Year: 1878

llDpIuU SOClul Lie.


A noticeable feature of the national
life of Tibet is the immense number of
monastcrics and nunncries which are to
be found scattered over the country. In
the neighborhood Of Lhasa alone there
are eleven mOnastcrieS, in which are clols-
tered upward of twenty thousand monks,
and the nunneries are found in like pro-
portion. This apparent devotion to Splr-
ltual concerns is "A. first sight calculated
to arouse our admiration and sympathy,
but little consideration suggests the
idea that the religious feIyor Of these
Tibetan monks and nuns is a good deal
heightened by Il keen sense OF soIdid
seIf-interest. If the blood of martyrs is
the seed Of churches, poverty, especially
in the East, has a wonderful effect in
multiplying the crop, To the men who
have no taste for the hard labor de-
manded by the soil from its tilIers, and
the women who have no means of gain
ing Il livelihood for themselves, the
secluded idleness and secured meals of
monastery or nunnery present attractions
which it is next to impossible to resist.
The women also have an excuse for enter
ing religious orders which is denied to
men, for there exists in Tibet one of those
extraordinary marriage customs which
are occasionally met with in out.ot-the-
way parts of the world, and which are to
be explained only by reference to the
surrounding circumstances of the people.
A numerous progeny, in a poor and er-
lie country, is doubtless a distinct evil,
and it is one which naturally suggests
the imposition of a check even to those
who have never heard of Malthus or his
doctrines. This we may suppose to have
been the position of the Tibetans when
they castabout for some plan by which they
might limit the increase of the population.
The plan they adopted for this purpose is
almost unique, and is called polyandry,
which may be explained as being the
exact reverse of polygamy; for as in
most Eastern countries it is lawful for Il
man to havea plurality Of wives, in Tibet
it is the custom for a woman to have a
plurality of husbands. The usual prac-
tice is for two, three, or four brothers in
household to marry one wife. They
all reside in one house, and the children
are considered to be the joint offspring
Of all. 1t is inconceivable to us that such
system should exist for an hour; but in
Tibet, far from giving rise to the evils
which might be expected to flow from it,
it works easily and well; and the pic
lures which travellers give us of Tibetan
households display degree of domestic
happiness and affection which certainly
equals that enjoyed in much more favored
lands. This is description NJ. Boyle gives
of family at whose house he spent the
night: "The house belongs to two broth.
ers, who are married to very handsome
wife, and have three of the prettiest chill
dren 1 ever saw. They all came to drink
tea and eat sugar-candy. After night
came on, the whole family assembled in
room to dance to their own singing,
and spent two hours in this manner with
abundance of mirth and glee."


But if such a system renders marriage
an impossiblity to many women, it makes
some amends by elevating the position of
those who succeed in entering the bonds
Of wedlock. The natural rivalry which
exists between the husbands tends to en-
courage them in chivalrous regard for
the comfort and we!l-being of their com.
mon wife. The ornaments which adorn the
garments and head dresses of the women
bear testimony to very general desire
to please on the part Of their husbands,
while the effect of the attention thus be-
slowed on the "weaker vessel" renders
them more delicate and joyous than any
of their polygamy-bo neighbors. To
a certain extent, also, it has on the men a
refining effect which must always result
from the habit of considering the wishes
of others; but in other respects it leaves
them, as it found them, hard and uncul-
tiyated.