Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-03-25
VOL. LIV. NEW SERIES, VOL. XVII.
Girl Life In India.
rrs PROGRESS FROM MARRIAGE TO WIDOW
HOOD.
r.hrisfiao Monthly.i


IT'S PROGRESS FROM MARRIAGE TO WIDOW
HOOD.
(Christlan Monthly.l -,
On tile day of her marriage the child
bride is put into a palanquin, shut up
| FIGHT and carried to her husbands house;
Hitherto she has been the spoilt pet OF
her mother: now she is to be the little
slave of her mother-in-law, upon whom
| she ia to wait. whose commands sho Is
implicitly to obey. and whois to teach
her what she is to do to please her nus
band-what dishes he likes best and how
| tn cook them. If the mother-in-!aw Is
kind. she will let the girl go home occa-
sionally to visit her mother. In her
fathers house she may wear her slree
Jnwn on her shoulders. In her mother
| in-law's house it must not only be drawn
m over her head, but it must come down
over her face to the mouth. This may be
lifted ND off her face after the birth OF her
first babe. In her mothers house she re-
tains her given name, Mohenee. In her
husbands she really looses her identity.
| She is never called by her gwen name,
| but always BO, which means dauShter-ih
law but added to Bo Is another name,
which she denotes whether she Is the
first, second, third or fourth sons wife.
After the birth of her first child she Is
known as the mother of that child, the
word ma being attached to that child
name. when she is spoken OF AS Chundro-
| ma Bedo-ma In the mothers house she
NAV run about i'll the court and Verandas,
talking and playing (poor play) as mach
as she pleases In her husbands, till after
the first child is born, she must move
about like poor little ghost, 30 quietly
and softly that her voice must never be
heard above the faintest whisper. In
fact she is perfectly tanned and broken
into the most abject submission. Each
morning, when see first secs her mother
in-law for the day, she must throw her
self PROSTATE before her, touching the
ground with her forehead, and kissing
the mother in laws feet, placing one OF
them on her head for a moment. This
denotes the perfect subjection OF body
and mind in which she is to remain. vi
her husband she sees verv little. She IS
of no more account to him than little
cat or dog would be. There is seldom
| or never any love between them; and no
matter how cruelty she may be treated,
she can never complain TO her husband
of ANYTHING his mother may do, for he
would never take his wife's part. Her
husband sends to her daily the portion OF
food that is to be cooked for himself, her.
and the children. When it is prepared,
she places it all on large brass platter,
and it is sent into the husbands room.
He eats what he wishes, and then the
platter is sent back with what Is left Tor
her and the children. They sit together
on the ground and eat the remainder,
having neither knives, forks, nor spoons.
While she is young she Is never allowed
to go anywhere. When she becomes very
old. if she makes n vow togo on pilgrim
age to some heather temple, she Is per
| mitted to go to offer sacrifice either Tor
herself or for others. But this is only
occasionally done; very, very few ever
undertake 1t. She always has her takoors
or household gods on n shelf in the house,
most frequently over her own bed, and to
them she paws her daily devotions, offer
ing them rice and decorating them with
| flowers. At length, when sho draws near
the hour Of death, and it is thought her
end is lust approaching, she is carried
down to the banks OF the Ganges, there to
breathe her last. in view Of that holy
stream whose waters are supposed to be
efiicacious in cleansing away SIN.
As soon rs the spirit has departed, the
| remains are taken to the Burning that
| (the place for burning the dead bodies),
and laid upon pile OF wood. In lew
hours nothing remains but little heap
of ashes. This is then taken up and cast
into the river Such is the life and death
of the happiest, the most favored among
these Bengali women. The little girls
are married even rs young as three years
of age; and should the boy TO whom such
a child is married die the next day, she
is called widow, and is henceforth DOOM
ed to perpetual widowhood-shs can
never marry again. As widow she
must never wear any lewelry, never
dress her hair, never sleep on bed,
nothing but piece of mating spread on
the brick floor, sometimes not even that
between her and the cold bricks ; and no
matter how cold the night may bo. she
must have no other covering than tho thin
garment she has worn during tho day.
| She must eat but one meal of food day,
and that of thecoarsest kind and once IN
two weeks she must fast for twenty-four
hours.
Then not bit of food, nor Il drop OF
water or medicine, must pass her lips,
not even were she dying Sho must
never sit down or speak in the presence
of her mother in law or of her sisters IN
law, unless they command her to do 30.
Her food must be cooked and eaten apart
from the other women. She is disgraced,
degraded being. She may never look
on at any of the marriage ceremonies oi
festivals. 1t would be an evil omen foi
her to do 40. She NAV have been a high.
caste Brahminic woman, but on her be-
coming a widow, any, even the lowest
servants, NY order her to do what they
do not like to do. No woman In the
house must ever speak one word of love
or pity to her, for 1t is supposed that If
woman shows the slightest commiseratlol
to widow she will become one herself
Ii widow becomes so i'll that she canno'
90 down to the room where they take
their food, she may lie where she is ant
die.
MoNKIsH GAsTRoNoMY.-We are no