Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Página 633

DESIRE FOR PROGENY
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ing their ambition or of procuring the luxuries of life, as
if the love of a father for his children were not the greatest
Animated in this respect by the noblest
of all pleasures.
and purest sentiments, the Hindus consider a man happy
in proportion to the number of children he possesses.
Among them, indeed, children are considered to be the
However numerous a man's family
blessing of a house.
may be, he never ceases to offer prayers for its increase.
The children, it is true, soon become useful to their
At five or six years old they begin to tend the
parents.
calves, while those a little older take care of the cows and
oxen.
And as soon as they are strong enough they assist
their fathers in tilling the fields or help in some other way
to maintain the family.
There is a superstition, admirable enough in its way,
which is a powerful factor in keeping up in the mind of
a Hindu this ardent desire of seeing his race prolonged. In
his eyes there is no misfortune equal to that of not leaving
a son or a grandson behind to perform the last duties in
connexion with his funeral. Such a deprivation is re-
garded as capable of preventing all access to an Abode of
Bliss after death.
Hence it is that we see women who are slower in con-
ceiving children than they would wish, hastening from
temple to temple, and sometimes ruining themselves in the
extravagant gifts which they offer in order to obtain from
the gods the inestimable favour of becoming mothers.
Expert at reaping profit from the virtues as well as the
vices of their countrymen, the Brahmins see in these touch-
ing impulses of nature merely a means of gaining wealth,
and also at the same time an opportunity of satisfying their
carnal lusts with impunity.
There are few temples where
the presiding deity does not claim the power of curing
barrenness in women. And there are some whose renown
in this respect is unrivalled, such, for example, as that of
Tirupati in the Carnatic, to which women flock in crowds
to obtain children from the god Venkateswara \
On their
arrival, the women hasten to disclose the object of their
pilgrimage to the Brahmins, the managers of the temple.
The latter advise them to pass the night in the temple,
One of the names of Vishnu.
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