“Large sums are paid by fathers of girls for Kulin bridegrooms. A Kulin Brahmin girl, to preserve her caste and social position intact, must be married to a Kulin bridegroom. So it happens that Kulin youths are sometimes married to ten or twenty different wives. They can visit the houses of their numerous fathers-in-law, and are not only well entertained when there, but expect a present on coming away. There have been cases in which poor fathers of Kulin girls have taken them and had them wedded to old men on the point of death. They cannot afford to pay for a young and suitable bridegroom, and it is an indelible disgrace for their daughters to remain unmarried. On the other hand, Brahmins of lower family have to pay for a bride. The state of things is not so bad as it used to be. The feeling of the upper classes of Hindoos is strongly in favour of monogamy, and a Kulin who marries many wives is regarded with some contempt and aversion.”
Literally— “He has drank down Mother Saraswati at one gulp.”
“When a Hindu boy is first initiated into school life, he is presented with a piece of chalk, a tal leaf and a plantain leaf ”—Bose—“The Hindoos as they Are.”
The bracelet on the right hand is one of the signs that a woman is married, and that her husband is still living; another sign is a mark on the forehead called the ‘sindhoor.’
Sakhishamvad— “Songs expressive of news conveyed to Krishna by Brinda, one of the Gopis, of the pangs of separation felt by the milkmaids of Brindabun”—Bose—“The Hindoos as they Are.”