INDIAN HOME LIFE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1614, 23 April 1879, Page 3

INDIAN HOME LIFE.

A lecture was delivered on tho 10th February at the London Institution by Professor Monier Williams, tho subject being “ Indian Homo Life.” Ho stated that I dian homo life was closely connected with Indian caste life. In India caste was a religion as well as a social institution. Men were believed to bo created by God, in distinct classes, with distinct occupations. Born a weaver, a man must remain a weaver, and his sons and grandsons must remain weavers too. Externally the structure of a typical Indian house resembled that of the houses of Pompeii. Every respectable house had a room called “God’s room,” where domestic worship was performed daily. The women’s apartments were at the back or at the top. No one entered there but tho immediate members of the family and the priests. In old houses there was a room called “ the room of anger.” When any member of tho household was offended, he shut himself up there till his grievance was redressed. An Indian family did not merely consist of husband, wife, and children. Sometimes 100 persons, including four generations, from great grandfather to great grandchildren, might be found living in one abode. Anarchy was prevented by vesting supreme authority in the oldest. Often an old grandmother reigned supreme, keeping order with wonderful tact. Tho women superintended the cooking and waited on their husbands and brothers at dinner, eating their leavings afterwards. Hindu wives were remarkable for shrewdness, thrift, and devotion to their families. Yet a wife was little valued, except as a mother. The most important event in the family was the birth of a son. The happiness of deceased parents in the other world depended upon the const ant performance of obsequial ceremonies by sons. The next most important events were the initiation of sons into the Hindu faith by investiture with the sacred thread, and their marriage. As to marriage, it was effected by throe separate ceremonies, performed at intervals — (1) betrothal at five years of age ; (2) the regular marriage ceremony at nine or ton, when the boy-husband returned without his bride to his father’s house; (3) the concluding nuptial rite, when tho bo - -husband took his bride home. Many Hindu boys were fathers at sixteen. Early marriage was the curse of India. There was not a household without child widows, who were condemned to a life of misery. Yet Indian home life had much in it to call forth our admiration. A vast chasm separated the social condition of eastern and western countries. English institutions could not be transplanted to an Indian soil until it was prepared for their reception. We must gradually elevate the millions committed to our rule, but in doing so we must not expect to denationalize Indian home life.