He was introduced to the members of the "Big Four," who could hardly keep
their faces at the proper length after hearing what passed between the
youthful sahib and Mrs. Belgrave, at the idea of a ten-year-old bridegroom.
"Is it possible that this little fellow is married, Sir Modava?" exclaimed
the principal lady from Von Blonk Park.
"There can be no doubt of it," replied the Hindu gentleman. "But it is
hardly in the same sense that marriage takes place in England and America.
The bride will be received into this Parsee family, and the groom will
remain here; but everything in the domestic circle will continue very
nearly as it was before, and husband and wife will pursue their studies."
"It looks very strange to us," added the lady.
"It is the custom of the country. The British government does not interfere
unnecessarily with matters interwoven into the religion and habits of the
people, though it has greatly modified the manners of the natives, and
abolished some barbarous customs. The 'suttee,' as the English called the
Sanscrit word _sati_ meaning 'a virtuous wife,' was a Hindu
institution which required that a faithful wife should burn herself on the
funeral pyre with the body of her deceased husband; or if he died at a
distance from his home, that she should sacrifice herself on one of her
own.
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