INDIAN HOME LIFE.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3186, 6 May 1879, Page 2

INDIAN HOME LIFE.

A lecLure was delivered on the 10th February at the London Institution by Professor Monier Williams, the subjsct being " Indian Home Life." He stated that Indian home life was closely connected with Indian caste life. In India caste was a religion as well as a social institution. Men *were believed to be created by God, in distinct classes, with distinct occupations. Horn a wearer, a man must remain a weaver, and .his. jons and grandsons must remain weavers too. Externally the structure of a typical Indian hou3e resembles that of the houses of Pompeii. 'Every rcspeclabl* house had a room called " Gcd's room," where domestic worship was performed daily. The women's apartments were at the back or at the top.. ]No. r ooe entered there but the immediafe members of the family and the priests. In old houses there was' a room called "the

room of "anger." ' When- 'any' member of the householdr was offended, jUe,r;<BUut himself up there .till his grievance was redressed.", An "Indian; ; family,r djdj^not merely coniist of., husband, wife, "and children, Sometimes ; 100. persona^,u*s eluding four generations, from great grandfather to great grandchildren, might be found''iivingt in i>ne?;«fcode. Anarchy was prerented hj Ye«*iiij Eupretueautbority in the oldeit."Ofsett an old grandmother .rejgaed iupreme, keeping order with wonderful tact. Th« women superintended the cooking and wiitedjbn their,hußbands^advbrotheiiTat dinner, eating their leavings afterwards. Hindu wive8 r) were ,- remarkable for shrewdness, 1 thrift,' "and' 'devotion to their families. Yet a wife was little' valued, except as'a~ mother. The most .important, event T in jthe (r family, jjju ihe bTrth of a son.' The tiapp iriess'of d'ecMlea parents in ,theotherworlddepended upon the constant* performance 'of'"obsequial ceremonies by sons.. The nezt most important events were the initiation of sons the sacred thread, an*d~ their mwrjiage. As to marriage, it was effected by at intervals—(l) betrothal 'at 1 five 4 years of age; (2) the r regular, marriage cere* mony at nin'eor ten, when the boy-bus-,>and jr^r^dj^oui. his feri^to^ fathers house; rf (3) the 4' concluding took his bride home. Many Hindu boyi wore father! at sixteen.; i&mlx &mm 9 was the curse of India. There was not a household withoutn child 'widoifi».t9fißv were condemned to a life of misery. Yet Indian-home ilife-ihadVinuch in it to call forth our admiration. A vast chasm separated the social condition of eastftln .and western countries. English jnajjjiji* tions could not be transplanted to an Indian;ioil until-it was prepared theij reception. , r . .^e^ m.^st gradually elevaje the miljioris"committed to^tfar rule, but m doing so^ w^'ma'st nbt erpeet td denationalise Indian home Hfe.~