Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 394

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THE SAD FATE OF WIDOWS
husband are of so exaggerated a description that
one cannot help doubting their perfect sincerity; yet it is
impossible that any Hindu widow could face the sad future
awaiting her with tearless eyes. Doomed to perpetual
widowhood, cast out of society, stamped with the seal of
contumely, she has no consolation whatever, except maybe
the recollection of hardships that she has had to endure
during her married life.
I do not refer here to those unfortunate girls of five or
six years of age, who, married to Brahmins of over sixty,
very often become widows before they attain the age of
puberty. Fortunately their youth and inexperience pre-
vent their brooding over the sad condition in which they
have been placed by such inhuman and iniquitous pre-
But think of the numberless young widows in
judices.
the prime of life and strength. How do they bear up
against this cruel expulsion from the society of their fellow-
The answer is, Better than one would be in-
creatures ?
The fact is, they must perforce be
clined to believe.
loses her
and however despised a widow
resigned to their fate
may be, there is this consolation, that one who remarries
is a hundred times more so, for she is shunned absolutely
by every honest and respectable person. Thus there are
few widows who would not look upon proposals to remarry
as a downright insult, though in this respect they are
seldom put to the test. Even an old gouty Brahmin, as
poor as Irus, would feel indignant at the very suggestion
of marrying a widow, though she were rich and endowed
with all the charms of youth and beauty.
One result of this prejudice, which is firmly and irre-
vocably established in India, is that the country abounds
with widows, especially among the Brahmins. Among this
caste shorn-heads are to be seen everywhere.
Of course
a certain corruption of morals is the inevitable result of
such a state of things, but it is not pushed to such an
extent as might be expected. The natural modesty of
Hindu women, the way in which they are brought up,
their ordinarily chaste and circumspect demeanour, the
calmness of their passions all these go a great way towards
providing as it were strong barriers against the attacks of
the licentious, who, whatever may be said to the contrary
;
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