The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 58

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

58

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

In spite of the effects of servitude, of the grievously
inadequate school facilities, and of the restrictions
of the adult population from the participation in
much of the great stream of economic, intellectual,
and civic life, most authoritative testimony agrees
that the Negro in America has made substantial
progress in education, in acquisition of wealth, in
production of literature, art, and music, and in
other evidences of such capacity and temperament.”
(Lhe Trend of the Races, pp. 65. 66.)
Philadelphia, Pa. W. G. ScnWEnn.

Marriage in India.

Marriage customs are not alike in all sections
of India. The Mohammedans have their own cus-
toms, which differ far from those of the Hindus.
Smaller religious sects have still different usages.
Even among the Hindus the customs are diverse.
High-caste, low-caste, and outcaste natives have
marriage rules that differentiate these strata of
Indian society from one another. What is true of
marriage in the North may not apply in the South.
Therefore no general marriage customs obtain.

But among the old-school Hindus no marriage
may be contracted without the strictest observation
of ancient caste-laws. The sacred books say: “The
first three years of-a girl’s life belong to the gods,
to each god in turn, the Great God, the God of
Preservation, the God of Destruction. From her
fourth year onward a girl is marriageable. If you
marry her between her fourth and her seventh year,
you go to a first-class heaven (the highest rebirth
possible) ; between the seventh and the ninth year,
to a second-class heaven; between the ninth and
eleventh year, to a third-class heaven. For the
parent who delays the marriage [of his daughter]
longer than the eleventh year only hell remains.”

While many Hindus do not take this law liter-
ally, there are millions who religiously try to con-
form to. it. q ‘

No real Hindu will marry out of his caste.
This means that there are millions of people in
India whom to marry would mean irreparable spir-
_ itual and social loss. Caste requires that marriage

be contracted within a certain, very much circum-
scribed circle of people of the same social status.
As a rule, the priests are the intermediaries and
determine the exact circle within which marriage

_ maybe contracted. For the little girl a likely little

_ boy is selected. He may never have seen her nor

him. After the preliminaries are over, the little

girl is secluded far more than formerly. She now
lives only for the eyes of her husband.

The wedding-day is a great event among high
and lowly. Elaborate preparations are made to
celebrate it. Often the poor burden themselves
with debts that can scarcely be paid in a lifetime.
A father who has many daughters to marry off
considers them a great affliction because of the
dowry he must provide for each one.

The young bride is bathed and oiled and clothed
in her most beautiful sarid (dress). A mark in-
dicating that she is a wife is placed on her forehead.
Arms and ankles, neck, ears, and nose, are be-
jeweled. The bridegroom, according to his social
station, comes in much or little glory, accompanied
by musicians and often followed by a large proces-

A Hindu Woman Serving Her Husband.

sion of symbolical figures. Beside him there is an
empty chair or other kind of seat for the bride.

The ceremony is enacted according to the an-
cient religious ritual, which is in the keeping of
the Brahmans or other priests. Occasionally bride
and groom must take seven steps around the sacred
fire. During the ceremony, frequently very elabo-
rate, both are veiled. A certain section of the room
or marriage hall is set aside for the event; elabo-
rate rice flour designs and the sacred cows’ dung
have “sanctified” it for the occasion. No one may
enter this enclosure save the bridal couple and the
priest.

In some sections of India unspeakable orgies
are connected with a marriage celebration, although
governmental regulations and a rising sense of de-
cency among the more cultured frown upon them.

After her marriage the little wife belongs to her
husband’s family and to her husband’s gods. Her

Y