Grand moving diorama of Hindostan

by Fanny Parkes Parlby

In front is a Muhammadan Fakīr leading a white bull fancifully adorned with peacocks’ feathers, cowrie shells, coloured worsted tassels, bits of brightly-coloured cloth, and brass bells; the plume on the top of his neck is the tail of the yāk, the cow of Tartary, much used in Hindostān in the adornment of holy bulls and of horses. In the back-ground is an Hindū temple, gilded by the rays of the setting sun.

The portico or entrance to the house of an opulent Bābū, a Bengalī gentleman, now appears; it is of native architecture, singular and handsome; the ornaments of some of the pillars are most elaborate, and it is remarkable that each has a separate design.

THE NĀCH.

The scene now represents the interior of the building during the celebration of the festival of the Dūrga-pūjā, or Dasera, held in honour of the goddess Dūrga, and the performance of a nāch by the dancing-girls of Hindostān. During the Dūrga-pūjā holidays, which last eight or ten days, the Hindūs lay aside all kind of business, save what necessity renders indispensable to pursue, and shops and offices are shut up while that great religious ceremonial is in course of being observed.

The house, as is generally the case, is a four-sided building, having an area in the middle, on one side of which the image of the goddess is raised on a throne, and some Brahmans are in attendance. The area is open to the sky, and a temporary ceiling is formed by fastening ropes across from wall to wall, over which a cotton carpet of native manufacture, called shatranjī, is spread, thus forming a roof; the floor is also covered with a gay cloth of the same manufacture, and a Persian carpet.

The goddess Dūrga, in whose honour this festival is held, derives her name from the giant Dūrgŭ, whom she is represented in the act of slaying with a trident as he issues from the neck of a buffalo, whose head she has cut off. The image is that of a yellow woman with ten arms, which are stretched out and filled with instruments of war. This goddess has a thousand names, and has assumed innumerable forms.

The bright half of the month Aswina, the first of the Hindū lunar year, is peculiarly devoted to Dūrga. The first nine nights are allotted to her decoration; on the sixth she is awakened; on the seventh she is invited to a bower formed of the leaves of nine plants, of which the bilwa is the chief. The seventh, eighth, and ninth are the great days; on the last, the victims which are immolated to her honour must be killed with one blow only from a sharp sword or axe. The next day the goddess is reverently dismissed, and her image is cast into the river, which finishes the festival of the Dasera.

The black figure at the side of the goddess is that of Krishnŭ, one of the most popular gods of the Hindū Pantheon; he is greatly worshipped in Bengal, as well as in all parts of Hindostān, a great proportion of the Hindū population being devoted to him, and he is especially beloved by the women. A black marble figure of this popular deity stands in the Pilgrim’s Museum, as well as a small brazen one of Dūrga; the latter is very ancient. Immense sums are expended by wealthy Bengalīs during the Dūrga-pūjā.

The Bābū is conversing with his European guests, and offering flowers to one of the ladies, who, seated on a sofa, is talking to those around her, and witnessing the nāch. The dancing-girls wear a very full petticoat of fine-coloured muslin, trimmed with deep borders of gold and silver, full satin trowsers which all but cover their naked and jewelled feet; and the dopatta, a large veil worn over the head, is highly embroidered. Various ornaments of native jewellery adorn their persons; their anklets are formed of numerous small brass bells that sound in time with their steps in the measured dance, and rings adorn their toes. In the thumb ring, which is about two inches in diameter, a bit of looking-glass is inserted, in which the nāch-girl often looks to see if her tresses are in order, and to adjust her flowing drapery. They dance, or rather move in a circle, attitudinizing and making the small brass bells fastened to their ankles sound in unison with their movements. Several men, the musicians of the party, attend each set of nāch-girls; they play on divers curiously-shaped native instruments.

In the hands of one of the native servants, standing near the steps, is a silver tray containing a gulab-dānī (a gold or silver vessel used in sprinkling rose-water on departing guests), and the smaller vessel at its side, of elegant form, contains the ’atr of roses, which is placed on their hands at the same time.