Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 247

POLYGAMY UOTJSUAL
207
ascendency of man, the very idea that
they could possibly place themselves in a state of indepen-
dence and out of men's power is not allowed to cross their
minds. The opinion is firmly established throughout the
whole of India, that women were only created for the
propagation of the species, and to satisfy men's desires.
All women therefore are obliged to marry, and marriages
are carefully arranged before they arrive at a marriage-
able age.
If by that time they have not found a husband,
they very rarely keep their innocence much longer. Ex-
perience has taught that young Hindu women do not
possess sufficient firmness, and sufficient regard for their
own honour, to resist the ardent solicitations of a seducer.
Therefore measures cannot be taken too early to place them
intact in their husbands' hands.
Those who are unable
to enter into any lawful union form a connexion as con-
cubines with any man who cares to receive them as such.
Polygamy is tolerated amongst persons of high rank,
such as rajahs, princes, statesmen, and others. Kings are
allowed five legitimate wives, but never more. None the
less this plurality of wives amongst the great is looked
upon as an infraction of law and custom, in fact, as an
abuse.
But in every country in the world those in power
have always been able to twist the law in their own favour,
however definitely it may be laid down. The principal
Hindu gods had only one wife. Brahma had only Saras-
Vishnu, Lakshmi and Siva, Parvati. It is quite
vati
true that under their different forms these venerable per-
sonages committed frequent breaches of their marriage
vow but this only serves to prove that from the earliest
times marriage was looked upon by the Hindus as a legal
union between two persons of opposite sexes.
If in the present day any person of inferior rank cohabits
with several women, one only of them bears the name and
title of wife; the others are merely concubines. In several
sides to the moral
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castes the children of the latter are illegitimate, and if the
father dies without having previously settled some of his
property upon them, they have no share when it comes to
be divided. I only know of one case in which a man can
legally marry a second wife, his first being still alive
and that is when, after he has lived for a long time witli
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