Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-11-06
The Hindu Widow.

| The formal period of mourning for a
widow in Bengal lasts for one month with
| the Kayasths, the most numerous and in
/ fuential class III that part OF lndia-the
Brahniins keeping only ten days. During
| this time she has to prepare her own food,
/ combining herself to q single meal day,
which consists of boiled coarse rice, SIM
plest vegetables, CHI or clarified butter, and
milk she can on no account touch meat,
fish, eggs, or any delicacy al all. She is
! forbidden TO do up her hair and put any
scent or oil on her body. She must put on
the same cotton sari day and night even
when it is wet, and must eschew
the pleasure of bed and lie down
on bare ground, or perhaps on a coarse
blanket spread on it in some cases
she cannot even have her hair
dried in the sun, after her daily morning
ablution, which she must go through be-
fore she can put particle of food in her
mouth. The old women say that the soul
of man after his death asoends to heaven
quickly and pleasantly in proportion to the
bodily infections which his wife can I'M
dergo in the month after the death of her
husband. Consequently, the new-made
widow, if not for any other reason, at least
for the benefit of the soul of her departed
husband, must submit TO continuous absti-
hence and excruciating self-infictiOns. A
whole month passes in this state of semi
starvation the funeral ceremonies, which
drag on till the end of that period, are all
performed, and the rigid observances of the
widow are a little relaxed, if ii MAY be so
termed, since the only relaxation allowed
to her is that she need not prepare the food
with her own hands, and that she can
change her clothes, but always using only
fos, ~,
widow, however, begins after the first
month. 1t is not enough that she is quite
heart-broken for her deceased husband, and
that she undergoes all the above men
toned bodily privations she must also
continually bear the most CALLING in
dignities and the most humiliating self
sacrifices. She cannot take an active
part in any religious or social ceremony. If
there be wedding in the house the widow
must not touch or in any way interfere with
the articles that are used to keep the curious
marriage customs. During the poojahs, or
religious festivals, she is but grudgingly
allowed to approach near the object of ven
Grafton, and in some bigoted families the
contact of widow is supposed to pollute
the materials requisite for the performance
of marriage ceremonies. The widow is in
fact looked upon as the "evil one" of the
house. If she has no son or daughter to
comfort her, or if she has to pass her whole
life, as is often the case, with her husbands
family, her condition truly becomes a help
less one. During any ceremony or grand
occasion she has silently to look on, others
around her enjoying and disporting them
selves, and if some kind relative does not
come to relieve her tedium she has hardly
anything to do but TO ruminate on her
present sad, wretched condition Every
female member of family, whether mar
ried or unmarried, can go to parties, but a
widow cannot, and if she expresses any
wish to join the family on such occasions
ii is instantly depressed by the curt rebuke
of her mother-in-law, or some other rela-
tive, that "she is widow, and she must
not have such wishes '-Dauendra n. Das.
IN The Nineteenth Century,