Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 380

340
RESPECT FOR
WOMEN
IN PUBLIC
which is paid to them in public. They do not, it is true,
receive those insipid compliments which we have agreed
but then, on the other hand, they are
to consider polite
Hindu woman can go any-
safe from the risk of insult.
where alone, even in the most crowded places, and she need
never fear the impertinent looks and jokes of idle loungers.
This appears to me to be really remarkable in a country
where the moral depravity of the inhabitants is carried
house inhabited solely by women is
to such lengths.
;
A
A
a sanctuary which the most shameless libertine would not
dream of violating. To touch a respectable woman even
with the end of your finger would be considered highly
indecorous, and a man who meets a female acquaintance
in the street does not venture to stop and speak to her.
When travelling the men walk in front and the women
You very rarely see the
follow some distance behind.
men address a word to their humble followers. If they
come to a river which has to be forded the women tuck up
their cloths above the hips, and in this naked state they
approach near enough to their travelling companions to
permit of the latter stretching out a helping hand behind
them to help them to withstand the force of the current
but never would you see any one under these circumstances
commit an indiscretion like that which caused Orpheus to
lose his Eurydice.
I have often spent the night in one of the common rest-
houses, where the men and women lodging there were lying
all huddled together anyhow and almost side by side
but I have never known or heard of any one disturbing
the tranquillity of the night by indecent act or word. Should
any person be so ill-advised as to attempt anything of the
sort, the whole room would be up in arms against him in a
moment, and prompt chastisement would follow the offence.
A woman's costume consists of a simple piece of cotton
cloth, made all in one piece, and woven expressly for the
purpose. It is from 30 to 40 feet long, and rather more
than 4 feet wide. All sorts and kinds are made, in every
shade and at every price, and they always have a border
of a contrasting colour.
The women wind part of this
cloth two or three times round their waists, and it forms
a sort of narrow petticoat which falls to the feet in front
;