The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-13 00:00:00

7HE HINDOO FEMALE CHILD.

(From Rural life in Bengal.)
Instead of wandering about the exterior of their
huts and contenting ourselves with admiring their
rustic features and pictorial aspect, let us step
closer, and without violence to the sanctity of Hin-
doo privacy, or Mohumaiedan, peep within, and
observeits humble inmates, for humble they
are. The interior of the dwelling is " poor in-
deed !" The walls, like the floor, are of pure white
smooth mud. There is a little square window at one
end, scarce 18 inches wide, and five or six feet high,
whilst beneath the eaves there is a space also to per-
mit the escape of smoke. Some trifling superiority
may exist between this and the huts, or bungalows,
of those in better or in middling circumstances—
which may be more commodious—have mat walls in-
stead of mud—be furnished with wooden doors—
and have either a large window, or a pair of win-
dows, with wooden bars and rustic shutters to them;
but, generally speaking, there is little variety be-
tween the two extremes—the dwelling I have de-
scribed and the brick built houses of the rich. To
return, then, to the humble cottage. Its master is
in the fields, attending to his crops, or other duty.
The wife is in the hut, which " serves her for kit-
chen, for parlour, and hall." But she is a mother
also—and it is to the occupant of the grass mat near
the entrance that 1 wish to direct your attention.
There lies her little one. It may be a boy—or, in
Hindoo estimation, less happily, a girl—" an ani-
mal of a decidedly inferior sort." With the
Hindoo, however, I believe the disparaging
estimate arises, in reality, not altogether from
an assumed inferiority in creation, but
very considerably, also, from the troubles and anxie-
ties which are incidental to the disposal of a daugh.
ter when she has arrived at so called maturity, and
when the evils of their own social abominations
may cast her on their hands for life—a widow!
And here it may properly be observed that the
Asiatic and the European, of certain classes, share
much alike in the difficulties which obstruct the
matrimonial path. The Brahmin, or other Hindoo
of high caste, is neither at liberty himself to marry
with a lower degree, nor so to unite his daughter.
She must be matched with one who is her equal—
or her whole family and kindred are dishonoured.
Her apparel, you observe, is ample. Her long
clothes, " liberal as the air ;" her crinoline, wide as
the havens themselves—in short, she is in want of
nothing--all is provided. An Indian April day is
cloak and blanket enough ; but her bright amber
skin shines, you may remark, more bright than a
schoolboy s " morning face." Christian mothers are
often in the habit of wasting the delicious " cold
drawn" contents of a certain oil-bottle, by pouring
it down the throats of their unfortunate little
ones; but an Indian mother is more frugal. In-
stead of troubling herelf with its interior, which
is generally left to take care of itself, or corrected
by simple alteration of habits or diet—she more
frequently endeavours tit fortify the exterior, and
adorns its littlo figure by a coating of mustard oil
—which serves as triple protection against heat,
cold, and musquitoes. From the day of her birth
such has been her warning toilet, and until she be
a year Oa sash it will probably contilll4o and thus
adorned, scarce was she five days 0/.1, probably, ere

she was placed in the sun, as she may have been
every morning since—either for warmth in the cold
weather, or to acclimatise her to its beams in the
hot. Whatever skin, therefore, the little one pos-
sessed when born, and comparatively it was very
fair, you will not wonder at the depth of tint it has
since acquired. She is now five months old. About
the completion of her second, she entered upon her
first noticeable step in life—she obtained a name.
The parents consulted the astrologer, and he the
heavenly bodies; and having determined upon the
star that seemed ascendant upon her birth, the
mother, who generally has the privilege of choice,
was provided with the first letter in its designation,
and, in accordance with the usual practice of bor-
rowing a name of a god or flower, she selected one,
the initial letter of which corresponded with that
of the star of her child's nativity. Her choice, you
will admit, was not unpleasing. She named her
little one Krishtomonet, literally The Jewel of Krish-
na. The names of the gods are generally chosen,
because it is believed that their repetition is meri-
torious, and operating like fire, consumes all sin.
This done, the astrologer receives whatever fee may
have been within the compass of the parent's means,
and departs. Nor godfather nor godmother vowed
anything in her name—nor prayer was uttered, nor
blessing of any kind was sought in her behalf; and
with no other acquisition than her fine name, she is
now left to kick her heels upon the mat when her
mother is busy, or to straddle across her hip when
she goes to market, or to bring water from the
river side.