The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-08-06
ARABIAN NIGHTS IN THE 18TH
CENTURY.

CENTURY.
When the breeze of a joyful dawn
blew free in the silken sails Of child
hood who had not wandered into that
delightful fairy land of the Arabian
nights? The golden prime" of good /
Haroun A1raschid is no more many a |
revolving lustre has come and gone |
since his "goodly time;" but years have |
the east its gorgeousness IS as rich as |
ever, and still it showers on its kings |
" barbaric pearl and gold" Railways !
intersect the land of the sun, and the !
bulbul is startled by the shrek of the |
locomotive; the competition walIah re-
poses under the solemn palms sun
wood of summer Wind;" the Union
Jack has for many a day hoated in the
blue of "the deep sphere overhead :"
colleges for tho training of young In
dian aristocrats have been established,
and are well attended, yet immemorial
customs not only hnger but live all over
the east, notwithstanding the western
light which system, and rule, and col
lege, and travel have borne over the
Indian ocean or waited across the tide
less sea.
A marriage took place towards the
close of April in the town of BhoWnug-
CUR, in the Katiywar peninsula, which,
illustrates the pertinacity of customs
in India, and gives us at once curious
and interesting picture of native life.
BhoRnuggur is a town distant from
Bombay about 200 miles, is the capital
of a state bearing the same name-a
state whose ruler is his Highness Tux
hutsingh Juwuntsing, whose official tt
tie is Thakore. The ThalZore completed
on the 18th of April his seventeenth
year, and is consequently a minor ac-
cording to British notions, and, there
fore, holds his state under administra-
tors. But according to native ideas he
is every inch man and a ruler, and
hence the poor young fellow had to
marry four wives on the very day he
came of age. To marry four wives
even in the east on the same day is a
most unusual thing, and the reason why
he was bound to take four better halves
Will be made plain by and by. Mean
| while let us attend the ceremony and
hasten to Bhownuggur.
1t is the 18th of April, and we can
scarcely move in Bhownuggur for the
crowds who are making holiday, and
rejoicing with a gayety of demeanor
and richness of coloring that make a
Roman carnival seem tame. And well
may there be this huge cons estion of
festivity-sounds and sights of Joy on
all sides, and stretching and vibrating
far-for the rejoicing is produced by
fourfold action, and four brides are be-
ing honored to-day. The Thakore mar
ries % the daughter of the Great Chief
of Wudwan, princess fourteen years
old % the sister of the heir apparent
of the GOndul dynasty, who is only
fifteen years old; 90 the sister of the
father of the reigning Chief of Nanka-
neer, aged twenty-five; and a. the
daughter of a very opulent landowner
of Dank, at Talaja, aged only ten or
eleven years. Wudwan was the first wife,
as in her veins there flowed the 90 bluest
blood" while Gondul, the second, is
not only the Notwithstanding brought
an immense dowery-but the most
pleasant TO her husband. Wonderful to
relate, she can read a little English
and desires to learn to play on the
piano" Long before this suspicious
10Th day of April the festivities con.
nected with the fourfold wedding com.
menced, the brides having to be brought
from their respective homes by the
! trusty retainers despatched with all dee
! formality by the young Thakore. Their
came the professions and marches and
, counter marches by sunlight and star.
light, and the torches blazing, and the
long bray of the heralding horn, an6
behind the dancers dancing in tune
, What a picture Millais would have made
! of it all ! The Thakore's mounted anC
foot guards; the huge elephants, fling
ing about their trunks and staggering
under their howdahs of blue and gold
the camels and palfreys the drummers
: with their tom toms the royal chario
1 bxr ~, - fro ~ ao,.
2 riages, and on all sides the masses o
Bhownugger admiring the rich robes o
the courtiers, their gold and tinsei fash
! ing and Pickering in the sun, the horses
and camels dyed of various hues anC
; patterns, fantastic or grotesque, thu
Z flags hounting the blue sky, the gar
! lands and plates of gold on vermilion
! streaked buffaloes which drew the Jesse
. nobility. Bat there were many thing
: the crush of Millais would be power
! less to render in this Oriental scence
and he would have to ask the imagina
tion of the spectator to supply the buz
|, of myriad voices, the shrieks of pip
and twang of guitar, the bray of tn
: trumpet, the trump of the drum, tn
laughter and gay talk of the cOurtier
i and of the Rajah himself, who seems t,
be q very pleasant fellow. There wa
the same tumult and color and gorge
business about all the PROFESSIONS
q about those despatohing the ENJOYS an,
: those which attended their reappear
ance.
I In the midst of the rolling crowd
z came the closely-curtained cars of tn,
bridges, drawn by oxen having thei
horns encased in thick plates OF gold
, the silver bells depending from the gar
J lands round their throats tinkling a
/ they trotted along. Al Bhownuggu
has come out TO meet the bridal process
sion aims are lavished on the poor
b, silks and gold on the itch the peolll,
are frantic with JOY and excitement
rose-W ater Kisses gently through th,
: air; garlands are flung hither ant
thither; altar of roses and sandal fall
( as thick as if there was a thunder storm
: of clouds made up of exhaled purfume
! The brides, following native etiquette
camped outside the walls of the cit
until the happy day, when at high noon
! under the waving palms and quiverin,
! tamarinds, a procession, headed by thu
! young bridegroom laughing and joking
+ goes to fetch bride No. I. She, too
! has set out. See Her rath, or car
: comes in sight, and the eager and gal
. liant Thakore throws himself from hi
splendid steed, rushes forward. enter
I the rath, and seats himself beside th,
; princess-an innovation, it being tn,
4 custom hitherto for the bride to sit a
! the feet of the bridegroom on his enter
! ing the car, in order to indicate her sub
selvlency. The cOrtege now proceed
4, to the house of a relative of the Tba
koTe, where, in the centre hall, in tn,
presence of about a hundred of th,
: noblest Ragpoots of Kattywar, the mar
! risge ceremony is performed. The rit,
!, is simple. A few flowers are strewn
! after and pan distributed the Deity
blessing invoked; the bride authenti
J Gated I; and then the sacred c1ftqn is re
, moved, and the brio egroom for the frs
I time catches a glimpse of the girl h
has married Immediately the younl
bridegroom went out TO chow himsel
3 to the cheering crowds, and then tool
: his ycung bride to the palace. To max,
5 a long story short. he went forthwith
, and did likewise TO the three othel
I brides. But It would be a mistake Il
suppose that when the fourth marriag,