Of Prostitution in India.
We shall have to view the Hindus under two aspects—as they were under their former oppressors, and as they are under the administration of the Company. The change of rule has wrought, and is working, a change in the manners and institutions of the people perfectly wonderful to contemplate. Climate and position have much to do with national characteristics, but government has more. India under the English no more resembles India under the Mogul, than the England of the nineteenth century resembles the England of the Heptarchy. A beneficent revolution in her fortune has occurred, which is developing an extraordinary reform in the customs and ideas of her native race. Consequently a distinction must be observed between the old and the new state of things. It will be necessary, also, to distinguish those provinces which are absolutely under our sway from those which are independent, or only related to us by subsidiary alliances. A strong contrast is exhibited by these different communities, which, as far as the welfare of the people is concerned, differ as much from each other as the slave states of western Africa differ from the population of Cape Colony. In the one a wise and beneficent government is administered for the happiness of the people; in the other, an imbecile yet savage tyranny makes them look with jealousy on their more fortunate neighbours. This is an important consideration, and by no means irrelevant to our subject, for it illustrates the influence of laws and institutions upon the manners and morals of a nation.
The state of women among the Hindus is not elevated, and as long as their ancient teachers of religion are revered, such must be the case. The female sex is held absolutely dependent on the male, and, as among the Chinese, the father before marriage, the husband afterwards, and the son in widowhood, are the natural protectors assigned by the sacred law. Nothing is to be done by a woman of her purely independent will. She must reverence her lord, and approach him with humble respect. She is bound to him while he desires it, whatever his conduct may be, and, if she rebel, is to be chastised with a rope or cane on the back part of her person, “and not on a noble part, by any means.”
Writers with a particular theory to support frequently quote the institutes of Menu, to show that a contempt of women is inculcated, and hard usage of them encouraged by the precepts of that singular code.
Indolence, vanity, irascible humours, evil dispositions, and lasciviousness, are enumerated as the vices which are declared natural to them. “A woman is chaste, when there is neither place, time, nor person, to afford her an opportunity to be immoral,” says the “Hetopadera,” which is quoted in application to the whole sex, though it applies only as Professor Wilson—the great authority on this subject—observes, to that class of idle, intemperate, profligate females, to be found in every society. Passages undoubtedly occur in the laws and in satirical compositions levelled at the whole sex; but the Hindus themselves usually describe them as amiable, modest, gentle, chaste, full of wit, and excelling in every grace. They are allowed to inherit property; they are permitted under certain circumstances to exercise power, though by indirect means; and they certainly exert great influence over the men. In no state of ancient times, except the polished republics of Greece and Rome, were women held in so much esteem as among the Hindus.
Debarred as they are from the advantages of education, not allowed to eat with their husbands, and forbidden from mixing in society, the Hindu women, of course, are degraded below their just position; but it is not true that they are abject slaves, or are generally treated with barbarity. Among the more wild and barbarous tribes, as well as the more ignorant classes in all parts of India, men frequently beat their wives; but, from the few revelations of the Zenana which have been made, it would appear that its inmates are generally treated with considerable deference and attention. The contact of Mohammedan with Hindu manners has certainly, however, had an effect on the latter, which has depreciated the rank and estimation of the female sex.
Nowhere, indeed, where polygamy is allowed, can women hold their true position. In India, however, though permitted, it was not encouraged by the religious law, and sanctioned in particular cases only, as barrenness, inconstancy, aversion, or some other similar cause. The wife, also, must be consulted, and her consent obtained to the second match. She still held the principal rank in the family, for the new comer could not take her place while she remained in the household.
In various parts of India, different customs of marriage prevail. There are, indeed, four prescribed forms—all honourable, and various only in detail. A fifth is, when the bridegroom, contrary to the sacred law, traffics for a girl. Another is, when a captive, left helpless in a man’s power, is forced to become the companion of his bed. And a last is, when a girl is ravished, when surprised asleep, and taken off or deluded to the house of a new master.
Marriage is viewed as a religious duty by the Hindus. A few are exempted, under special circumstances, from the fulfilment of this sacred obligation. The rules of law enacted with respect to it apply chiefly to affairs of caste, with which we have here little to do. It is forbidden to purchase a wife for money, except under particular conditions; but the young girls have little share in their own destiny, being usually betrothed while very young. The father has the disposal of them until three years after the age of puberty, when it is reckoned disgraceful for her to be single, and then she may choose a partner for herself. Few, however, will marry a maiden so old. In Bahar the girl, betrothed while an infant, is not permitted to enter her husband’s house until mature, when she is conducted thither with as much ceremony as the circumstances of the family will allow. In Bengal the couple are pledged with many rites and a profusion of expense. The bride is taken to her husband’s house, remains there a little while, and then goes home for a short period, but the whole is consummated as soon after ten years of age as practicable. The timid effeminate Bengalee appears of a sensual character, and regards his wife as little more than the instrument of his pleasure. A better state of things is now beginning to prevail there, in consequence of the efforts made by the Company; but under the old system, not one female in twenty thousand was allowed to acquire the least particle of learning. The natives excuse or justify this fact,—first, by the prohibition against educating girls which are contained in their sacred books; and secondly, by declaring that many women would, did they possess those means of intrigue, run riot in profligacy and vice.
The birth of a daughter being throughout the East, and especially in Bengal, regarded as less auspicious than that of a son, indicates a low position of the sex. From that moment her parents are solicitous to settle her, so that she is often in infancy pledged for life. The character of the bridegroom is of little consequence. Matches, consequently, often prove unhappy, especially where the jealousy or despotism of the husband forces the woman to live in seclusion, and mainly within the private recesses of the zenana. This, however, is not the general custom, women being allowed to appear at festivals and jubilees. Even the wives of respectable Hindus frequently quit the interior apartments set aside for them, and go to bathe in the waters of the Ganges or some other holy stream. The poorer, of course, who assign a share of labour to their wives, cannot seclude them if they would, for the expense of confinement is not inconsiderable.
The wife waits on her husband, and is treated with very partial confidence. In the lower ranks she is employed to prepare cow-dung for fuel, to fetch water, to make purchases in the markets, and perform the drudgery of the house, though this is no more than is done by the poorer classes in Europe. The rich woman adorns herself, curls her hair, listens to the gossip of her slaves, and indulges in what amusements may be within her reach. It may be imagined that the child or wife, uneducated and without a gleam of light in her mind, amuses herself by a thousand trivial devices. The home is thus not unhappy, unless the husband be naturally harsh, or the house be ruled by a tyrannical mother-in-law, which is often the case. Matches founded upon a mutual attachment are very rare, but by no means unknown. The romances of the Hindus are in many cases founded on them. The general plan, however, is for the parties to be betrothed in childhood.
When they perform the ceremonies of marriage they are complete strangers to each other; yet Hindu wives are, on the whole, faithful. When the husband finds himself united to a woman who is hateful to him, he neglects her altogether, and takes another or a concubine, though this is against the ancient law. In many things, however, the practice of this nation, especially among the ruder classes, is opposed to that extraordinary sacred code. However, if he have no children, he adopts this plan of ensuring them, and frequently conceals the facts for a long time from his wife. Polygamy causes great troubles in the Bengalee households. A man is not allowed by law to take a new partner after fifty, but this regulation is observed by few. These customs, together with the facility of divorce—a privilege from which the female sex is excluded—contribute to the demoralization of society. A man calling his wife mother, by that act renounces her, and is thenceforward free from the tie. A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year; she whose children are all dead in the birth; she who bears only daughters, in the eleventh; while she who is of an unkind disposition may be divorced without delay. The whole code, composed by the priestly order, is unjust to the sex.
Of the general character of the female sex in Hindustan very exaggerated ideas commonly prevail. It is represented as corrupted throughout by the obscenity and indecency of the public religion and the institutions framed by priests. It is true the Hindu Pantheon is a representation of the lowest vices, and that the manners of the people are by no means delicate; yet the respectable class of women appear chaste, orderly, modest, and decorous. The fair muscular race of Afghanistan has indeed been depicted in favourable contrast to the dark and slim race of Bengal, but this need suppose no characteristic depravity in the latter, for the hardy mountaineers are celebrated for their contempt of sensual pleasures. Other parts of India exhibit their peculiar features. Among the rude Mughs of Arracan—a hunting and fishing, as well as cultivating, and formerly a predatory tribe—when a man wants money he pawns his wife for a certain sum, or transfers her altogether. In the southern parts of the Peninsula and the Mysore, manners are more licentious, and women are more debased. There polygamy has always been practised by the powerful and wealthy whose means enabled them to enjoy indulgences discouraged by the precepts of the ancient law. Buchanan, travelling towards the close of the eighteenth century, found about 80 concubines secluded in the palace of Tippoo Sultan, at Seringapatam. These were attended by more than 500 handmaids. The same traveller made a diligent inquiry into the manners of the various communities he visited. Among the Teliga Divangas, followers of Siva, a man was allowed to take many wives, but not to hurt them, or divorce them, except for adultery. It was once the practice for the widow to bury herself alive with the body of her husband.
The Shaynagas of Canara were not allowed to take a second wife unless the first had died, or had no children. The Corannas permitted polygamy, and girls were purchased for money. Adultery was punished by a beating or by a divorce, in which case the guilty wife might marry whom she pleased. The Panchalaru had similar laws, and so indeed had many other tribes. One of the most general rules was, that a woman could not be divorced except for faithless conduct. Widows were sometimes destroyed. Among the Bherid and many others, marriage was contracted, under obligation, before the age of puberty. If a girl remained single beyond that age, no credit was given to her virginity; she was declared incapable of marriage, and usually took resource in prostitution.
The severe laws against violating the law of chastity have not, in India, been formed so much for the protection of morals, as for preserving the boundaries of castes. Women are severely punished for holding intercourse with a man of superior caste; that is, if the intrigue be discovered, for there is no doubt that such intrigues frequently occur.
Among the Woddas the laws of marriage were by no means so stringent as among many other tribes visited by Buchanan. Women abounded. Every man had as many wives as he pleased. They all laboured for him; and if one was lazy she was divorced, though left free to marry again; she also might leave him if hardly treated, but could not contract a new engagement without his consent.
The Carruburru permitted adulteresses to live with any man who would keep them, provided their husbands did not immediately desire revenge. They were despised, but not altogether cast out from the communion of social life. The children of concubines enjoyed equal rights with those of real wives. That they were a gross people is proved by the fact that adultery was sometimes winked at in an industrious woman, too valuable as a servant to lose. The more refined idea, however, which prevailed among them of not allowing a girl to marry until naturally marriageable, was looked upon by members of the higher castes as a beastly depravity.
Among the Rajpoots women are not degraded; they hold a higher position. Ladies of rank are, indeed, secluded, but more from ideas of dignity and etiquette than sentiments of jealousy or the habit of despotism. There is an air of chivalry in some of their customs. A woman of high station, threatened with danger, sometimes sent to any youth whom she might admire the present of a bracelet. He was then called her “bracelet-bound brother,” and was expected to defend her under all circumstances, even at the hazard of his life.
Men, it has been remarked, make the laws—women make the manners—of a country. In Rajasthan, the few women reared exercised great influence on the actions, habitudes, and tastes of the men. The Rajpoot consults his wife on every important occasion; and, much as we are given to lament the condition of these women, it is by no means so debased as many writers would persuade us to imagine. Marriage contracts which often, as among the Jews, took place at the well, where the young girls assembled to draw water and converse, were, in frequent instances, the commencement of a happy life. The precepts of Menu have been quoted to show the contempt of the sex inculcated by the sacred books. His censures on a class, however, have been taken as his description of all womankind—but falsely; for the Rajpoot proverbs on this subject are derived from those famous institutes. The mouth of a woman, we find there, is constantly pure. Her name should be chosen graceful and euphonous, resembling a word of benediction. When they are honoured, the gods are pleased; when they are dishonoured, the gods are offended. The language of another sage was full of rich, and, perhaps, exaggerated sentiment. “Strike not, even with a blossom, a wife guilty of a hundred faults.” The religious maxims laid down for married couples is equally elevated. “Let mutual fidelity continue until death.” Intermarriage is prohibited in the same clan, or even tribe, though the patronymic may have been lost for centuries. Eight hundred years had divided the two branches of one famous house, yet an alliance between them was prohibited as incestuous.
Pregnant women and maidens are in Rajpootana treated with great tenderness and respect. Many women in this country can read and write. They cannot govern actually; but indirectly as regents, several of them have equalled in vigour and tyranny any of the masculine tyrants for which Asia is so celebrated. Polygamy has caused many troubles in the country; and at a remote period in its history we discover an instance of polyandrism.
One of the modified systems we have alluded to exists in Sindh and the Indian provinces of Beluchistan. Little gifted by nature, the Beluchi women are the servants of their husbands, and labour while their lords are feasting or sleeping. Nevertheless, when, under the destructive tyranny of the Amirs, a foray was about to be undertaken, or any danger averted, the females of the village were taken into consultation, and strongly influenced the councils of the men. A strong resemblance was discovered by Pottinger between the moral and social institutions of the Beluchis, especially in reference to marriage, and those of the Jews.
A woman’s husband dying, his brother is bound to marry her, and his children are heirs of the deceased. A similar enactment is to be found in the law as set forth in Deuteronomy. In cases of adultery, full expiation and atonement must be made, or both criminals put to death. The regulations with respect to divorce are very similar. The resemblance between Indian manners and those of the Jews was, as early as 1704, noticed by an anonymous French writer, who drew up a curious parallel in support of his theory.
The Muzmi, or hill tribes of Nepaul, who are not Hindus, follow the customs of Upper Thibet in most things, except polyandrism, or the plurality of husbands. Their women enjoy considerable privileges. The females of the Brahmin and India class in Central India, also, possess great influence over their husbands. If married to men of any consequence, they have a right to a separate provision, and an estate of their own. They enjoy much liberty, seldom wear a veil, give entertainments, and expend much money in jewels and clothes. In the families of the great Sindia and Holkar they wielded no mean degree of power, which they seldom exerted in the cause of peace. Their education is not by any means so limited as that of their sex in Bengal. Generally, among the Mohammedans of India, the women of high rank are somewhat secluded, though not severely restrained; but those of the lower classes, sharing as they do the labours and the pleasures of their husbands, are neither watched nor immured. Whether they are harshly used or not depends very much, as in England, on the individual character of the husband. No description will apply universally to the conduct of any race. In Bengal there were, under native rule, many female zemindars, or village revenue administrators, who were, however, subject to the influence, but not to the authority, of the male members of their family. Among the tribes of the Rajamahal Hills, on the western borders of that province, fewer restrictions still are in practice. They are not Hindus of caste, and therefore more free to obey their natural inclinations. One of their most prominent distinctions is the permission for widows to marry again. Their morality is tolerably good. When a man sees his son inclined to the company of prostitutes, he asks him if he desires to be married. If he replies in the affirmative, a neighbour is sent—unless a choice have been already made—to find a suitable girl. Both parties must agree to the match, though the girls, being wedded very young, seldom oppose their parents’ will. The young man’s father makes a present to the father of the bride; a marriage dinner is provided, the newly-joined couple eat off the same leaf, their hands are joined, they are exhorted not to quarrel, and the youth then takes home his wife.
One of the most remarkable and celebrated institutions of the Hindus was that of suttee, or the burning of the widow with her husband’s body. The shastres, or sacred books, are full of recommendations to perform this terrible sacrifice, and promise ineffable bliss to the voluntary victim. This custom of female immolation, which distinguished especially Rajpoot manners, had its origin, according to the priests, in the example of a holy personage, who, to avenge an insult, consumed herself before an assemblage of the gods. Custom gave it sanction, as religion offered it a reward. The institution of castes, however, and the perpetual separation enjoined upon them, appear to have been the real origin of the custom. In a few instances a man might marry a woman of inferior order, but in no case could she descend. Polygamy being practised, men continually left numerous young widows, who, being forbidden under the pain of damnation, to contract a second engagement, had to choose between infamy, misery, and the funeral pile. It is said that 15,000 victims formerly perished annually in Bengal. When we remember that 60 sometimes died on one pyre, we can believe that a large number were thus destroyed; but the calculation alluded to appears, nevertheless, extravagant. It is unnecessary here to enter largely on the subject, which is familiar to every general reader. Happily the horrible practice is now effectually abolished throughout the British dominions—one among the innumerable blessings achieved for that region by the Company’s administration. The contrast between the native states and the English provinces is remarkable, if for this alone. At the death of Runjit Singh a large sacrifice of women was made for his funeral, but now that the Punjab is annexed, no more will be permitted.
In Central India the custom prevailed most when the Rajpoots were in the height of their power, their influence, and their pride. The suttees were then very frequent, as is attested, among other evidences, by the number of monuments still remaining, with representations of the ceremony, which were erected in memory of the devoted wives. The Mohammedans, when they were supreme, endeavoured, as far as possible, to check the practice. The Mahrattas, by a judicious neglect and indifference, which neither encouraged by approval nor provoked by prohibition, which they were unable to enforce, rendered it very rare. When Sir John Malcolm wrote, about 1820, there had not been, as far as it was possible to know, throughout Central India, more than three or four instances annually during the last twenty years. These instances were confined to particular communities of Rajpoots and Brahmins, while no examples occurred, as under the princes of Jeydpoor, Jaidpoor, and Ondepoor, of women being forcibly dragged to the pile and thrust, an unwilling sacrifice, into the flames. Some of the greatest fanatics had entirely abandoned the custom for several generations. Where it continued most generally to be preserved was where the priests denounced the terrors of heavenly vengeance against those who dared to allow one precept of the sacred code to be set aside. These hereditary nobles of India obstructed the social reform of the country with all the bigotry usual to such a class. There was no duty, said the law, which a woman could honourably fulfil, after her husband’s death, except casting herself in the same fire with him.
Formerly the horrors of the practice, in its details, could not be exaggerated, though writers occasionally enlarged upon the general results. Children of eight or ten years of age have devoted themselves sometimes, through fear of the harsh usage they experienced from their relatives. Women of 85 have been plunged into the blazing pile; and maidens not married, but only betrothed, have been made a sacrifice with the ashes of their intended husbands. In Ripa, if one wife consented to burn, all the rest were compelled to follow her example. Fearful scenes have on these occasions been witnessed by travellers. A miserable wretch, escaping twice from the pyre, has clung to their feet, imploring them to defend her, until, naked, with the flesh burned off many parts of her person, she has been finally flung upon the burning heap. Young children, bound together, have been laid struggling by the body, and appeared to be dead from fear before the wood was kindled. Among the Yogees, the wife sometimes buried herself alive with the corpse of her husband. In 1803 it was computed that 430 suttees took place within 30 miles of Calcutta—in 1804 between 200 and 300. What “Aborigines’ Protection Society” can regret the revolution which has given India into the hands of England?
The painful subject of infanticide is next forced upon our contemplation. Formerly it prevailed to a great extent in India, though the exertions of the Company have now all but extirpated it from the British dominions. Various circumstances contributed in Rajpootana to encourage the destruction of female children. The Rajpoot must marry a woman of pure blood, beyond the utmost degree of affinity to him. To find partners for their daughters was, therefore, a difficult undertaking for the haughty nobility of Rajast’han. Besides, the stupendous extravagance of the nobles at their wedding feasts—which the pride of caste compelled—rendered such contracts an overwhelming expense. The majority of the female infants were therefore slain. In cases where a community was threatened with danger from an enemy, all the children, and, indeed, all the women, were slaughtered, lest they should fall into strange hands. Custom sanctioned, but neither traditionary law nor religion allowed, infanticide, of which the ancient dwellers on the banks of the Indus gave an early example. It was the custom among them, says Ferishta, when a female child was born, to carry it to the market-place. There the parent, holding a knife in one hand and his infant in the other, demanded whether any one wanted a wife. If no one came forward to claim the child as a future bride, it was sacrificed. This caused a large numerical superiority of men. Such a birth was among the Rajpoots an occasion of sorrow. Its destruction was a melancholy event. Families were accustomed to boast of the suttees to which they had contributed the victims, but none ever recurred with pride to the children which had thus been slain. The choice, however, was for the girl to die, or live with a prospect of dishonour, which could not be endured by the proud people of Rajast’han. Wilkinson asserted in 1833, that the number of infants annually murdered in Malwa and Rajpootana was 20,000. In 1840 the population of Cutch was 12,000, but there were not 500 women. In 1843 a folio of more than 400 pages was presented to Parliament, full of correspondence on this subject. In many of the states, it appeared, the Rajahs were induced to offer portions to women when marrying, in order to check infanticide. In Katteewar great efforts were made, and parents were rewarded for preserving their female children. Pride of caste, the expense of marriage feasts, and poverty, were the general causes, besides a desire to conceal the fruit of illicit intrigues. In some villages there were only 12 girls to 79 boys under twelve years of age. In one hamlet of 20 people not one female was living. It is probable, nevertheless, that much exaggeration has been put forward on this subject, especially in reference to Rajpootana, as the seclusion of the females there rendered it impossible accurately to know the number of births. Undoubtedly, however, it was practised to a great extent; but by means of funds, for the reward and encouragement of those parents who reared all their children, as well as by the gradual introduction of laws, a mighty reform has been effected in India. In Odessa and the east of Bengal children were formerly sacrificed to the goddess Gunga, and for this purpose cast into the sacred river. In most countries infanticide has been chiefly the resort of the poor, but in parts of India it was the practice of the rich, being caused by pride rather than indigence. In Bengal, however, the peasantry were occasionally guilty of this device to rid themselves of a burden. A mother would sometimes expose her infant to be starved or devoured, and visit the place after three days had passed. If the child were still living—a very rare case—she took it home and nursed it.
Another unnatural crime was that of procuring abortion, which is still practised, though in a clandestine manner, since it is a breach of the law. It was formerly very prevalent. Ward was assured by a pundit, a professor, that in Bengal 100,000 children were thus destroyed in the womb every month. This was a startling exaggeration, but there is no doubt the offence was of frequent occurrence.
Whether the Hindus and other inhabitants of India are remarkable for their chasteness or immorality is a question much disputed. Unfortunately, men with a favourite theory to support, have been so extravagant in their assertions on either side that it is difficult, or even impossible, to form a just opinion on the subject. Many have represented the Hindus as a sensual, lascivious, profligate race; but we have the weighty testimony of Professor Wilson to the contrary. There is no doubt that the manners of the people have undergone a remarkable improvement since the establishment of British rule. The original institutions of the people were opposed to morality. The prohibition against the marriage of widows was a direct encouragement to prostitution. Many enlightened Hindus long ago recognised the demoralizing influence of this law, and exerted themselves to abolish it. A wealthy native in Calcutta once offered a dowry of 10,000 rupees to any woman who would brave the ancient prejudices of her race, and marry a second husband. A claim was soon made for the liberal donation. A learned Brahmin of Nagpoor, high in rank and opulence, wrote against the law. Among one tribe, the Bunyas, it was long ago abolished; not, however, from a moral persuasion of its injustice, but under the pressure of circumstances. Even then, however, in Bhopal, the hereditary dignitaries of the priestly order, naturally attached to ancient prejudices, sought to re-establish the prohibition. There were very few exceptions of this kind among all the millions of the Hindu race. Even the Mohammedans, with the precept and example of their own prophet to encourage them, held the marriage of a widow disgraceful. Temporary reform took place at Delhi, but the old custom was, until recently, supreme. The moral evils were, that it led to depravity of conduct on the part of the widow, caused a frightful amount of infanticide and abortion, and induced these women by their practice to corrupt all others with whom they came in contact. Female children being married so early, hundreds and thousands were left widows before they had ripened into puberty. The crowded house—containing men of all shades of consanguinity, grandfathers, fathers-in-law, uncles, brothers-in-law, and cousins, all dwelling with the young widow in the inclosure of the family mansion—led to illicit and incestuous connections being continually formed. Pregnancies were removed by abortion. The Bombay code took cognisance of this, and punished it severely. When a woman was known to be pregnant she was narrowly watched, and if the father could be found he was compelled to support his child.
A boy might be betrothed to a child. If she died he was free from the engagement; but if he died she was condemned to remain a maiden widow, and subject to the humiliating laws attached to that condition. It is easy to imagine the demoralizing effects of such an institution. Under the old system the hardships and indignities imposed on the widow made her prefer suttee, or the sacrifice by fire, or else a retreat in a brothel. Another corrupting custom is that of early marriages. Men seldom have sentiments of affection for any woman, or, if at all, it is for some fascinating dancing girl, for their wives are chosen while too young to feel or excite the passion of love. They therefore—and the Brahmins in particular—resorted to the company of the prostitutes, who are all dedicated, more or less, to the service of some temple.
All the dancing women and musicians of Southern India formerly belonged to the Corinlar, a low caste, of which the respectable members, however, disdain connection with them.
They thus formed a separate order, and a certain number were attached to every temple of any consequence, receiving very small allowances. They were mostly prostitutes, at least to the Brahmins. Those attached to the edifices of great sanctity were entirely reserved for these priestly sensualists, who would have dismissed any one connecting herself with a Christian, a Mussulman, or a person of inferior caste. The others hired themselves out indiscriminately, and were greatly sought after. Their accomplishments seduced the men. The respectable women, ignorant, insipid, and tasteless, were neglected for the more attractive prostitutes. Under the rule of the Mohammedans, who were much addicted to this class of pleasures, the Brahmins did not dare enforce their exclusive privileges, but afterwards resumed their sway with great energy. A set of dancers was usually hired out at prices varying from twelve shillings to six pounds sterling. They performed at private entertainments as well as public festivals. Each troop was under a chief. When one became old she was turned away without provision, unless she had a handsome daughter following the same occupation, and in this case was usually treated by the girl with liberality and affection. Buchanan tells us that all he saw were of very ordinary appearance, inelegant in their dress, and dirty in their person. Many had the itch, and some were vilely diseased.
In the temples of Tulava, near Mangalore, a curious custom prevailed. Any woman of the four pure castes who was tired of her husband, or as a widow was weary of chastity, or as a maiden, of celibacy, went to the sacred building and ate some of the rice offered to the idol. She was then publicly questioned as to the cause of her resolution, and allowed the option of living within or without the precincts of the temple. If she chose the former, she got a daily allowance of food and annually a piece of cloth. She swept the holy building, fanned the image of the god, and confined her prostitution to the Brahmins. Usually some priestly officer of the revenue appropriated one of these women to himself, paying her a small fee or sum, and would flog her, in the most insulting manner, if she cohabited with any other man while under his care. Part of the daughters were given away in marriage, and part followed their mother’s calling.
The Brahminy women who chose to live outside of the temple might cohabit with any men they pleased, but were obliged to pay a sixteenth part of their profits to the Brahmins. They were an infamous class. This system still obtains, though in a modified degree. In other parts of the region it prevails more or less. In Sindh every town of importance has a troop of dancing girls. No entertainment is complete without them. Under the native government this vice was largely encouraged. The girls swallowed spirits to stimulate their zeal. They are, many of them, very handsome, and are all prostitutes. To show the system of manners prevailing before the British conquest, it may be remarked that numbers of these women accumulated great fortunes, and that the voices of a band of prostitutes were louder than all other sounds at the Durbars of the debauched Amirs. In consequence of this the people of Sindh were hideously demoralized. Intrigues were carried on to an extraordinary extent in private life, and women generally were very lax. An evident reform is already perceptible.
Among the Hindus immorality is not a distinguishing characteristic, though many men of high grade pass their nights with dancers and prostitutes. In the temples of the south lascivious ceremonies still occur, but in Hindustan Proper such scenes are not often enacted. This decency of public manners appears of recent introduction, which is indeed a reasonable supposition, for the people have now aims in life, which they never enjoyed in security under their former rulers. It was for the interest of the princes that their subjects should be indolent and sensual. It is for the interest of the new government that they should be industrious and moral. Great efforts have been made with this object, and much good has resulted.
Towards the close of the last century an official report was made by Mr. Grant, and addressed to the Court of Directors. It was the result of an inquiry instituted into the morals of British India. India and Bengal were especially held in view. Much laxity of morals in private life then prevailed, and he believed that many intrigues were altogether concealed, while many that were discovered were hushed up. Receptacles for women of infamous character everywhere abounded, and were licensed. The prostitutes had a place in society, making a principal figure at all the entertainments of the great. They were admitted even into the zenanas to exhibit their dances. Lord Cornwallis, soon after his arrival in Bengal, was invited by the Nawab to one of these entertainments, but refused to go. The frightful punishments against adultery appeared enacted far more to protect the sanctity of caste than public or private virtue. A man committing the crime was threatened with the embraces, after death, of an iron figure of a woman made red hot. Connection, however, with prostitutes and dancing girls was permitted by the written law.
If that account was correct—and it is corroborated by many others—an immense amelioration must have taken place. The Hindus are now generally chaste, and the profligacy of their large cities does not exceed that of large cities in Europe. In Benares, in 1800, out of a population of 180,000, there were 1500 regular prostitutes, besides 264 Nach or dancing girls. They were all of the Sudra, which is a very low caste. In Dacca there were, out of a population of 35,238 Mohammedans and 31,429 Hindus, 234 Mohammedan and 539 Hindu prostitutes.
At Hurdwar it was one of the duties of the female pilgrims to the sacred stream to bathe stark naked before hundreds of men, which does not indicate any great modesty.
The better order of Nach girls are of the highest grace and fascination, with much personal charm, which they begin to lose at 20 years of age. They mostly dress in very modest attire, and many are decent in their manners.
The Gipsies of India, many of whom are Thugs, have numbers of handsome women in their camps, whom they send out as prostitutes to gain money, or seduce the traveller from his road.
It is said that many of the Europeans scattered over India encourage immorality, taking temporary companions. A large class of half-caste children has been certainly growing up in the country, whose mothers are not all the children of white men.
The institution of slavery in Malwa was principally confined to women. Almost all the prostitutes were of this class. They were purchased when children by the heads of companies, who trained them for the calling, and lived upon the gains of their prostitution. The system is even at present nearly similar, the girls being bargained away by their parents into virtual servitude. Many of the wealthy Brahmins, with from 50 to 200 slaves, employed them all day in the menial labours of the establishment, and at night dispersed them to separate dwellings, where they were permitted to prostitute themselves as they pleased. A large proportion of the profits, however, which accrued from this vile traffic formed the share of the master, who also claimed as slaves the children which might spring from this vile intercourse. The female slaves and dancing girls could not marry, and were often harshly used. Society was disorganized by the vast bastard breed produced by this system.
The Europeans at Madras, a few years ago, did not consider their liaisons with the native women so immoral as they would have been considered in England. The concubines were generally girls from the lower ranks, purchased from their mothers. Their conduct usually depends on the treatment they receive. Many of them become exceedingly faithful and attached, being bitterly jealous of any other native women interfering with their master’s affections, but never complaining of being superseded by an English wife. They are often, however, extravagant gamblers, and involve their “lovers” in heavy debts.
An Indian mother will sometimes dedicate her female child to prostitution at the temple; and those who are not appropriated by the Brahmins may go with any one, though the money must be paid into a general fund for the support of the establishment.
Some of the ceremonies performed in the temples of the south, by the worshippers of the female deities, were simply orgies of the impurest kind. When a man desired to be initiated into these rites, he went with a priest, after various preliminary rites, to some house, taking nine females (one a Brahmin) and nine men—one woman for himself, and another for his sacerdotal preceptor. All being seated, numerous ceremonies were performed until twelve o’clock at night, when they gratified their inflamed passions in the most libidinous manner. The women, of course, were prostitutes by habit or profession. Men and women danced naked before thousands of spectators at the worship of the goddess Doorga. The impurities originated usually with the priests. Many of the Brahmins persuaded their disciples to allow them to gratify their lust upon their young wives, declaring it was a meritorious sacrifice. At the temple of Juggernaut, during the great festivals, a number of females were paid to dance and sing before the god daily. These were all prostitutes. They lived in separate houses, not in the temple.
The daughters of Brahmins, until eight years old, were declared by the religious code to be objects of worship, as forms of goddesses. Horrid orgies took place at the devotions paid them. Other women might be chosen as objects of adoration. A man must select from a particular class—his own wife or a prostitute: she must be stripped naked while the ceremony is performed, and this is done in a manner too revolting to describe. The clothes of the prostitutes hired to dance before the idols are so thin that they may almost be said to have been naked. Thus the immorality of the Hindoos, as far as it extended, was encouraged by their religion.
In another way some classes of Brahmins contributed to demoralize the people. A man of this profession would marry from three to 120 wives, in different parts of the country. Many, indeed, earned a living in this manner; for as often as they visited any woman, her father was obliged to make a present. Some go once after their marriage, and never go again; while others visit their wives once in three or four years. Some of the more respectable Brahmins never hold sexual intercourse with any of their wives, who dwell at home, but treat them with great respect. These neglected women often take to prostitution. The brothels of Calcutta and other large cities are crowded with such cast-off mistresses of the Brahmins. They procure abortion when pregnant. In the city of Bombay a whole quarter is inhabited chiefly by prostitutes. Riding in the environs, the European resident is frequently assailed by men, or sometimes boys, who inquire by signs or words, whether he desires a companion; should he assent, the woman is privately brought to his house in a close palanquin, or he is taken to a regular place of resort, in one of these vehicles, which are contrived for secrecy.
Among the Nairs, on the coast of Malabar, the institution of marriage has never been strictly or completely introduced. Polyandrism is practised. A woman receives four or five brothers as her husbands, and a slipper left at the door is a signal that she is engaged with one of them. The mother is thus the only parent known, and the children inherit the property of the family in equal divisions. In some cases the Nairs marry a particular woman, who never leaves her mother’s home, but has intercourse with any men she pleases, subject to the sacred law of caste. In the mountain community of Tibet the same custom prevails. It is to be regretted that our information on this subject is not more explicit and full.
The venereal disease is known in most parts of Hindustan. Some, with little reason, suppose it was carried there after the discovery of America. Had it been so, its introduction would probably have been noticed in history or by some tradition. It is not, indeed, called by any Sanscrit word, but is known by a Persian name[73].