Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 390

350
CHAPTER
Mourning.
— The
XVIII
Condition of Widowhood.
Widows.
— Remarriages
— The General
Contempt
for
forbidden.
The happiest death for a woman is that which overtakes
her while she is still in a wedded state. Such a death is
looked upon as the reward of goodness extending back for
on the other hand, the greatest mis-
many generations
fortune that can befall a wife is to survive her husband.
Should the husband die first, as soon as he breathes his
last the widow attires herself in her best clothes and bedecks
2
Then, with all the signs of
herself with all her jewels
the deepest grief, she throws herself on his body, embracing
She holds the corpse tightly
it and uttering loud cries.
clasped in her arms until her parents, generally silent
spectators of this scene, are satisfied that this first demon-
stration of grief is sufficient, when they restrain her from
She yields to their efforts with great
these sad embraces.
reluctance, and with repeated pretences of escaping out of
their hands and rushing once again to the lifeless remains
Then, finding her attempts useless, she
of her husband.
rolls on the ground like one possessed, strikes her breast
violently, tears out her hair,