malicious design but rather from the ennui of a monotonous life, as well
as for the sake of amusement in which they might participate, make a
secret combination, and invent some artificial means to prematurely drag
the girl--the poor victim of superstition--into the _Teerghur_ before
she actually arrives at the age of puberty.
[49] This part of the rite is called _Kada_ or mire. A small pool is dug
in the court-yard and some water thrown into it;--two women, the one
personating a Rajah (King) and the other, a Ranee (Queen) feign to bathe
in the pool, change their clothes, put on straw ornaments and dine on
the refuse of vegetables, while the songstress recites all sorts of
obscene songs and the females hide their faces through shame. This loose
and ludicrous representation proves nauseating even to those for whose
amusement it is performed. We cannot regard in any other light than as a
relic of unmitigated barbarism.
VI.
THE BROTHER FESTIVAL.
Any social institution that has a tendency to promote the growth of
genuine love and affection between man and woman, is naturally conducive
to the happiness of both. In this sublunary vale of tears, where
unalloyed felicity is but transient and short lived, even a temporary
exemption from the cares and anxieties of the world adds at least some
moments of pleasure to life. The _Bhratridvitiya,_ or _fraternal_ rite
of the Hindoos, is an institution of this nature, being admirably
calculated to cement the natural bond of union between brothers and
sisters of the same family. Bhratridvitiya, as the name imports, takes
place on the second day of the new moon immediately following the Kali
Poojah or Dewali. On the morning of this day, a brother comes to the
house of a sister, and receives from her hand the usual benedictive
present of unhusked rice, doova grass and sandal, with a wealth of good
wishes for his long, prosperous life, and the happy commemoration of the
event from year to year. The brother in return reciprocates, and putting
a Rupee or two into her hands, expresses a similar good wish, with the
addition that she may long continue to enjoy the blessings of a conjugal
life,--a benediction which she values over every other worldly
advantage. The main object of this festival is to renovate and intensify
the warmth of affection between kith and kin of both sexes by blessing
each other on a particular day of the year. It is a sort of family
reunion, pre-eminently calculated to recall the early reminiscences of
life, and to freshen up fraternal and sisterly love. No ritualistic rite
or priestly interposition is necessary for the purpose, it being a
purely social institution, originating in the love that sweetens life.
After interchanging salutations, the sister who has every thing ready
thrice invokes a blessing upon the brother in a Bengali verse, and marks
his forehead thrice with sandal paste by the tip of her little finger.
She then serves him with the provisions provided for the festive
occasion. Here genuine love and true affection almost spontaneously gush
forth from the heart of the sister towards one who is united to her by
the nearest tie of consanguinity and tenderest remembrances. If the
brother be not inclined to relish or taste a particular dish, how
affectionately does she cajole him to try it, adding at the same time
that it has been prepared by her own hand with the greatest care. Any
little dislike evinced by the brother instantly bathes her eyes in
tears, and disposes her to exclaim somewhat in the following strain:
"Why is this slight towards a poor sister who has been up till twelve
o'clock last night to prepare for you the _chunderpooley_ and
_Khirarchach_ (two sorts of home-made sweetmeats) regardless of the
cries of _Khoka_ (the baby)." Such a pathetic, tender expression bursting
from the lips of a loving sister cannot fail to melt a brother's heart,
and overcome his dislike.
About four o'clock in the afternoon, the sister sends, as tangible
memorials of her affection, presents of clothes and sweetmeats to the
house of the brother, fondly indulging in the hope that they may be
acceptable to him. On this particular day, Hindoo homes as well as the
streets of Calcutta in the native part of the town, present the lively
appearance of a national jubilee. Each of the brothers of the family
visits each of the sisters in turn. Hundreds of male and female servants
are busily engaged in carrying presents, and return home quite
delighted. On such occasions the heart of a Hindoo female, naturally
soft and tender, becomes doubly expansive when the outflow of love and
affection on her part is fully reciprocated by the effusion of good
wishes on the part of her brother.
VII.
THE SON-IN-LAW FESTIVAL.
If not precisely analogous in all its prominent features to the popular
festival described in the preceding Chapter, the following bears a
striking resemblance to it, in its adaptation to promote domestic
happiness. The festival familiarly known in Bengal by the name of
"_Jamai Shasthi_" is an entertainment given in honor of a son-in-law, in
order to bind him more closely to his wife's family.
Nothing better illustrates the manners and usages of a nation from a
social and religious standpoint than the festivals and ceremonies which
are observed by it. They form the essential parts of what DeQuincey
calls the equipage of life. As a nation, the Hindoos are proverbially
fond of festivals, which are engrafted, as it were, on their peculiar
domestic and social economy. A designing priesthood had concocted an
almost endless round of superstitious rites with the view of acquiring
power, and looking for permanent reverence to the credulity of the blind
devotees. Such foolish rites are eventually destined to fall into
desuetude, as popular enlightenment progresses, but those which are free
from the taint of priestcraft by reason of their being interwoven into
the social amenities of life, are likely to prevail long after the
subversion of priestly ascendency. And _Jamai Shasthi_ is a festival of
this unobjectionable type. No superstitious element enters into its
observance.
It invariably takes place on the sixth day[50] of the increase of the
moon in the Bengali month of May, when ripe mangoes--the prince of
Indian fruits--are in full season. Then all the mothers-in-law in Bengal
are actually on the _qui vive_ to welcome their sons-in-law and turn a
new leaf in the chapter of their joys. A good son-in-law is emphatically
the most darling object of a Hindoo mother-in-law. She spares no
possible pains to please and satisfy him, even calling to her aid the
supernatural agency of charms. Ostensibly and even practically a Hindoo
mother-in-law loves her son-in-law more than her son, simply because the
son can shift for himself even if turned adrift in the wide world, but
the daughter is absolutely helpless, and the cruel institution of
perpetual widowhood, with its appalling amount of misery and risk,
renders her tenfold more so.
On this festive occasion, the son-in-law is invited to spend the day and
night at his father-in-law's house. No pains or expense is spared to
entertain him. When he comes in the morning, the first thing he has to
do is to go into the female apartment, bow his head down in honor of his
mother-in-law, and put on the floor a few Rupees, say five or ten,
sometimes more if newly married. The food consists of all the delicacies
of the season, and both the quantity and variety are often too great to
be done justice to. The perfection of Hindoo culinary art is
unreservedly brought into requisition on such occasions. Surrounded by a
galaxy of beauty, the youthful son-in-law is restrained by a sense of
shame from freely partaking of the feast specially provided for him. The
earnest importunity of the females urges the bashful youth to eat more
and more. If this be his first visit as son-in-law he finds himself
quite bewildered in the midst of superfluity and superabundance of
preparations. Many are the tricks employed to outwit him. With all his
natural shrewdness, and forewarned by the females of his own family, he
is no match for either the playful humor and frolics of the young,
sprightly ladies. Sham articles of food cleverly dressed in close
imitation of fruits and sweetmeats are offered him without detection in
the full blaze of day, and the attempt to partake of them excites bursts
of laughter and merriment. The utmost female ingenuity is here brought
into play to call forth amusement at the expense of the duped youth. In
their own way, the good-natured females are mistresses of jokes and
jests, and nothing pleases them better than to find the youthful new
comer completely nonplused. This forms the favorite subject of their
talk long after the event. Shut up in the cage of a secluded zenana,
quite beyond the influence of the outside world, it is no wonder that
their minds and thoughts do not rise above the trifles of their own
narrow circle.
As in the case of the "Brother" festival, ample presents of clothes,
fruits, and sweetmeats are sent to the house of the son-in-law, and
every lane and street of Calcutta is thronged with male and female
servants trudging along with their loads in full hopes of getting their
share of eatables and a Rupee or a half Rupee each into the bargain.
FOOTNOTES:
[50] It appears to me rather anomalous, as far as Hindoo astrology is
concerned, that such a national jubilee is fixed to be celebrated on
this particular day, which is specially marked as an unlucky day for any
good work. The Hindoo almanac places _Shasthi_, the sixth day of the
moon, as _dugdha_ or destructive of any good thing in popular
estimation. A Hindoo is religiously forbidden to commence any important
work or set out on a journey on this day. It portends evil. Respectable
Hindoo females who have children do not eat boiled rice on this
particular day for fear of becoming Rakhasses, or cannibals prone to
destroy their own offspring. The goddess Shasthi is the protectress of
children. She is worshipped by all the women of Bengal six times in the
year, except such as are barren or ill-fated enough to become
virgin-widows.
VIII.
THE DOORGA POOJAH FESTIVAL.
By far the most popular religious festival of the present day among the
Hindoos of Bengal, is the _Doorga Poojah_, which in the North-Western
and Central Provinces is called the _Dusserah_ festival. It is believed
that the worship of the goddess Doorgah has been performed from time out
of mind. The following is a description of the image of the goddess
which is set up for worship: "In one of her right hands is a spear, with
which she is piercing the giant, Mohishasur; with one of the left, she
holds the tail of a serpent and the hair of the giant, whose breast the
serpent is biting. Her other hands are all stretched behind her head and
filled with different instruments of war. Against her right leg leans a
lion, and against her left, the above giant. The images of Luckee,
Saraswathi, Kartick and Gannesh are very frequently made and placed by
the side of the goddess." The majestic deportment of the goddess, with
her three eyes and ten arms, the warlike attitude in which she is
represented, her sanguinary character, which was the terror of all other
gods, and the mighty exploits (far surpassing in feats of strength,
courage and heroism, those of the Greek Hercules,) all combine to give
her an importance in the eyes of the people, which is seldom vouchsafed
to any other deity. Even _Bramah_, _Vishnoo_ and _Shiva_ the Creator,
Preserver and Destroyer of the world, were said to have propitiated her,
and _Ram Chunder_, the deified hero, invoked her aid in his contest with
_Ravana_, and as he worshipped her in the month of October, her Poojah
has, from that particular circumstance, been ever after appointed to
take place in that period of the year.[51] A short description of this
festival, the preliminary rites with which it is associated, and the
national excitement and hilarity which its periodical return produces
among the people, will not be altogether uninteresting to European
readers.[52]
Twenty-one days before the commencement of the Doorga Poojah festival, a
preliminary rite, by way of purifying the body and soul by means of
ablution, is performed. The rite is called the "_Aapar pakhaya tarpan_"
so called from its taking place on the first day of _Pratipad_ and
ending on the fifteenth day of _Amabashya_, an entire fortnight,
immediately preceding the _Debipakhya_ during which the Poojah is
celebrated. It generally falls between the fifteenth of September, and
the fifteenth of October. As already observed, this popular festival,
called Doorga Poojah in Bengal and Dussera "or the tenth" in the
North-West, although entirely military in its origin is universally
respected. It is commemorative of the day on which the god Ram Chunder
first marched against his enemy, Ravana, in _Lanka_ or Ceylon for the
restoration of his wife, Seeta,[53] who was deservedly regarded as the
best model of devotion, resignation and love, as is so beautifully
painted by the poet:
"A woman's bliss is found, not in the smile
Of father, mother, friend, nor in herself:
Her husband is her only portion here,
Her heaven hereafter. If thou indeed
Depart this day into the forest drear,
I will precede, and smooth the thorny way."
In the mornings of _Apar pakhaya_, for fifteen days continually, those
who live near the sacred stream go thither with a small copper-pan and
some teel seeds, which they sprinkle on the water at short intervals,
while repeating the formulae in a state of half immersion. To a foreigner
quite unacquainted with the meaning of these rites, the scene is well
calculated to impress the mind with an idea of the exceeding devotedness
of the Hindoos in observing their religious ordinances. The holy water
and teel seeds which are sprinkled are intended as offerings to the
manes of ancestors for fourteen generations, that their souls may
continue to enjoy repose to all eternity. The women, though some of them
are in the habit of bathing in the holy stream every morning, are,
however, precluded by their sex from taking a part in this ceremony.
Precisely on the last day of the fortnight, _i. e._, on the _Amabashya_,
as if the object were attained, the rite of ablution ends, followed by
another of a more comprehensive character. On this particular day, which
is called _Mohaloya_,[54] the living again pay their homage to the
memory of the fourteen generations of their ancestors by making them
offerings of rice, fruits, sweetmeats, clothes, curded milk, and
repeating the incantations said by the priest, at the conclusion of
which he takes away all the articles presented and receives his
_dakshina_ of one Rupee for his trouble. Apart from their superstitious
tendency, these anniversaries, are not without their beneficial effects.
They tend, in no small degree, to inspire the mind with a religious
veneration for the memory of the departed worthies, and by the law of
the association of ideas not unfrequently bring to recollection their
distinctive features and individual characteristics.
Some aristocratic families that have been observing this festival for a
long series of years, begin their _Kalpa_ or preliminary rite on the
ninth day of the decrease of the moon, when an earthen water pot called
_ghat_[55] is placed in a room called _bodanghur_, duly consecrated by
the officiating priest, who, assisted by two other Brahmins, invokes the
blessing of the deity by reading a Sanskrit work, called _Chundee_,
which relates the numerous deeds and exploits of the goddess. It is a
noteworthy fact that the Brahmin, who repeats the name of the god,
_Modosoodun_, seems, to all appearance, to be absorbed in mental
abstraction. With closed eyes and moving fingers, not unlike the
_Rishis_ of old, he, as it were, disdains to look at the external world.
From early in the morning till 10 o'clock the worship before the earthen
pot is continued, and the officiating priests[56] are strictly
prohibited from using _sidha_, (rice) taking more than one meal a day,
or sleeping with their wives, as if that would be an act of unpardonable
profanation. This strict _regime_ is to be observed by them until the
whole of the ceremonial is completed, on the tenth day of the new moon.
It should be mentioned here that the majority of the Hindoos begin their
_kalpa_, or preliminary rite, on _pratipad_, or the beginning of the new
moon, when almost every town and village resounds with the sound of
conch, bell and gong, awakening latent religious emotions, and evoking
_agamaney_, (songs or inaugural invocations) which deeply affect the
hearts of Doorga's devout followers. Some of these rhythmic effusions
are exceedingly pathetic. I wish I could give a specimen here of these
songs divested of their idolatrous tinge, but I am afraid of offending
the ears of my European readers.
The Brahmins[57] as a rule, commence their _kalpa_ on the sixth day or
one day only previous to the beginning of the grand poojah on the
seventh day of the new moon. From the commencement of the initial rite,
what thrilling sensations of delight are awakened in the bosom of the
young boys and girls! Every morning and evening while the ceremony is
being solemnized, they scramble with each other to get striking the gong
and _Kasur_ which produces a harsh, deafening sound. Their excitement
increases in proportion to the nearer approach of the festival, and the
impression which they thus receive in their early days is not entirely
effaced even after their minds are regenerated by the irresistible light
of truth. The females, too, manifest mingled sensations of delight and
reverence. If they are incapable of striking the gongs, they are
susceptible of deep devotional feelings which the solemnity of the
occasion naturally inspires. The encircling of their neck with the end
of their _saree_ or garment, expressive of humility, the solemn attitude
in which they pose, their inaudible muttering of the name of the
goddess, and their prostrating themselves before the consecrated pot in
a spirit of perfect resignation, denote a state of mind full of
religious fervour, or, more properly speaking, of superstitious awe,
which goes with them to their final resting place. On the night of the
sixth day (Shashti) after the increase of the moon, another rite is
performed, which is termed _Uddhibassey_, its object being to welcome
the advent of the visible goddess with all necessary paraphernalia.
Another sacred earthen pot is placed in the outer temple of the goddess,
and a young plantain tree, with a couple of wood apples intended for the
breast, is trimmed for the next morning's ablution. This plantain tree,
called _kalabhoye_, is designed as a personification of Doorga in
another shape. It is dressed in a silk _saree_, its head is daubed with
vermilion[58] and is placed by the side of Gannesh. Musicians with
their ponderous _dhak_ and _dhole_ and _sannai_ (flutes) are retained
from this day for five days at 12 or 16 Rupees for the occasion.[59]
That music imparts a solemnity to religious service is admitted by all,
but its harmony may be taken as an indication of the degree of
excellence and refinement to which a nation has attained in the scale of
civilization. What with the sonorous sound of _dhak_ and _dhole_,
_sannai_, conch and gong, the effect cannot fail to be impressive to a
devout Hindoo mind. Except Brahmins, no one is allowed to touch the idol
from this night, after the _bellbarun_, when it is supposed life and
animation is imparted into it. By the marvellous repetition of a few
incantations a perfectly inanimate object stuffed only with clay and
straw, and painted, varnished and ornamented in all the tawdriness of
oriental fashion, is suddenly metamorphosed into a living divinity. Can
religious jugglery, and blind credulity go farther?
It will not be out of place to say a few words here about the
embellishments of the images. As a refined taste is being cultivated, a
growing desire is manifested to decorate the idols with splendid tinsel
and gewgaws, which are admirably calculated to heighten the magnificence
of the scene in popular estimation. Apart from the feast of colors
presented to public view, the idols are adorned with tinsel ornaments,
which, to an untutored mind, are in the highest degree captivating. Some
families that are placed in affluent circumstances, literally rack their
brains to discover new and more gaudy embellishments which, when
compared with those of their neighbours, might carry off the bubble
reputation. It is, perhaps, not generally known that a certain class of
men--chiefly drawn from the lower strata of society--subsist on this
trade; they prepare a magnificent stock of tinsel wares for a twelve
month, and supply the entire Hindoo community, from Calcutta to the
remotest provinces and villages. Indeed so great is the rage for novelty
and so strong the influence of vanity, that not content with costly home
made ornaments, some of the Baboos send their orders to England for new
patterns, designs and devices, that they may be able to make an
impression on the popular mind; and as English taste is incomparably
superior to native taste, both in the excellence and finish of
workmanship as well as in neatness and elegance, the images that shine
in new fashioned English embellishments[60] are sure to challenge the
admiration of the populace. On the day of _Nirunjun_, or _Vhasan_ as it
is vulgarly called, countless myriads of people throng the principal
streets of Calcutta, to catch a glimpse of the celebrated _pritimas_, or
images, and carry the information home to their absent friends in the
villages.
Before sunrise on _Saptami_, or the seventh day of the bright phase of
the moon, the officiating priest, accompanied by bands of musicians and
a few other members of the family, proceeds barefooted to the river side
bearing on his shoulder the _kalabhoye_ or plantain tree described above
with an air of gravity as if he had charge of a treasure chest of great
value. These processions are conducted with a degree of pomp
corresponding with the other extraneous splendours of the festival. In
Calcutta, bands of English musicians, and numbers of staff holders with
high flying colors, give an importance to the scene, which is not ill
suited to satisfy the vulgar taste. After performing some minor
ceremonies on the banks of the river, and bathing the plantain tree,
the procession returns home, escorting the officiating priest with his
precious charge in the same way in which he was conveyed to the Ghat. On
reaching home, the priest, washing his feet, proceeds to rebathe the
plantain tree, rubbing on its body all kinds of scented oils[61] as if
to prepare it for a gay, convivial party. This part of the ceremony,
with appropriate incantations, being gone through, the plantain tree is
placed again by the side of the image of Gannesh, who being the eldest
son of Doorga, must be worshipped _first_. Thus the right of precedence
of rank is in full force even among the Hindoo gods and goddesses.