Of Prostitution among the Afghans.
Women in Afghanistan are sold to the men. A marriage is a commercial transaction. The practice is recognised by the Moslem law, and is here, as in most parts of Asia, universally adopted. The price varies, of course, according to the condition of the bridegroom or his friends. Females, consequently, are in some measure regarded as property. They are in absolute subjection to the other sex. A husband may at any time, from mere caprice, and without assigning any reason, divorce his wife; but a woman cannot, unless she have good grounds, and sue for the separation before a magistrate. Even this is seldom done. When a widow marries, the friends of her first husband may claim the price that was originally paid for her; but usually the brother of the deceased inherits this property, and any one else usurping his privilege becomes a mortal enemy. However, the widow is not forced to take a new partner against her will. Indeed, if she have children with claims upon her care, it is considered more respectable to lead a single life.
In the lower regions of India, on the warm plains, we find marriage contracts fulfilled at a very early age. In the colder climate of Kabul they are left to a later period in life—men being wedded at twenty, women at about fifteen years of age. The time varies, however, with different classes. Among the poor, with whom the price of a wife is not easily to be amassed, the men often remain unmarried until forty, and the women till twenty-five. On the other hand, the rich frequently take brides of twelve to bridegrooms of fifteen, or even earlier, before either of them has attained puberty. Those living in towns and in Western Afghanistan marry earlier than those dwelling in the pastoral districts and in the eastern parts. These often wait until twenty-five, until the chin is thoroughly covered with beard, and the man is in all respects mature. The Ghiljies are still more prudent in this respect. In most parts of the country, nevertheless, the date of marriage is determined by the individual’s ability to purchase a wife, provide a home, and support a family. Usually men form alliances within the blood of their own tribe; but many Afghans take also Tavjik and Persian women. It is not considered disreputable to take a wife from those nations; but it is held below the dignity of the Durani race to bestow a wife on a stranger, and this, consequently, is seldom or never done.
The intercourse of the sexes is regulated by various circumstances, many of them accidental. In the crowded towns, where the men have little opportunity of converse with the women, matches are generally made with views of family policy, and contracted through the agency of a go-between. When a man has fixed on any particular girl to be his wife, he sends some female relation or neighbour to see her and report to him upon her qualifications. If the account be satisfactory, the same agent ascertains from the girl’s mother whether her family are favourable to the match; should all this prove well, arrangements are made for a public proposal. On an appointed day the suitor’s father goes with a party of male relations to the young woman’s father, while a similar deputation of females waits on her mother, and the offer is made in customary form. Various presents are also sent, the dowry is settled, a feast is prepared, and the betrothal takes place. Some time after, when both man and woman have mutually, by free consent, signed the articles of agreement—which stipulate for a provision for the wife in case of divorce—the union is completed at a festival, and the bride is delivered, on payment of her price, at the dwelling of her future master.
In the country, formalities very similar take place; but, as women there go unveiled, and the intercourse of the sexes is less restricted, the marriage generally originates in a personal attachment between the wedded pair, and the negotiations are only matters of etiquette. An enterprising lover may also obtain his mistress, without gaining the consent of her parents, by tearing away her veil, cutting off a lock of her hair, or throwing a large white cloth over her, and declaring her to be his lawful and affianced wife. After this no other suitor would propose for her, and she is usually bestowed on the bold lover, though he cannot escape paying some price for his wife. Such expedients are, therefore, seldom resorted to. When a man desires a girl for whom he cannot pay, and who reciprocates his affection, the common plan is to elope. This is, indeed, considered by her family as an outrage equivalent to the murder of one of its members, and pursued with equally rancorous revenge, but the possession of the wife is at least secured. The fugitive couple take refuge in the territories of some other tribe, and find the hospitable protection which is accorded by the Afghans to every guest, and still more to every suppliant.
Among the Eusufzies different customs prevail. A man never sees his bride until the marriage rites are completed. The Beduranis, also, maintain great reserve between the youth and the girl betrothed one to another. Sometimes a man goes to the house of his future father-in-law, and labours, as Jacob laboured for Rachael, without being allowed to see his destined wife until the day for the ceremony has arrived. With many of the Afghan tribes a similar rule is nominally laid down, but a secret intercourse is countenanced between the bridegroom and future bride. It is called Naumzud bauzee, or the sport of the betrothed. The young man steals by night to the house of his affianced, pretending to conceal his presence altogether from the knowledge of the men, who would affect to consider it a great scandal. He is favoured by the girl’s mother, who privately conducts him to an interior apartment, where he is left alone with his beloved until the approach of morning. He is allowed the freest intercourse with her, he may converse with her as he pleases, he may kiss her, and indulge in all other innocent freedoms; but the young people are under the strongest cautions and prohibitions to refrain from anticipating the nuptial night. “Nature, however,” says Mountstuart Elphinstone, “is too strong for such injunctions, and the marriage begins with all the difficulty and interest of an illicit amour.” Cases have not unfrequently occurred in which the bride has been delivered of two or three children before being formally received into her husband’s house. This, however, is regarded as extremely scandalous, and seldom happens among the more respectable Afghans. However, the custom of Naumzud bauzee prevails with men of the highest rank, and the king himself sometimes enjoys its midnight pleasures.
Though polygamy is allowed by the Mohammedan laws, it is too expensive to be practised by the bulk of the people. The legal number of wives is four; but many of the rich exceed this, and maintain a crowd of concubines besides. Two wives and two female slaves form a liberal establishment for a man of the middle class; while the poor are obliged to be content with one companion.
The social condition of the female sex in Afghanistan is low, as it must be in all countries where women are bought and sold. The wives of the rich, indeed, secluded in the recesses of the harem, are allowed to enjoy all the comforts and luxuries within reach of their husband’s wealth. This, however, is more to please the man, than indulge the women, though many husbands really love their wives, and are influenced to a considerable degree by their desires. In general, however, it is to enjoy the pride of having a beautiful wife in his zenana, with all the appliances of opulence to render her gracious and dainty.
Among the poorer classes the women perform the drudgery of the house and carry water. Those of the most barbarous tribes share the labours of the field; but nowhere are they employed as in India, where there is scarcely any difference between the toils of the sexes. A man by the Mohammedan law is allowed to chastise his wife by beating. Custom, however, is more chivalrous and merciful than the written code, and lays it down as disgraceful for a man to avail himself of this privilege of his sex.
Though many women of the higher ranks learn to read, and exhibit considerable talents for literature, it is reckoned immodest for a female to write, as that accomplishment might be made use of to intrigue by correspondence with a lover.
Many families have all their household affairs, and many even their general customs, controlled by women. These sometimes correspond for their sons. It is usually the mother who enjoys this influence, but the wives also frequently rise to ascendancy; and all the advantages conferred on him by the Mohammedan law frequently fail to save a man from sinking to a secondary position in his own house. All domestic amusements indulged in by men are, among the lower and more estimable orders, shared by the women.
In towns, these envelope themselves in an ample white wrapper, like the Arab burnouse, which covers them to the feet, and altogether conceals their figure. A network in the hood, spread over the face, enables them to see, while their features are invisible to others. When on horseback, those of the upper classes wear large white cotton wrappers on their legs, which completely hides the shape of the limb. Frequently, also, they travel in hampers, large enough to allow of their reclining, which are strung like paniers over a camel’s back, and covered with a case of broad cloth. They are hot almost to suffocation during the sultry season. Females are allowed to go about seated in this manner, and form a large proportion in the crowds which throng the public ways. Scrupulously concealed as their features are, they are thus subject to little restraint; and, compared with their sex in the neighbouring regions, though they do not occupy an honourable, they are by no means in an unhappy position.
In the rural districts they are still more free, and go without a veil. Walking through the village or the camp, they are subject to no other restraint than the universal opinion that it is indecent to associate with the other sex. Should a strange man approach, they immediately cover their faces. At home, they seldom enter the public room of their house if an Afghan with whom they are not intimate is there. With Armenians, Persians, and Hindoos, indeed, they do not hold this reserve; for they consider them as of no importance; and the pride of her race is, in these cases, a sufficient guardian to the woman’s virtue. When their husbands are from home, also, they receive guests, and entertain them with all the liberal courtesy required by the sacred laws of hospitality.
But the modesty and chastity of the country women, especially of those belonging to the simple shepherd tribes, has been remarked and admired by almost every traveller. “There are no common prostitutes,” says Mountstuart Elphinstone, “except in the towns, and very few even there, especially in the west, which is the colder region; it is considered very disreputable to frequent their company.” In Afghanistan, however, as in all other parts of the East, and in many states of antiquity, the imperfect education of the women is a cause of profligacy among the men. The wives and concubines who fill a rich man’s harem are usually ignorant, insipid, and unacquainted even with the forms of conversation. The prostitutes, on the other hand, are generally well versed in the science of the world, polished in their manners, practised in the arts of seduction, and afford amusement of such interest and variety that men, with four wives and numerous female slaves at their command, frequently seek the society of these accomplished women.
An able and judicious writer has observed that, as far as he recollected, he saw among no people in the East, except the Afghans, any traces of the sentiment which we call love, that is, according to European ideas. There, however, it not only exists, but is extremely prevalent. One sign of this is exhibited in the numerous elopements, which are always attended with peril, and are risked through love. It is common also for a man in humble circumstances to pledge his faith to a particular girl, and then start off to some remote town, or even to Lower India, where, by industry or trade, he might acquire wealth enough to purchase her from her friends. One traveller met at Poonah a young man who had contracted one of these engagements. He had formed an attachment with the daughter of a Mullah, who reciprocated his affection. Her father gave his consent willingly to the marriage; but said that his daughter’s honour would suffer if she did not bring as large a price as the other women of her family. The young people were much afflicted, for the man owned only one horse. However, his mistress gave him a needle used for applying antimony to the eye, and with this pledge of her affection he was confidently working to accumulate the fortune which was required to purchase her. These romantic amours are most common among the country people, especially where the women are partially secluded—accessible enough to be admired, but withdrawn enough to excite the lover’s attachment by some difficulty. Among the higher orders such unions are less frequent, though with them also they occasionally occur. It was an affair of love between a chief of the Turkolaunis and a Khan of the Euzufzies that gave rise to a bloody war which lasted many years. Many of the songs and tales sung and told among the Afghans have love for their plot and spirit, and that passion is expressed in the most glowing and flowery language. Such a trait in a nation’s manners is highly favourable, and, joined with many others, renders the Afghan one of the most admirable races of the East.
An exceptional feature in the manners of that region is exhibited by the Moolah Zukkee, a sect of infidel pedants, who are more unprincipled, dissolute, and profligate than any other class in the country. They resemble in their conduct the Areois of the South Sea Islands, doubt the truth of a future state, are sceptical as to the existence of a God, and have released themselves from every fear of hell. They have taken full advantage of this, and indulge in the vilest lusts without check or shame. This is the more extraordinary as the Afghans are represented, on the whole, as a devout and pious people.
The inhabitants of Afghanistan are divided into the stationary and wandering population—the dwellers in tents, and the dwellers in houses. It is a curious fact that the dwellers in tents, who live chiefly to the West, are the more chaste and moral. It is among these, however, that the intercourse of the sexes is confined less by law than by public opinion. Men and women dance together, but in modest measures.
The slaves we have alluded to are divided into the home-born and the foreign. The beautiful girls are purchased for the harems of the rich; the others are sold as menials, or attendants on the rich women. The habit of buying concubines is unfortunately becoming more common. Intercourse with the voluptuaries of Persia has seduced them into many Persian vices. Naturally they are, perhaps, one of the least voluptuous nations in Asia; but their manners are becoming visibly corrupted, and this decay of their ancient simplicity is felt and regretted by themselves. Corps of prostitutes and harems full of concubines will do the work of the sword among them, and their spirit of independence, which never yielded even before English bayonets, will evaporate, if they long continue to decline in their morals and manners. Luxury has subdued more great nations than the sword.
In the Vizeeree country, to the north of the Sherauni district, one very extraordinary custom prevails; it is quite peculiar to that tribe; the women have the right of choosing their husbands. When a woman has fixed on any man whom she desires to marry, she sends the drummer of the camp to pin a handkerchief on his cap, with a pin which she has previously used to fasten up her hair. The drummer goes on his mission, cautiously watches his opportunity, and executes the feat in public, naming the woman. The man is obliged immediately to take her as his wife, if he can pay her price to her father[71].