The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-04-28


are only too many; for second marriages
with them are prevented by religious
laws and the equally strong rules of
caste.
When Hindoo youth attains the age
of seventeen or eighteen years, the
father looks about among the numerous
families of his friends and acquaintance
for an eligible bride for his son. But
should his efforts be unsuccessful, the
services of the ghatucks, or professional
match-makers, are called in. They
present to him the names of such fami-
lies of equal or inferior caste as they
know contain manageable daugh-
tiers, and whose charms they dwell upon
and commend with a warmth and glow
of description in proportion to the fee
promised them by the girls parents for
the happy contamination of her marri-
age. When their respective merits have
been considered and duly weighed, and
selection has been made, searching
inquiries are instituted by the father
concerning the unblemished caste of the
girls family, her personal beauty and
disposition, the social standing, means
and Responsibility of herpeople. Should
they be found unobjectionable, formal
request is made on behalf of the son for
the girls hand in marriage, and GER
tain dowry, which is infinitely stipu-
lated, and conditions based upon the
assumed or estimated wealth of the
brides family, in addition to sum of
money. Certain articles of iewelry es-
sential to the proper adornment of
Hindoo female, brass ornaments, uten-
| oil hAn aho1 Ic do, Ia1
When the list is presented, the girls
father endeavors to have it reduced as
much as possible. The terms being
finally arranged, a formal agreement is
signed by the parents, the Hindoo al
manac consulted, and an suspicious day
selected for the ceremony.
A day or two prior to this event, the
bridegroom sends to the bride his first
presents, consisting usually of piece
of Dacca or Benares cloth, an article of
jewelry or ornament, perfumery, milk,
fruit, etc, and a garland of flowers. On
the marriage day the groom rises be-
times, battles with religious ceremony
at the Ganges bank, and, instead of his
usually white clothing, dons garb of
red, the color superstitiously regarded
by the Hindoos as q symbol of joy.
The wedding invariably occurs at
night. Having tasted the entire day,
and performed the many petty cere-
monies dictated by his religion and the
domination of caste, he, as the evening
approaches, enters carriage or palan-
quin, and in the center of numerous
procession of torchbearers, headed by
band of musicians, amid the shouts and
singing of friends and the explosion of
fireworks, proceeds to the residence of
his bride.
| The decorations of the house, the en-
bellishments of tinsel and profusion of
flowers, the red clothing of the servants
bespeak the gayety of the occasion. The
bridegroom on entering is conducted to
the hall above and seated upon a mat
of red, while sweetmeats and betel are
distributed throughout the household
He is then taken to the chamber of
prayer below, where the formal cere-
mony takes place. Here are arranged
the articles composing the dowry of the
bride. In their midst the groom is seat
ed, and the child-bride enters, she, too,
clothed in red and heavily yelled. She
is seated opposite. Professional genealo-
gists present read the genealogical
table of either family, dwelling (per-
haps mere romancing) upon the meri-
torious acts of each generation.
When this long and tedious task
is completed, the officiating priest
arises, and, approaching the groom,
places in his hand a few blades of grass,
upon which, as he recites prayer, he
pours water from the holy river Gauges.
The groom's hand is then placed in a
basin of the same liquid, the brides
hand is placed in his, and the priest
unites them with garland of flowers
| A short prayer is then recited, the
brides father advances, breaks the knot
of flowers, sprinkles water upon them.
A red cloth is then placed over their
heads, the BRIDES veil is dropped, and
husband and wife gaze upon each other
for the first time intheir hves. They are
then taken to the zenana, where the re-
mainder of the night is passed by the
entire household in feasting, singing
and jesting. This terminates the first
ceremony. The young husband returns
to his own home the following morning,
leaving his girl-wife at her parents
home. With the exception of an occa-
sional call, the husband does not again
see his wife until the final and less
formal ceremony, performed when the
wife reaches her thirteenth year, and
enters his home as wife in reality.
The injurious consequences of early
marriages among the Hindoos are only
too plainly seen in the weak constitution
of the offspring and premature decay of
the mother. As an example illustrating
the extent to which it is carried in lower
Bengal, it is not by any means an I'M
common thing for young man to be-
come grandfather at the early age of
twenty'eight or thirty.
The expense of an ordinary Hindoo
wedding varies from $500 to 81 ,0OO-a
large expenditure, indeed, for a family
of moderate means, frequently resulting
in an embarrassing family debt, which
requires years to liquidate. Cor. Boston
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