Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 378

338
The
when
DOMESTIC QUARRELS
Sudras, and even the Pariahs, have grand festivities
though still unmarried, arrive at
a marriageable age. The event is announced to the public
with all the outward show that accompanies the most
solemn ceremonies. A pandal is erected toranams or
strings of mango-leaves are hung in front of the entrance
door of the house feasts are given much music re-
sounds. In fact, it is a kind of advertisement or invitation
to young men in want of a wife.
When a Brahmin's wife becomes pregnant there are
endless ceremonies to be performed, some indeed for each
separate month. In any caste it would be considered a
disgrace to the woman, and in a less degree to her parents,
if her first child were born anywhere but under the paternal
Her mother accordingly comes and fetches her about
roof.
the seventh month of her pregnancy, and she is not allowed
to return to her own home till her health is entirely re-
When she departs her mother is supposed to
established.
give her a new piece of cotton cloth and some more or less
valuable ornaments according to her means and her caste.
But in no case would the woman, to whatever caste she
might belong, return from her parents' to her husband's
house unless her mother-in-law or some equally near
Her husband has to conform
relation came to fetch her.
to this custom when his wife chooses to leave him and
takes refuge under the paternal roof, sometimes for a mere
whim, or for some very trifling cause. But in any case,
even when the fault is all on her side, the husband must
go and fetch her back.
These domestic quarrels and separationsoccur frequently,
and are generally the fault of the mother-in-law, who looks
upon her son's wife as a slave that has been bought and
paid for. The elder woman, indeed, lives in constant
dread of her daughter-in-law obtaining too much ascend-
ency over the husband, and by this means contriving her
own emancipation and accordingly seizes every oppor-
tunity of breeding discord between them. This fear is,
for the men themselves
as a rule, perfectly uncalled for
show very little inclination to be ruled by their wives, and
condescend to very little of what we call conjugal tender-
ness in their relations with them.
their daughters,
;
;
;
;
;