ecame enslaved, and the Brahmans did everything to humiliate her.
In towns, the position of the Hindu woman is still worse than amongst
agricultural classes.

The wedding ceremonies are very complicated and numerous. They are
divided into three groups: the rites before the wedding; the rites
during the ceremony; and the rites after the celebration has taken
place. The first group consists of eleven ceremonies: the asking in
marriage; the comparison of the two horoscopes; the sacrifice of a goat;
the fixing of a propitious day; the building of the altar; the purchase
of the sacred pots for household use; the invitation of guests; the
sacrifices to the household gods; mutual presents and so on. All this
must be accomplished as a religious duty, and is full of entangled
rites. As soon as a little girl in some Hindu family is four years old,
her father and mother send for the family Guru, give him her horoscope,
drawn up previously by the astrologer of their caste (a very important
post), and send the Guru to this or that inhabitant of the place who is
known to have a son of appropriate age. The father of the little boy has
to put the horoscope on the altar before the family gods and to answer:
"I am well disposed towards the Panigrhana; let Rudra help us." The Guru
must ask when the union is to take place, after which he is bowed out.
A few days later the father of the little boy takes the horoscope of his
son as well as of the little girl to the chief astrologer. If the latter
finds them propitious to the intended marriage, it will take place; if
not, his decision is immediately sent to the father of the little
girl, and the whole affair is dropped. If the astrologer's opinion is
favorable, however, the bargain is concluded on the spot. The astrologer
offers a cocoa-nut and a handful of sugar to the father, after which
nothing can be altered; otherwise a Hindu vendetta will be handed down
from generation to generation. After the obligatory goat-sacrifice, the
couple are irrevocably betrothed, and the astrologer fixes the day of
the wedding.

The sacrifice of the goat is very interesting, so I am going to describe
it in detail.

A child of the male sex is sent to invite several married ladies, old
women of twenty or twenty-five, to witness the worship of the Lares and
Penates. Each family has a household goddess of its own--which is not
impossible, since the Hindu gods number thirty-three crores. On the eve
of the sacri