DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.641#0085
78 THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY.
among Hindoos. These are the common gifts, but the
shastrus have pointed out extraordinary gifts: a daughter
in marriage without receiving a fee"; a pool of water1; a
shalgramu; a house containing food, clothes, &c. for twelve
months; gold; cows; elephants; horses; palanqueens; a
road; a copy of a pooranu ; a mountain of gold", silver,
brass, rice, or other articles; land*; a person's wlwle pro-
perty ; yea, even his life.
• The generality of the respectable Hindoos say, that receiving a fee
for a daughter is like selling flesh; yet the lower orders of bramhiins
commonly receive money on giving a daughter in marriage. Formerly
the Hindoo rajas assisted the bramhiins by giving them money for the
expenses of their weddings. A story is related of a raja, who was in-
treated by a bramhun to bestow a gift upon him for the expenses of his
marriage. The raja ordered him to put a garland round the neck of the
first woman he met, and let her become his wife. The bramhun went
out, and met the raja's mother returning from bathing. When about to
put the garland round her neck, she demanded the reason of this strange
conduct; which the bramhun explained. The old lady told him to wait,
and she would bring about what he wanted. She sat at the door of the
palace, and compelled her son to come and invite her in. She replied,
that she was become the wife of such a bramhun, and that she must go
with her new husband. The raja, thunderstruck, called for the bramhun,
gave him a thousand roopees towards his wedding, and brought his
mother into the house again.
* Pools are dug every year in all parts of Bengal, and offered to all
creatures, accompanied with a number of ceremonies.
" The height of these mountain-gifts is given in the Pooshkiiru-khundu
of the Pudmii-pooranu. It must not be supposed that they are very large;
but it is necessary that figures of trees, deer, &c. should be seen on them.
In one of the smritees is an account of a prostitute, who offered a mountain
of gold. About the year 1794, Chhnooghoshfi, a kaist'hu of Midnapore,
gave to the bramhiins an artificial mountain of gold. A little before this,
Gopalu-krishnu, a voidyii of Rajii-nuguru, presented to the bramhiins
three mountains, one of gold, another of rice, and another of the seeds of
sesamum.
x It is very common for rich land-owners to make presents of land t6
bramhiins. At a shraddhft fo; a father or a mother, a piece of land, or its
value in money, is invariably given to bramhuns, unless the person be
among Hindoos. These are the common gifts, but the
shastrus have pointed out extraordinary gifts: a daughter
in marriage without receiving a fee"; a pool of water1; a
shalgramu; a house containing food, clothes, &c. for twelve
months; gold; cows; elephants; horses; palanqueens; a
road; a copy of a pooranu ; a mountain of gold", silver,
brass, rice, or other articles; land*; a person's wlwle pro-
perty ; yea, even his life.
• The generality of the respectable Hindoos say, that receiving a fee
for a daughter is like selling flesh; yet the lower orders of bramhiins
commonly receive money on giving a daughter in marriage. Formerly
the Hindoo rajas assisted the bramhiins by giving them money for the
expenses of their weddings. A story is related of a raja, who was in-
treated by a bramhun to bestow a gift upon him for the expenses of his
marriage. The raja ordered him to put a garland round the neck of the
first woman he met, and let her become his wife. The bramhun went
out, and met the raja's mother returning from bathing. When about to
put the garland round her neck, she demanded the reason of this strange
conduct; which the bramhun explained. The old lady told him to wait,
and she would bring about what he wanted. She sat at the door of the
palace, and compelled her son to come and invite her in. She replied,
that she was become the wife of such a bramhun, and that she must go
with her new husband. The raja, thunderstruck, called for the bramhun,
gave him a thousand roopees towards his wedding, and brought his
mother into the house again.
* Pools are dug every year in all parts of Bengal, and offered to all
creatures, accompanied with a number of ceremonies.
" The height of these mountain-gifts is given in the Pooshkiiru-khundu
of the Pudmii-pooranu. It must not be supposed that they are very large;
but it is necessary that figures of trees, deer, &c. should be seen on them.
In one of the smritees is an account of a prostitute, who offered a mountain
of gold. About the year 1794, Chhnooghoshfi, a kaist'hu of Midnapore,
gave to the bramhiins an artificial mountain of gold. A little before this,
Gopalu-krishnu, a voidyii of Rajii-nuguru, presented to the bramhiins
three mountains, one of gold, another of rice, and another of the seeds of
sesamum.
x It is very common for rich land-owners to make presents of land t6
bramhiins. At a shraddhft fo; a father or a mother, a piece of land, or its
value in money, is invariably given to bramhuns, unless the person be