfortune with the greatest
patience. They chiefly come from the villages, and it speaks much in
favor of the purity of their character that they ungrudgingly submit to
the menial offices of a drudge, instead of being seduced into the
forbidden paths of life. Of course there are a few black sheep in the
flock, but happily their number is very limited. A male cook is always
a Brahman. It is almost superfluous to add that the employment in a
family or the admittance of any man-servant into the inner apartment of
a Hindoo household, which is emphatically the great centre, as well of
domestic happiness as of religious sanctity, is open to many objections.
The second domestic servant that demands a notice at our hands is the
_Jhee_, or maid-servant of the family. Her duties are alike onerous and
troublesome. Like the potter's wheel she incessantly turns backwards and
forwards and knows no rest till about ten o'clock at night. She rises
early in the morning, sweeps and washes all the rooms and verandahs
inside the house, cleans all the brass utensils of the family, makes
fire in the stove, pounds the kitchen spices, prepares fishes for
cooking purposes, and attends to other duties of a household nature.
Some maid-servants are almost exclusively employed in taking care of
children. Their duties are not so hard as those of the family _Jhee_
indicated above. These females are often drawn from the dregs of society
and their conduct, or rather misconduct, sometimes leads to the most
unhappy results. Their wage is about two Rupees a month, exclusive of
food and clothes. They occasionally also make something by carrying
presents to relatives and friends.
I next come to the male servants: there are more than a half-dozen of
them in a respectable family, and their services are in the main
confined to the outer apartment of the household. They sweep and clean
all the rooms, spread white cloth bedding on the floor, change the water
of the _hookah_ (the first essential both at an ordinary and special
reception) fill the _chillum_ with tobacco, _kochay_, or trim the fine
black bordered Simla _Dhuti_ and _Kalmay Urani_ (Baboo's native dressing
attire) put in order the lamps, and go to Bazar to make purchases. Their
pay ranges from three to four Rupees a month, exclusive of food and
clothes.
A rich Hindoo, however, has a large establishment of servants in
addition to those mentioned above. There are durwans (door-keepers);
syces (grooms); coachmen, gardeners, sircar, cashier, accountant, etc.,
each of whom discharges his functions in his own sphere, but they seldom
or never come in contact with the female inmates of the household. The
cashier is the most important and responsible person, and his income is
larger than that of any other servant, because he gets his commission
from all tradespeople dealing with the family. All of them get presents
of clothes at the great national festival the Doorga Pujah.
The _khansamah_ of a Baboo is his most favorite servant. From the nature
of his office he comes into closest contact with his master, he rubs his
body with oil before bathing and sometimes shampooes him,--a practice
which gradually induces idle, effeminate habits, and eventually greatly
incapacitates a man for the manifold duties of an active life. Indeed,
to study the life of a "big native swell" is to study the character of a
consummate Oriental epicure, immersed in a ceaseless round of pleasures,
and hedged in by a body of unconscionable fellows, distinguished only
for their flattery and servility.
Except in isolated instances, the general treatment of domestic servants
by their masters, is not reprehensible.
Except such as possess a thorough insight into the peculiar mysteries of
the inner life of the Hindoo society, very few are aware that a
wife--perhaps the mother of three or four children--is forbidden to open
her lips or lift her veil in order to speak to her husband in presence
of her mother-in-law, or any other adult male or female member of the
family. She may converse with the children without fear of being exposed
to the charge of impropriety; this is the systole and diastole of her
liberty, but she is imperatively commanded to hold her tongue and drop
down her veil whenever she happens to see an elderly member in her way.
A phrase used in common parlance (_Bhasur Bhadrabau_) denotes the utmost
privacy, as that which the _wife_ of a younger brother should observe
towards the elder _brother_ of her husband. It is an unpardonable sin,
as it were, in the former, even to come in contact with the very shadow
of the latter. The rules of conventionalism have reared an adamantine
partition wall between the two. We have all learnt in our school-days
that modesty is a quality which highly adorns a woman, but the peculiar
domestic economy of the natives, carries this golden rule to the utmost
stretch of restriction, verging on sacred, religious prohibition.
The general state of Hindoo female society, as at present constituted,
exhibits an improved moral tone, presenting an edifying contrast to the
gross proclivities of former times as far as popular amusements are
concerned. The popular amusements of the Hindoos, like those of many
European nations, have rarely been characterised by essentially moral
principles. But the loose and immoral amusements of the former time do
not now so much interest our educated females. The popular Native
_Jatras_ (representations) do not now breathe those low, obscene
expressions, which was the wont only some thirty years back, yet they
are not, withal, absolutely pure or elevated. It is true that some of
them are touching and pathetic in their themes, not jarring to a moral
sense but admirably adapted to the taste of a people having a supreme
respect for their idolatrous and mythological systems, from which most
of these _Jatras_ are derived. The marvellous and the supernatural
always exact an instinctive regard from the ignorant and the credulous
multitude, destitute of the superior blessings of enlightenment. The
_Panchaly_ (represented by female actresses only) which is given for the
amusement of the females, especially at the time of the second marriage,
is sometimes much too obscene and immoral to be tolerated in a zenana
having any pretension to gentility. On such an occasion, despite a
strict conventional restriction, a depraved taste clearly manifests
itself. Much has yet to be done to develope among the females a taste
for purer amusements, and such as are better adapted to a healthy state
of society.
In Hindoo females there is a prominent trait which deserves to be
commended. Moses, Mohammed, and Manu, observes Benjamin Disraeli, say
cleanliness is religion. Cleanliness certainly promotes health of body
and delicacy of mind. When that excellent prelate, Heber, travelled in a
boat on the sacred stream of the Ganges, seeing large crowds of Hindoo
females engaged in washing their bodies and clothes on both sides of the
river, at the rising and setting of the sun, he most emphatically
remarked that cleanliness is the supreme virtue of Hindoo women. In the
Upper Provinces, at all seasons of the year, hundreds of women could be
daily seen with baskets of flowers in their hands slowly walking in the
direction of the river, and chanting songs in a chorus in praise of the
"unapproachable sanctuary of Mahadev, the great glacier world of the
Himalaya, with its wondrous pinnacles, rising 24,000 feet above the
level of the sea, and descending into the amethyst-hued ice cavern,
whence issues, in its turbulent and noisy infancy, the sacred river of
India." They display a purity, a sincerity, a constant and passionate
devotion to their faith, which present a striking contrast to the
conduct of men steeped in the quagmire of profligacy.
Our ladies bathe their bodies and change their clothes twice in a day,
in the morning and in the afternoon, neglecting which they are not
permitted to take in hand any domestic work.
In the large Hindoo households, the lot of the wife who is childless is
truly deplorable. While her sisters are rejoicing in the juvenile fun
and frolics of their respective children, sporting with all the
elasticity of a light, free, and buoyant heart, she sits sulkily aloof,
and inwardly repines at the unkind ordinance of _Bidhata_ and earnestly
invokes _Ma Shasthi_ (the patron deity of all children) to grant her the
inestimable boon of offspring, without which this butterfly life is
unsanctified, unprofitable and hollow.
The barrenness of a Hindoo female is denounced as a sin, for the
atonement of which certain religious rites are performed, and incessant
prayers offered to all the terrestrial and celestial gods; but all her
superstitious practices proving in vain, only tend to intensify her
misery.
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.