The Hindoos as they are. A description of the manners, customs and inner life of Hindoo Society in Bengal, by Shib Chunder Bose, with a prefatory note by ... W. Hastie, etc

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THE HINDOOS AS THEr ARE A DESCRIPTION OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS AND INNER LIFE OF HINDOO SOCIETY IN BENGAL. BY SHIB CHUNDER BOSE. WITH A PREFATORY NOTE BY The Rev. W. HASTIE, b.d., PRINCIPAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S INSTITUTION, CALCUTTA, %onton: EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS. W. NEWMAN & Co., 3, DALHOUSIE SQUARE. 1881. PRINTED BY W. NEWMAN AND CO., AT THE CAXTON PRESS, I, MISSION ROW, CALCUTTA. | The Right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved. ] CONTENTS. Page. Prefatory Note. i Introduction. iii I. The Hindoo Household i II. The Birth of a Hindoo 22 III. The Hindoo School-boy 3° IV. Vows of Hindoo Girls 35 V. Marriage Ceremonies J 41 VI. The Brother Festival ....... 9° VII. The Son-in-law Festival 92 VIII. The Doorga Poojah Festival . . 93 IX. The Kali Poojah Festival 136 X. The Saraswati Poojah 151 XI.

The Festival of Cakes 1 5 5 XII. The Holi Festival >59 XIII. Caste J 165 XIV. A Brahmin : 180 XV. The Bengalee Baeoo . . . . ■ • • 191 XVI. The Kobiraj, or Native Physician . . .209 XVII. Hindoo Females 7 216 XVIII. Polygamy j , .227 XIX. Hindoo Widows 237 XX. Sickness, Death, and Shrad or Funeral Ceremonies . . . 246 XXI. Suttee, or the Immolation of Hindoo Widows . 272 XXII. The Admired Story of Sabitri Brata, or the Wonderful Triumph of Exalted Chastity . 280 Appendix ERRATA. Page 49, line 4, for "Butterfly," read, " Prajdpati — the (Lord.)" PREFATORY NOTE. Babu Shib Chunder Bose is an enlightened Bengali, of matured conviction and character, who, having received the stirring impulse of Western culture and thought during the early period of Dr. Duff's work in the General Assembly's Institution, has continued faithful to it through all these long and changeful years.

His extended and varied experience, his careful habit of observation and contrast, his large store of general reading and information, and his rare sobriety and earnestness of judgment, eminently qualify him for lifting the veil from the inner domestic life of his countrymen, and giving such an account of their social and religious observances as may prove intelligible and instructive to general English readers. In the sketches which he has now produced we are presented with the first-fruits of "the harvest of a quiet eye" that has long meditatively watched the strange on goings of this ancient society, and penetrated with living insight into the springs and tendency of its startling changes. Although I had no special claim to any right of judgment upon the present phases of Hindu life, the writer took me early into his confidence, and from the apparent quality and sin cerity of his work I had no hesitation in encouraging him to persevere, recommending him, however, to leave historical speculation to others and to confine himself to a faithful deli neation of facts within his own experience.