Storia do Mogor 258: Of the Ceremonies followed by the Rajahs at their Weddings.
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 258
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Of the Ceremonies followed by the Rajahs at their Weddings.
258.1
When the conditions have been agreed on, and the price to be paid to the father-in-law for his daughter has been fixed, on the day before the wedding they throw a string over the bridegroom's head. It is made of three strings of three threads each. In each of these three threads, again, there are three cotton threads. The string is passed over one shoulder and under the other armpit. It is a sign or mark of nobility, and this is called the Marriage of the Thread. After this has been done, the future husband declares that he will enter into no farther bonds, and departs in simulated anger. But the parents follow him, call him back, by arguments and smooth words persuade him he must marry. Since no one is more desirous to do so than he is, no long discourses are needed to convince him.
258.2
The following day the omen-readers, who have been called in, fix the marriage day. A sort of awning is made of white cloth, and this is carried aloft by four men. Then four women, related to the bridegroom, bring four water-pots, which they carry with the awning held over them, as far as the street-door [of the bride's house], where there is a sort of high arbour erected on purpose. It is here that the wedding ceremony has to be performed. The water is placed in this arbour along with the awning. Then there is a certain tree in this country that they class as a Brahman, and style the Marriage God. A branch of this tree is brought, and also one of another tree with bitter leaves, which they call Parechi (Parija), meaning that it is the wife of the other tree, according to them. The two branches are then interwoven round a post put in the centre of the arbour. There is also some sugar-cane which they tie on. At the foot of all this are placed some leaves of a certain herb which is used to make powder. At the foot of the other pillars they place a quantity of little dishes of earth, in each a sort of hot cake made of rice-flour, and these are eaten by the women guests before the feast begins.
258.3
On this ceremony having been completed, the bridegroom appears loaded with gold jewellery, generally borrowed, his body thoroughly rubbed with powdered sandal-wood, and covered with flower necklaces sprinkled [127] with little leaves of gold. In this array he is placed in a palanquin, carried on the shoulders of six or eight men. Before him go all the relations and friends on foot, escorting him, while a great number of trumpets, flutes, and drums are played. When the bridegroom with all this pomp reaches the door of the house where the wedding is to be celebrated, he gets out of the palanquin. His future mother-in-law comes to bathe his feet with cow's milk, wiping them with a piece of silk cloth. As he who is clean does not want even his feet washed he objects, but the other side maintain that he has not been purified. They must wash the whole of his body. By this means the bridegroom has to remove the whole of the jewellery with which he has come adorned. Binding round himself a morsel of cloth, he allows his body and head to be washed by the relations of the bride with a certain drug made from green-peas. This has been prepared on purpose. At the same time the parents deal similarly with the bride. Then both proceed to some river or pond to bathe, but at different places.
258.4
The bathing finished, the future husband arrays himself as before, and, escorted by his relations to the sound of music, they make for the arbour above mentioned, there to have the business concluded. The bride arrives escorted by her relations, but by a different way from the bridegroom's route. The parents of the bride await him, and throw over him and his following a basketful of uncooked rice mixed with other things. The other side retort by throwing some similar mixture. The same is done to the bride by the relations of both parties. Having arrived at the arbour and performed the sacrifice of worshipping fire, a Brahman appears, who begins by blessing the piece of gold called tally (tali), which the bridegroom has to tie to the bride's neck. He hands it round to be touched by all the respectable persons present. Next he makes it over to the bridegroom, who is by this time seated with his lady-love on a sort of camp-bed covered by a carpet. Then to the sound of trumpets and flutes, the letting-off of matchlocks, and the throwing of squibs into the air, the relations and friends attach the tally (tali) to the bride. In this, as they hold, consists the essential rite of the marriage.
258.5
Subsequently, having first sung two very pretty songs in praise of the newly-married couple, they go back a second time to their sacrifices. During this they worship an idol they call Polcar (Pillaiyar), of whom I spoke in the first chapter (III. 101). They say that this god has such control over marriages that his own father when he married worshipped him in the manner practised at this day. It is for this reason that they style him 'the son born before his father.' The sacrificing and worship ended, they throw at once into a large vessel, placed there in readiness and full of water, an imitation fish made of a substance resembling flour. One of the relations of the newly-married pair holds it by a string, and moves it to and fro in the water. Then the bridegroom, as a proof of his skill, shoots a small arrow from his bow at this fish. If he hits, everybody breaks forth in his praise, saying he is very skilful in the use of arms, most valiant, most fortunate. If he misses, they say he is unlucky and maladroit. But hit or miss, the game ends.
258.6
The father-in-law regales all the guests in the same way as the Brahmans do. Next day they carry the newly-married couple in a palanquin, which is followed by the relations and all the guests, to the strains of the orchestra above described (III. 127). It may be here remarked that all the courtesans of the place form one of the leading attractions of the festival, these women of no character bearing the title of 'Servants of God' (a somewhat curious name). These women walk close to the palanquin, and are decked out with silver and with gold. In this order the procession passes through all the streets of the town, stopping en route at the door of any friend or relation, from whom presents are received, consisting of fruit or some pieces of cloth. At last they disperse, and everybody goes home. On the third day the wife rubs oil on the husband's head, and in the same way the husband on the wife's. Then the two together, sheltered under one cloth, which is carried above their heads, go to some river or pond and bathe. The cleansing over, they return home with the same ceremony displayed in going round the town.
258.7
When the bridegroom has spent some days in the house of his father-in-law, he leaves for his own house, whether it be in the same locality or at a distance. After the lapse of fifteen days his parents go back to the bride's home, when, with much ceremony and a large retinue, they convey her to her husband's house. After a stay of eight to ten days she is reconducted to her father's. There she usually remains until the age of puberty, on which occasion there is a feast like that observed by the Brahmans, except that no coarse or obscene language is used. The custom of the other castes is the same.
258.8
Among the caste of Rajahs it is imperative that on the husband's death the wife be burnt alive with his body, for should regard for her own honour even not force her to this act, the relations will force her to it, it being an inviolate custom of their caste. It is so whether the husband die at home of disease or of wounds upon the field of battle. The latter death is common among Rajahs (Rajputs), for all who are not princes are soldiers. In war they carry nothing but a sword or a short spear. It would be an insult if they were forced in an army to make use of bows and arrows or fire-arms, or anything taking effect at a distance. Since it is one of the fundamental rules of their caste never to give way, but either to die or conquer, those with a high sense of honour are usually compelled to die in battle. The only reward they gain by their efforts is the fame of not having turned the back on an enemy. In spite of all that, those who disregard what may be said against them, seek whatever means of saving their lives they think most appropriate.
258.9
Be this as it may, no sooner has news of a Rajah's death arrived in his country, and the wife is satisfied that he no longer lives, than she is accorded three days of grace. During those days she is permitted to adorn herself as magnificently as she can ; and thus arrayed she goes about the streets with lemons tied round her head like a crown ; her body is uncovered from the waist upwards, and rubbed over with saffron, as also is her face. In this state she takes leave of all those she meets in the streets with a smiling face and free manners, and speeches repugnant to her sex and her claim to nobility.
258.10
When the three days have passed, they prepare in an open field a circular pit, deep and wide, which is filled with wood and cowdung. Fire is then applied. On beholding this pyre, she who is to be the victim of her honour, issues, clad in new attire, covered with divers coloured flowers, some arranged like crowns, others like necklaces. Escorted by all her friends, male and female, she approaches the fire. Before it stands a small screen about five feet high. Over its top they throw into the fire a little saffron and some butter and other spices. After prayers have been recited the heroine withdraws about forty paces and returns two times, one after the other, to the place she started from, and each time performs the same ceremonial. At length she retires for the third time some forty paces farther than before ; at that moment the screen before the fire is withdrawn. Then, with a rush, she bounds into the pit, and in a short time there is nothing left but her ashes to furnish an epitaph on her constancy. The Hindus think so highly of those who are burnt in this way that they assert their reincarnation as goddesses in the heaven of Vishnu ; and in that quality there are erected to them statues as soon as they are dead. This is done equally for the husband. They assume that men blessed with wives of such great virtue as to sacrifice life for their honour, must without fail be placed among the gods.
258.11
But if any wife is found to have greater love of life than of honour, her relations do not leave her to enjoy it for very long, for they throw her into the fire by force, where she ends by undergoing the same suffering without acquiring the same laudations. Thus it is much better for them to endure this hard penalty with firmness and equanimity than to be subjected to it by the violence of others.