WHOLESALE HINDU WEDDINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8363, 25 February 1913, Page 3

WHOLESALE HINDU WEDDINGS

BABY BRIDES AND BRIDEGROOMS. PICTURESQUE CEREMONIAL. (Sydney “Sun” Cable.) LONDON, February 15. There were- iOO native weddings in Bombay on baturclay among members of tne Lewakundi caste. The majority of the brides were from one to seven years of age, and the bridegrooms from three years to nine years. The contracting parties lay in the laps of their parents, and were given sweetmeats to keep them quiet. This particular caste only celebrates weddings at intervals of ten years. Child - marriages between Hindus in India are at one and the same time patneuc little incidents, and the occasions ot gorgeous display. Every Hinclu father puts by his hard-earned rupees, carefully garnering them tor the day of his nratoorn's marriage, and there is keen rivalry between the households as to which shall make the grandest splash. The tiny bride and bridegroom are, in theory, the principals. But, in fact, they matter very little, and take not the slightest interest in the ceremony. The bridegroom’s bride is to him just as any ocher tiny brown youngster. AJI the arrangements are made by the parents, the savings sometimes amounting to thousands of rupees, spent on gay clothes for the “ happy pair,” and particularly on the boy, and after a wedding a family is often absolutely penniless once more. Then it starts saving up for the next wedding. The nuptial ceremony is a picturesque affair. Bride and bridegroom, usually on a gaily-caparisoned grey horse, ride to and from' -.the house. of the father of the bridegroom, , the boy sitting in front, and the poor toddler of a bride clinging precariously on .behind, with her little arms clasped round her husband’s waist. At the house a great “ tamasha,” or celebration, goes on! All the family friends are invited, and if the people happen to be of any standing in the native world quite a number of English people go as well, but more often out of curiosity than for any other reason. In various comers of the lower floor of the house, which is bravely decorated, is ' assembled the weirdest collection of entertainments under .the son. . Here, perhaps, .will be a piano organ gaily trilling out “ Yip-I-addy-I-ay.” There a native conjurer performing mystifying tricks. On the other. side of the room a gramophone churning out Melba, and an antique musical-box tinkling dolefully. A snake-charmer, some contortionists, and a fortune-teller will occupy the centre of the floor, and a native band with tom-toms and whistles will help to *make • the air hideous, while a grizzled old Hindu will be endeavouring to extract Salvation Army hymn tunes out of a vile-soimding acoordoon. To cap all, if the family has plenty of rupees, there will be ,a nondescript band of instrumentalists on the verandah, some of them halfcastes, some natives, and some Goanese, the. half-bred Portuguese-Hindu people of the Gba district, Western India. Each of these will be wearing a different uniform tunic, and some of the natives will have no trousers. The uniforms, probably, have been cast off by British regimental bandsmen, and sold in the market to their present proud owners. The instruments have come from the same source, and generally the band is, to say the least, comical. A small native wearing a six-foot Hussar’s tunic and the forage cap of a _ line-regiment will be struggling with a big brass bass, while a large Hindu, will, maybe, have squeezed his torso into the epauletted coat of a bugler boy. And whatever the band may happen to be playing it will immediately stop when an English guest drives up and tear out “ God Save the King,” so that if there are many white visitors the British National Anthem has a fine old time, played at a constantly-recurring intermezzo to, say, the “Blue Danube” waltz. It is all quaint and curious, but it is interesting. Meanwhile, inside the house everybody is being re. galed with sweetmeats and glasses of raspberryade or lemonade—intoxicants are taboo in a strict Hindu house—and the two little principals in the -ceremony sit staring with wide open eyes at the phantasmagoria of enjoyment. Then, when it is all over, they are taken off to their respective homes to wait until they grow up. '