The general profligacy of the country has introduced syphilis in most parts of Hindostan. Some assert that it was carried there after the discovery of America, but neither history nor tradition warrants this opinion. It may be noticed that it is not called by any Sanscrit word, but is known by a Persian appellation.
Our notice of India would be incomplete without an allusion to the suttee, or burning of widows, and to infanticide. The Shastres are full of recommendations to perform the first of these shocking observances, and promise ineffable bliss to the voluntary victim. It was carried to such an extent that fifteen thousand women are reported to have perished in one year in Bengal. This is doubtless an exaggeration, although the number was confessedly very large. Among the horrible details of the practice we find that betrothed children of eight or ten years old, and women of eighty-five, have alike been thrown into the burning pile. Fearful scenes have been witnessed on these occasions. A miserable wretch has twice escaped from the fire and clung to the feet of a traveler, vainly imploring him to save her; and then, naked, and with the flesh already burned from parts of her body, has been bound and thrown into the flames by the frantic relatives. Let British rule in India be what it may, no man, no “Aborigines Protection Society,” can regret its spread, in conjunction with the services rendered to our common humanity by the abolition of the suttee.
Infanticide formerly prevailed to a great extent, but is now almost extirpated from British India. The crime was sanctioned by custom, but not by religion or tradition. Its victims were chiefly females, and their murder was in consequence of the difficulty of marrying them within the required bounds of caste, or of the ruinous expenses which fashion required should be incurred at the wedding ceremonies, rather than from any other cause. It appears to have been the custom among the ancient dwellers on the banks of the Indus for the father of a female child to carry it to the market-place, and publicly demand if any one wanted a wife. If the reply was in the affirmative, it was betrothed at once, and carefully reared, but otherwise it was immediately killed. Wilkinson asserted twenty-five years ago that twenty thousand children were annually murdered in Malwa and Rajpootana, but by the system of rewarding parents who reared their offspring, and the gradual introduction of salutary laws, a mighty reform has been effected.
CEYLON.
Under the original institutions of the Singhalese, they never licensed public prostitution, nor made brothels of the temples, as in India. Whatever effect the Buddhist religion produced was in favor of virtue, but the character of the people is naturally sensual; profligacy among men and want of chastity among women are general characteristics, and even those who profess Christianity and acknowledge the moral law of England are not free from this stain.
In Ceylon, as, indeed, in most parts of Asia, marriage is contracted at an early age. A man “attains his majority” at sixteen, and a girl as soon as marriageable by nature is marriageable by law, at which time her parents or relatives give a feast, inviting a number of single men. Soon after, a man who may desire to marry her sends one of his friends to her parents to mention, in apparently a casual manner, that a rumor of the intended marriage of his friend and their daughter is in circulation. If this announcement meets a favorable reception, the father of the bridegroom calls, inquires the amount of the dowry, and carries the negotiation a few steps farther. Mutual visits are then exchanged, preliminaries settled, and an auspicious day fixed for the wedding, which takes place with much ceremony. The stars are consulted in every step, and should the bridegroom’s horoscope differ from the bride’s, his younger brother may act as his proxy at the ceremony. The whole Buddhaical ritual is a tedious succession of formalities, entails enormous expenses, and can not be followed by the poor. To those of low caste it is positively forbidden, even if they are rich enough to meet the outlay, and with these marriage is limited to a simple agreement between the parents of the young couple.
Among the Kandians polyandrism prevails to a great extent, a matron of high caste being sometimes the wife of eight brothers. The people justify this custom upon several grounds: among the rich, because it prevents litigation, saves property from minute subdivision, and concentrates family influence; with the poor, because it reduces expenses, and frequently where one brother could not alone maintain a wife and family, the association of several can command the means. This plurality of husbands is not necessarily confined to brothers, for a man may, with his wife’s consent, introduce a stranger, who is called an “associated husband,” and is entitled to all marital rights. This practice does not extend beyond the province of Kandy, although it was formerly prevalent throughout the maritime districts of the island.
Another Kandian peculiarity was a kind of marriage called “Bema,” in which the husband lived at his wife’s house. He received but little respect from his relations, and could be ejected at once if unpopular. There is an ancient proverb in reference to this dubious arrangement, which says that a man married according to the Bema process should only take to his bride’s house a pair of sandals to protect his feet, a palm leaf to shield his head, a staff to support him if sick, and a lantern in case he should be expelled in the dark, so that he may be prepared to depart at any hour of the day or night.
In Ceylon, women frequently seek for divorces for the most trivial causes, and as separation can be attained by a mere return of the marriage gifts, it often takes place. If a child is born within nine months from this separation, the husband is required to support it for three years. If a married woman commits adultery, and the husband is a witness, he may kill her lover. When a man puts away his wife on account of an intrigue, he may disinherit her and the whole of her offspring, even if the latter were born before any crime had been committed by their mother. If he seeks a divorce from caprice, he must relinquish all his wife’s property, and share with her whatever may have accumulated during their cohabitation. The Singhalese do not always exercise their privileges, but are frequently indulgent husbands, and forgive offenses which most people hold unpardonable. In proof of this, a Kandian asked the British authorities to compel the return of an unfaithful wife, pleading his love for her, and promising to forget her frailty. English jurisdiction did not extend so far as this, and the woman coolly turned her back upon her husband and accompanied her paramour, whom she soon after deserted for a third partner. Many instances of this kind have induced the native poets to produce a number of satirical effusions upon woman’s inconstancy, and a traveler translates the following specimen:
“‘I’ve seen the adumbra-tree in flower, white plumage on the crow,
And fishes’ footsteps on the deep have traced through ebb and flow;’
If man it is who thus asserts, his words you may believe,
But all that woman says, distrust; she speaks but to deceive.”