Remonstrantie 13.2.6

13.2.6

Alike at midday and in the evening the guests rise and take their leave with scanty compliments, saying merely, God grant a lasting blessing on the house! and the host then goes into his mahal to sleep until the evening, when he usually comes out again to the sitting-place. Such are the usual customs, but detailed descriptions such as this must show some discrepancies. Some rich people, and many who are economical, take their meals in the mahal in order to save the heavy cost of the outside service; and again they cannot hold their reception when they are in the King's camp, because they are on duty continuously from morning to night. Some of the nobles, again, have chaste wives, but they are too few to be worth mentioning; most of the ladies are tarred with the same brush, and when the husband is away, though he may think they are guarded quite safely by his eunuchs, they are too clever for Argus himself with his hundred eyes, and get all the pleasure they can, though not so much as they desire.