The Treatment of Widows in India.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 184, 25 December 1886, Page 5

The Treatment of Widows in India.

A >vxnow among the reepsctable classes in this land of rigid Hinduism is considered and treated as something worse than the meanest criminal in tho vorld. Directly after the death of her husband she is shunned by her relations and irieuds, and, as if her breath or touch would tpread among thorn tho contagion ot her crime — tho natural death of her husband -they do uot oven approach near her, but send the barbers' wives, who play an important pai t in all Hindu ceremonies, to divest her of all her ornaments and fineries. These mercenary persons often proceed to their task. in a roost heartiending manner ; but thatis tho command of their mistiesses, and they must obey it. No sooner has the husband breathed his last, than these hue lings rush at their victim and snatch oif her ear-ringfc and noae-rings. Ornaments plaited into the hair are torn away, and it tho arms are covered with gold and silver bracelets, they do not take the time to draw them off one by one, but holding her arm on tho ground, they hammer with a stono until tho metal, often solid and heavy, breaks in two ;it matters not to them how many wounds are inflicted, neither if the widow is t>ut a child ot Fix or seven, who docs not know what a husband means : they have no pitj'. At the funeral the relatives of the deceased, male and female, accompany the corpse, and all, rich ov poor, must go on foot. The men bad the procession, the women, with thi.uk. veils duivn over their faces, following, and last comes i tho widow, preceded by tho barbers' wive?, who take caro to keep her at respectable distance from the main body of ths mourners, ehouting out as they go along to warn the other people ot the approach of the dete&ted widow. Thus the is dragged along, wild with giicf, ashast at the indignities heaped upon her, her eyes full of bitter tears, mortally afraid to utter a single syllable, lest sd» should receive a more heartless treatment trom the very people who but a few days ago held her so dearly. Soon after the party reaches the river or bank, near which tho cremation takes place, the widow is pu=hed into the water, and thero she ha« to remain, in her wet clothes, away from all the other people, until the dead body has beon burnt to ashes— a procoss occupying, in India, several hours —and tho whole company have performed their necessary ablutions. And when all of them have started for home, the widow is led along by the barbers' wives, her clothes soaking wet, and ehe mutely bearing the rudenesses of her barbaroud guides. Tho custom is, rigidly observed in all seasons and all circumstances It matters not whether she has been laid up with fever or suffering from consumption, whether she is scorched by the burning rays of tho mid-day yun of Indian summer or frozen by tho piercing winds blowing from the Himalayas in winter, tho widow must be dragged with the funeral party in the preceding manner. Tno.-e is no pity for her. It sometimes happens that if she is of delicate health f» he breaks down in the middle of her journey, and falls dead. And death is her beet friend then. — " Nineteenth Century."