INDIAN HOME LIFE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 149, 2 May 1879, Page 2

INDIAN HOME LIFE.

A lecture was delivered on the 10th February at the London Institution by Professor Monier Williams, the subject being " Indian Home Life." He stated tbat Indian 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 be created by God, in distinct classes, witlr distinct occupations. Born a weaver, a man must remain a raver, and his sons' and grandsons must remain weavers too, Externally the structure of a typical Indian house resembled that ef the houses of Pompeii. Every respectable house had a room called "God's room," wliero domestic worship was performed daily. The women's apartments were at tho back or at the top. No one entered there but the immediate members of the family and the priests. In old houses there was a room called " the room of anger." When any member of the household was offended, lie 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 tho oldest. Ofoen an old grandmother reigned supreme, keeping order with wonderful tact. The 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 constant 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 three separate ceremonies, performed at intervals—l. Bethrothal at 5 years of age; 2. The regular marriage ceremony at nine or ten, when the boy husband returned without his bride to his father's house; 3. The'concludingnuptial rite, when the boy husband took his bride home. Many Hindu boys were fathers at sixteen. Early marriage was the curse of India. Thore was not a house 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. AVe must gradually olevato the millions committed to our rule, but in doing so we must not expect to denationalise Indian home life,