four primary mels. The present high Brahmins are chiefly those of broken families of the second and third generations. Many have already been induced to sacrifice their honours at the shrine of their avarice. It is strange that of the many broken kuls now in existence, though the cause has in every case been an improper marriage, scarcely one is known to have been compromised from feelings of love.[1] In other countries, when persons of distinction are induced to marry below their level, the motive generally is personal attachment. With the Kulins of Bengal the case is far different. Mammon, “the least erected spirit that fell,” is the god at whose altar they sacrifice their titles.
The laws which regulate the marriage of Kulin females are cruelly stringent. These must not, on any account, be given to any but persons of an equal or superior grade. Neither the Shrotriyas, nor any inferior order, can aspire to the hand of a Kulin’s daughter. An indelible disgrace would be affixed upon such a prostitution of a girl of birth and family. But her hereditary honour becomes her heaviest misfortune. The greatest difficulty is experienced in settling her in life. The only circles from which a husband may be selected are in quest everywhere and by everybody. To outbid the Shrotriyas and others in the purchase of a noble bridegroom would require larger funds than many a Kulin can command. The greatest misery and distress are accordingly occasioned. To suffer a young girl incapable of rational occupations and intellectual amusements to remain in celibacy, would be to expose her virtue to too severe an ordeal. An uncultivated mind, destitute of the restraints by which education balances the animal passions, and unprotected by a husband’s tender care, must be subject to temptations of no ordinary power. Unmarried females in Christian communities, with the godly influences of the Gospel to regulate their lives, and literary pursuits to occupy and ennoble their thoughts, have often proved ornaments to their sex. The case would be different in a heathen country, and with minds untaught, and ignorant and unrestrained by principles. No parent here dares to risk his daughter’s virtue by allowing her to lead a single life. The institutions of Hinduism, too, denounce the fiercest anathemas against such conduct. The severest condemnation is passed upon a Brahmin that neglects to get his daughter married before she completes her tenth year. The most meritorious way of disposing her is to present her at the hymeneal altar when she is eight years old. The second best way is before her ninth year is terminated.
- ↑ We are of course not speaking of the age in which the kuls ware first instituted.
