PERSIA.
Women occupy an inferior position in Persia, where they are literally the property of men. The lower classes consider them valuable for their labor, the rich regard them as instruments of pleasure. While Persian poetry and romance are devoted to the praise of female charms, the realities of every-day life prove that the sex is held in slight esteem. The wives of the Shah vegetate within the walls of a luxurious prison; and if one is ever permitted to breathe the air outside, she is paraded in solemn procession, guarded by a troup of eunuchs armed with loaded muskets, in order to drive off any curious wayfarer who might be tempted to gaze on the charms of a royal mistress. Nor is this isolation peculiar to them; it pervades all the upper classes, and brothers are not allowed to see their sisters after a certain age.
This jealousy is not decreased by the polygamy which is common in the country. The religious laws limit a Persian to four wives, but allow him to keep as many concubines as he can afford; and, in pursuance of this privilege, the harem of the palace is said to contain at times more than a thousand women, who need a stringent discipline to keep them in order. They are arranged with a strict regard to precedence. The chief favorite lives in splendor, her attire is covered with costly jewels, and she has the privilege of sitting in the royal presence. Her inferiors are subject to much rigor, and the eunuchs preserve decorum by administering personal chastisement with the heel of a slipper on the face of a refractory woman. They seem insensible to any degradation. Many of them lead a pleasant, idle life, lounging for hours in the warm bath, and emerging with enervated frames to deck their pretty persons in order to render themselves attractive to the Shah. They court his favor as much as they fear his frown, and with good reason. The former can raise them to the summit of their ambition; the latter can condemn them to be fastened in a sack and thrown from a lofty tower.
Common usage permits a Persian to take a woman in three different ways: he may marry, purchase, or hire her. In the first case, betrothal sometimes takes place in infancy, but it must be subsequently confirmed by the parties. In this they seldom fail; for if a girl shows any repugnance to ratify her father’s contract, he whips her until she consents, and she requires little of this kind of argument to induce compliance. The nuptial ceremony must be witnessed by two persons, one of whom is a legal officer to attest the contract. This is delivered to the bride, and by her carefully preserved, as it proves her title to provision in the event of widowhood or divorce. Though a man has the right to put away his wife when he pleases, the attendant expense and scandal render it a rare proceeding. Mohammedan jealousy farther protects the woman, as no one will willingly allow a female with whom he has lived to fall into the hands of another. In addition to this, interest restrains a husband from using his privileges in a direct manner, as when he takes the initiative he must pay back the dowry he received with his wife. If she applies for divorce, he is free from this obligation. The advantage being thus on the man’s side, a species of tyranny is frequently practiced until the woman is forced to open the suit, when he gets rid of her, but retains her property.
A Persian may purchase as many female slaves as he desires. These acquire no advantage of position by being his concubines; he may sell or otherwise dispose of them at any moment he thinks proper.
The custom of hiring wives still prevails in Persia, though strict Mohammedans abhor and condemn the practice, which was prohibited by Omar, the successor of Mohammed. In operation, it is an agreement made by a man and woman to cohabit a specified time for an agreed sum of money. The children springing from this union must be supported by the father. If the man terminate the connection prematurely, he must still pay the whole stipulated amount, and the woman is restrained from accepting any other protector until a sufficient time has elapsed to prove whether she is pregnant by the former. Although these contracts are ranked as marriages, few readers will be inclined to think them any thing but systematic prostitution.
Formerly there were numerous open and avowed prostitutes in Persia, among whom the dancing girls were conspicuous for the beauty of their persons and the melody of their voices. They had considerable sway until the time of Futteh Ali Khan, who crowded his palace with concubines, and from among them issued edicts to suppress immorality, prohibiting the dancing girls from approaching the court, and exiling them to the distant provinces. Social life was most depraved under the Sefi dynasty. Public brothels were very numerous, and largely contributed to the national revenue, no less than thirty thousand prostitutes paying an annual tax in Ispahan alone. The governors of provinces allowed similar privileges for money, and there was scarcely a town which had not one licensed brothel at least, whose inmates (also licensed and taxed) were known as Cahbeha, or the worthless. As soon as the shops were closed these houses were opened, and the women repaired to particular localities, where they sat in rows, closely veiled. With each company was an old harridan, whose business was to show the faces of her troop to any man desiring a companion, and to receive his payment when the selection was made. Under the reigning family this system has been checked; no licenses are now given, and prostitution has retired to secrecy. But the vice has in no way decreased, and public brothels abound in all the cities of Persia.
AFGHANISTAN.
Marriage in Afghanistan is a commercial transaction, the women being sold for prices varying according to circumstances. This system is carried to such an extent that if a widow marries, the friends of her first husband can recover from his successor the amount originally paid for her. The necessity of purchasing a wife renders many of the poorer classes unable to marry until well advanced in years, in opposition to the custom of their wealthy neighbors, among whom bridegrooms of fifteen and brides of twelve years old are common.
The prior intercourse of the sexes is regulated by various circumstances. In crowded towns men have little opportunity of associating with women, and there professional match-makers exist. Their functions are, in the first place, to see and report upon any girl whom a man may wish to marry; then to ascertain if her family would agree to the match, and, finally, to make arrangements for a public proposal. This is made by the suitor’s father, in company with a number of male friends, to the father of the girl, while a similar deputation of females waits upon the mother. Presents are made, the selling price determined, and the couple are betrothed. Soon after, the parties sign a mutual contract; stipulation is made for provision for the woman if divorced; a festival is given; the bridegroom pays for his wife, and she is delivered at the dwelling of her future master. Similar formalities take place in the country, but, as the social intercourse is less restricted there, marriages frequently spring from attachment, and the negotiations are mere matters of etiquette.