Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 253

SERVINC4 TIME FOR A WIFE
213
of a wedding are so considerable that in
one often sees young men, who are without the
necessary means, using the same expedient to procure a
Just like the holy
wife that Jacob employed with Laban.
patriarch a Hindu without means will enter the service of
one of his relations, or of some other person of the same
caste who has daughters to marry, and will engage himself
to serve for a certain number of years without wage, on
condition that, at the end of that time, he is to receive
one of the daughters in marriage. When the time agreed
upon has expired the father fulfils his promise, undertakes
the whole expense of the marriage, and then allows the
young couple to go away and live where they please. At
their departure he gives them a cow, a pair of oxen, two
copper vessels (one for drinking, the other for their food),
and enough rice to feed them for the first year of their
married life. It is very remarkable that in India the term
which a man has to serve for his wife is the same as that
for which Jacob bound himself to Laban, namely seven
The expenses
all castes
years (Genesis xxix. 20) 1
The inclinations of the persons about to be married are
never consulted. In fact, it would be ridiculous to do so
amongst the Brahmins, seeing the age at which they marry
But even the Sudras, who often do not
their daughters.
marry their, daughters until they have attained full age,
would never dream of consulting the tastes and feelings of
The choice is
their children under these circumstances.
That which chiefly con-
left entirely to the parents.
cerns the young man's family is the purity of the caste
of his future wife.
Beauty and personal attractions of
.
any kind count for nothing in their eyes. The girl's
parents look more particularly to the fortune of their
future son-in-law, and to the character of his mother, who
after the marriage becomes the absolute mistress of the
young wife 2
The same months are chosen for a wedding as are selected
for the ceremony of the uyanayana, that is to say, the
.
1 No
2 A
such custom exists now.
Ed.
commonly quoted,
says
The girl courts beauty
relatives, good lineage
the mother, riches
the father, knowledge
Ed.
other people, sumptuous marriage-feasts.'
Sanskrit verse,
;
'
:
;
;
;