The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Religion
The Dabistán, or School of manners, Volume 2 (of 3): translated from the original Persian, with notes and illustrations
Iran -- Religion; Religions
[108] According to Mr. Wilson, it is when the bridegroom
gives to the bride, her father, and paternal relations, as
much as he can afford. According to Ward, it is when money
is received in exchange for a bride. Where a present is made
to the father of the girl, the caste of the boy is not very
respectable. In the most respectable marriages, the father
not only gives his daughter without reward, but bears the
expenses of the wedding, and presents ornaments, goods,
cattle, and money to the bridegroom (_Ward_, vol. III. p.
163-168). Ward mentions eight kinds of marriage: 1.
_Bráhma_, when the girl is given to a Brahman without
reward; 2. _Daíva_, when she is presented as a gift at the
close of a sacrifice; 3. _Arsha_, when two cows are received
by the girl’s father; 4. _Prájápatya_, when the girl is
given at the request of a Brahman; 5. _Asura_, as above; 6.
_Gandharva_; 7. _Rákshasha_; 8. _Piśhácha_ (_Ward,
ibidem_).――D. S.
[109] See for the marriage customs of the Hindus: _On the
religious ceremonies of the Hindus and of the Brahmans
especially_, Essay III. by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq.; _As.
Res._, vol. VII. p. 288. Calcutta edit.; and also: _Mœurs,
institutions et cérémonies des peuples de l’Inde_, par M.
l’abbé J. A. Dubois, vol. I. chap. VI. pp. 284-326. Paris.
1825.
[110] This passage is nearly a literal translation from the
Hetopades, p. 79:
“Three crores and a half are the hairs on a man;
So long a time shall she live in paradise who follows
her lord.
As a snake-catcher forcibly draws up a snake from his
hole,
In the same manner she, having taken her husband, is exalted
to heaven.
The affectionate wife, who on the funeral pile has embraced
her inanimate
Husband, abandons indeed her own body:
But taking up her husband, who has committed many sins――even
a hundred times
A hundred thousand――she shall obtain the mansions of the gods.”
――D. S.
[111] It is known that the sacrifice of widows was abolished
in the year 1834, in all the Indian provinces under the
government and influence of the English authorities, by lord
William Bentinck, governor-general of India.――A. T.
[112] कुण्डं a hole in the ground for receiving and
preserving consecrated fire.――(_Wilson._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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