The palanquins in which the wealthy are carried are sometimes very magnificent. They are painted and gilded, ornamented with gold, silver, and jewels, with cushions and coverings of crimson velvet.
The religion of Brama, as well as that of Mohammed, forbids women to appear in public; but the lower classes of Hindoos do not attempt to comply with the inconvenient requisition. The Mohammedan women, on the contrary, are extremely punctilious on this point; even the poorest never venture out of doors without being enveloped in a cotton veil made like a bag, with a slight net-work over the eyes and mouth. Those who cannot afford to travel in palanquins, ride astride on a bullock, which has a bell suspended to the neck, and a bridle passed through the nostrils. A more uncouth or unpleasant sight cannot well be imagined, unless it might be a shrouded corpse thus mounted.
Mrs. Graham, in her very entertaining account of India, gives the following description of a visit to the harem of a Mohammedan chief: “My sister and I were allowed to enter, but we could by no means persuade the cazy to admit any of the gentlemen of our family. We ascended to the women’s apartment by a ladder, which is removed when not in immediate use, to prevent the ladies from escaping. We were received by the cazy’s wife’s mother, a fine old woman dressed in white, and without ornaments, as becomes a widow. The cazy’s mother, and the rest of his father’s widows, were first presented; then Fatima, his wife, to whom our visit was paid; and afterward his sisters, some of them fine, lively young women. They all crowded round us to examine our dress, and the materials of which it was composed. They were surprised at our wearing so few ornaments; but we told them it was the custom of our country, and they replied that it was good. I was not sorry they so openly expressed their curiosity, as it gave us a better opportunity of gratifying our own. The apartment in which we were received was about twenty feet square, and rather low. Round it were smaller rooms, most of them crowded with small beds, with white muslin curtains; these were not particularly clean, and the whole suit seemed close and disagreeable. Most of the women were becomingly dressed. Fatima’s arms, feet, and neck were covered with rings and chains; her fingers and toes were loaded with rings; her head was surrounded with a fillet of pearls, some strings of which crossed it several ways, and confined her hair, which was knotted up behind. On her forehead hung a cluster of colored stones, from which depended a large pearl, and round her face small strings of pearl hung at equal distances. Her ear-rings were very beautiful; but I do not like the custom of boring the hem of the ear, and studding it all round with joys, or jewels; and not even Fatima’s beautiful face could reconcile me to the nose jewel. Her large black eyes (the chesme ahoo, or stag eyes, of the eastern poets) were rendered more striking by the black streaks with which they were adorned, and lengthened out at the corners. The palms of her hands, the soles of her feet, and her nails, were stained with henna, a plant, the juice of whose seeds is of a deep-red color.”
“Fatima’s manner is modest, gentle, and indolent. Before her husband, she neither lifts her eyes nor speaks, and hardly moves without permission from the elder ladies of the harem. She presented us with perfumed sherbet, (a drink little different from lemonade,) fruit, and sweetmeats, chiefly made of ghee, poppy seeds, and sugar. Some of them were tolerably good, but it required all my politeness to swallow others. Prepared as I was to expect very little from Mussulman ladies, I could not help being shocked to find them so totally devoid of cultivation as I found them. They mutter their prayers, and some of them read the Koran, but not one in a thousand understands it. Still fewer can read their own language, or write at all; and the only work they do is a little embroidery. They string beads, plait colored threads, sleep, quarrel, make pastry, and chew betel, in the same daily round. It is only at a death, a birth, or a marriage, that the monotony of their lives is interrupted. When we took leave, we were sprinkled with rose-water, and presented with flowers, and betel nut wrapped in the leaves of an aromatic plant.”
Yet where talent exists it has sometimes found means to manifest itself, even within the circumscribed limits of the harem.
Many beautiful designs for Cashmere shawls, embroidery, and printed cottons, have been designed by these secluded women. Mherul-Nisa, afterward favorite sultana of Jehangire, emperor of Hindostan, being shut up with other slaves in a mean apartment of the seraglio, exerted her ingenuity to increase her scanty support. She embroidered splendid tapestry, painted silks with exquisite skill, and invented a variety of fanciful ornaments. These being extensively bought, and much admired in the city of Delhi, excited the emperor’s curiosity. He paid her a visit; and from that moment she never lost the extraordinary influence which she suddenly acquired over him. She became his favorite wife, under the title of Noor Jehan, signifying the light of the world; her relations were placed in the principal employments of the empire, ranked with princes of the blood, and admitted to the private apartments of the seraglio; her name was stamped on the coin with that of the emperor; and the most expensive pageants, consisting of music, fireworks, and illuminations, were continually kept up to please her.
The discovery of that exquisite perfume called attar of roses is attributed to Noor Jehan. She had not only baths, but whole canals, filled with rose-water, that she might enjoy its fragrance. One fine morning, walking with the emperor along one of these canals, in his magnificent gardens at Cashmere, she observed a fine scum floating on the surface. She took up some of it, and perceived that it yielded a powerful odour. She caused the chemists to examine it, and from it they produced the essence which has ever since commanded so high a price. Noor Jehan gave it the name of Atyr Jehangire, in honor of her husband, and introduced the use of it throughout Hindostan.
Among the foreign nations settled in India are the Parsees, descendants from the ancient Persians, who, like them, worship fire and sun, not as God, but as his most perfect symbol. There are among them holy women, who keep a perpetual fire burning before their habitations, and are very strict in the observance of religious rites; these women are held in the highest veneration.
The Parsees, like most other oriental women, are in the habit of bringing water on their heads from the rivers and wells. They are well shaped, and almost as fair as Europeans. They have large black eyes, and aquiline noses. They are married very young, but generally remain with their parents some time after the wedding. The Parsees are allowed to marry but one wife, and she must be of their own nation.
The Hindoos in general believe in witchcraft. If the crops are blighted, sickness prevails, or any unusual misfortunes occur, they write the names of all the women in the village on branches of the saul-tree, and let them remain in water four hours and a half; if any branch withers, the person whose name is on it is decided to be a witch. Other superstitious ordeals are likewise resorted to, and certain forms of investigation are gone through with, which not unfrequently end in the death of the accused.