The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-07-31
ARABIAN NIGHTS IN THE 10TH
CENTURY.

When the breeze of a joyful dawn
blew free in the siIken sails of child
hood who had not wandered into that
delightful fairy land of the Arabian
nights? The golden prime" of good
Haroun AIraschid IS no more many
revolving lustre has come and gone
since his ''goodly time;" but years have
wrought little change III the habits of
the east its gorgeOusness is as rich as
ever, and still it showers on its kings
g barbariS pearl and gold" Railways
intersect the land of the sun, and the
bulbul is startled by the shrek of the
locomotive; the competition wallah re-
poses under the solemn palms ''un-
wood of summer wind ;" the Union
Jack has for many a day 1oated in the
/ blue of &" the deep sphere overhead ;"
colleges for the training of young In
dian aristocrats have been established,
and are well attended, yet immemOrial
customs not only linger but live all over
| the east, notwithstanding the western
! light which system, and rule, and col
| Iege, 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 Kattywar peninsula, which,
| illustrates the pertinacity of customs
in India, and gives us at once curious
and interesting picture of native life.
| Bhownuggur 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 til
/ tie is Thakore. The Thakore 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 a 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.
It 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 con- 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 (1) the daughter of the Great Chief
of Wudwan, a princess fourteen years
old (2) the sister of the heir apparent
of the Gondul dynasty, who is only
fifteen years old; (3) 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 Talaia, aged only ten or
eleven years. Wudwan was the first wife,
as in her veins there flowed the " bluest
blood" while Gondul, the second, Is
not only the eaithiest-having 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 auspiciOus
18th 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
, trHsty retaineTs despatched with all de
foTmality by the young Thakore. TheT
/ came the professions and marches anC
J counter marches by sunlight and star
| light, and the torches blazing, and the
long bray of the heralding horn, anC
behind the dancers dancing in tune.
, What picture Nillais would have made
of it all The Thakore's mounted anC
: foot guards; the huge elephants, fling
: ing about their trunks and swaggeTint
J under their howdahs Of blue and gold
the camels and palfreys the drummers
with their tom toms; the royal chario
8 followed by an inteTminable line of car
riages, aud on all sides the masses o
= Bhownugger admiring the rich robes o
{ the cOurtiers, their gold and tinsel fash
D ing and fickering in the sun, the horse
and camels dyed of various hues an,
2 patterns, fantastic or grotesque, tn
q flags fiounting the blue sky, the gar
: lands and plates of gold on vermilion
streaked buffaloes which drew the lesse
= nobility. Bat there were many thing
= the crush of Millais would be power
: less to render IN this Oriental scence
D and he would have to ask the imagina
Q tion of the spectator to supply the buz
of myriad voices, the shrieks of pip
and twang Of guitar, the bray Of tn
q trumpet. the trump of the drum, th
: laughter and gay talk of the courtieT
q and of the Raiah himself, who seems
? be very pleasant fellow. There wa
{ the same tumult and color and gorge
business about all the professions