Remonstrantie 16.4

16.4

The ladies go into the female apartments, where there is music, singing, and dancing, as there is before the men, where the dancers sing and dance as skilfully as they can. It is the custom at all weddings and feasts to call in these people for the guests' entertainment. There are many classes of dancers, among them lolonis, who are descended from courtesans who have come from Persia to India, and sing only in Persian; and a second class, domnis, who sing in Hindustani, and whose songs are considered more beautiful, more amorous, and more profound, than those of the Persians, while their tunes are superior; they dance, too, to the rhythm of the songs with a kind of swaying of the body which is not lascivious, but rather modest. Other classes are named horckenis and hentsinis, who have various styles of singing and dancing, but who are all alike accommodating people. [The music] lasts till a quarter of the night has gone, when the Kazi's clerk and moslena [? maulana] comes, and he makes a prayer, and then joins them in marriage without the bride being present. The ceremony consists merely in the registration in the Kazi's book, showing that such and such a person has acknowledged taking such and such a woman as his wife. When this is over, the meal is served, and they go to eat, after which there is music, singing, and dancing as before, lasting the whole night till the morning.