Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1904 — HINDOO CUSTOMS. [ARTICLE]

HINDOO CUSTOMS.

Fhe Sword Plays * Prominent Par* In Oaths and Marriages. The sword plays many different roles * to Hindoo manners and customs. There - are certain warlike tribes among whom » oaths taken over the sword are binding, while taken otherwise they are not. A similar sentiment prevails • among some predatory classes of Europe, where oaths taken ovm their * weapons of offense—a dagger, a pon- - Hard, a rapier—are considered binding The idea with these dame» seems to ■ be that perjury committed after taking oaths over their weapons recoil; that they die by the weapon against which they perjure themselves. In Berar, in India, women who are * about to lead an irregular flfe marry a sword. This marriage is name, as an emblem of conjugal life, serves as a ray of consolation to them in the midst of their evil doings, in certain parts of India when a Hindoo is about to marry a third wife, which marrying is considered an ill omen, he marries a tree, for obviating the ill omen, before lie marries the third lady. In Kathiawar there is still the eus tom for rajput princes who are much married to marry other wives by means of a sword. They send over their sword to the bride's people. The bride is married to it with all the re-* juired pomp and splendor, the only dis ferenee being that the prince’s sword < becomes a substitute for hfm, the bridegroom. Tbe legality of this marriage to a sword is indisputable. The** bride married to it enters the- rajputv zenana as a legally married wife