[W. H. 8.] Passages of this
kind should he remembered by persons who expect orthodox Muhammadans
to accept the results of modern science.
CHAPTER 6
Hindoo Marriages.
Certain it is that no Hindoo will have a marriage in his family
during the four months of the rainy season; for among eighty millions
of souls[1] not one doubts that the Great Preserver of the universe
is, during these four months, down on a visit to Raja Bali, and,
consequently, unable to bless the contract with his presence.[2]
Marriage is a sacred duty among Hindoos, a duty which every parent
must perform for his children, otherwise they owe him no reverence. A
family with a daughter unmarried after the age of puberty is
considered to labour under the displeasure of the gods; and no member
of the other sex considers himself _respectable_ after the age of
puberty till he is married. It is the duty of his parent or elder
brothers to have him suitably married; and, if they do not do so, he
reproaches them with his _degraded condition_. The same feeling, in a
degree, pervades all the Muhammadan community; and nothing appears so
strange to them as the apparent indifference of old bachelors among
us to their _sad condition_.
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