The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-12-07
HINDOO WIDOWS.
The Truly Helpless Condition OF These Tn.
fortunate Women.

fortunate Women.
The formal period of mourning for a
widow in Bengal lasts for one month
with the kayasihs. the most numerous
and influential class in that part of In
dia-the BrahminS keeping only ten
hays. During this time she has TO pre-
pare her own food, combining herself TO
p single meal Il dav, which consists of
boiled coarse rice, simplest vegetables,
clarified butter, and milk. She can on
no account touch meat, fish, eggs, or
any delicacy at all: she is forbidden TO
do up her hair and TO put any scent or
oil on her body. She must put on the
same cotton sari day and night, even
when il is wet, and must eschew the
pleasure of q bed and lie down on
bare ground, or perhaps on a coarse
blanket spread OH il. In some cases
she can not even have her hair dried
i'm the sun after her daily morning
ablution, which she must 90 through
before she can put a particle of food in
her mouth. The old women say that
the soul of man after his death as
cends 10 Heaven quickly and pleasant
" in proportion 20 the bodily infections
which his wife can undergo i'm the
month after the death of her husband.
Consequently the ncw-made widow, IL
not for any other reason, at least for
the benefit of the soul of her departed
husband. must submit To continuous
abstinence and eNcruciaiing Self-inflic-
tons. 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 OlIservanceS of the widow of
little relaxed. if it NAV 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 plain cotton saris. The
real misery of the widow, how ever,
begins after the first month. 1t is not
enough that she Is quite heart-broken
for her deceased husband, and that she
umdergoc> all the aforementioned
bodily privationS. She must also bear
the most CALLING indignities and the
most humiliating Sclf-sacriliceS. She
religious or social ceremony. If there
be a wedding in the house the widow
must not touch or in anv 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 generation, and in
some bigotCd families the contact of q
widow is supposed to pollute the ma
terials 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 helpless one
During any ceremony or grand occa-
sion she has silently to look on, others
around her enjoying and sporting
themselves, and if some kind relation
does net come to relieve her tedium
she has hardly any thing to do but to
ruminate on her present sad, wretched
condition. Every female member of Q
family, whether married or unmarried,
can 20 TO parties, but widow can not
and il she expresses any wish to Join
the family on such occasions il is in
stantly depressed by the curt rebuke Of
her mother-in-law or some other rela-
ton that "she is widow and she must
not have such wishes. "-Dorendra N
Oas, IN Nineteenth Century.