AMRA. 61 



principal charms, because peculiar and unequalled, was the beauty 

 and redundance of her hair, which in colour and texture resembled 

 black floss silk, and, when released from confinement, flowed down- 

 wards over her whole person like a veil, and swept the ground. 



Such was Amra : nor let it be supposed, that so perfect a form 

 was allied to a merely passive and childish mind. It is on record, 

 that, until the invasion of Hindostan by the barbarous Moguls, the 

 Indian women enjoyed comparative freedom : it is only since the 

 occupation of the country by the Europeans, that they have been 

 kept in entire seclusion. A plurality of wives was discouraged by 

 their laws ; and, among some of the tribes of Brahmans, it was even 

 forbidden. At the period of our story, that is, in the reign of Akbar, 

 the Indian women, and more particularly the Brahminees, enjoyed 

 much liberty. They were well educated, and some of them, extra- 

 ordinary as it may seem, distinguished themselves in war and 

 government. The Indian queen Durgetti, whose history forms a 

 conspicuous and interesting episode in the life of Akbar, defended 

 her kingdom for ten years against one of his most valiant generals. 



Mounted upon an elephant of war, she led her armies in person ; 

 fought several pitched battles ; and being at length defeated in a 

 decisive engagement, she stabbed herself on the field, like another 

 Boadicea, rather than submit to her barbarous conqueror. Nor was 

 this a solitary instance of female heroism and mental energy : and 

 the effect of this freedom, and the respect with which they were 

 treated, appeared in the morals and manners of the women. 



The gentle daughter of Sarma was not indeed fitted by nature 

 either to lead or to govern, and certainly had never dreamed of doing 

 either. Her figure, gestures, and movements, had that softness at 

 once alluring and retiring, that indolent grace, that languid repose, 

 common to the women of tropical regions. 



"All her affections like the dews on roses, 



Fair as the flowers themselves ; as soft, as gentle." 



Her spirit, in its "mildness, sweetness, blessedness," seemed as 

 flexible and unresisting as the tender Vasanta creeper. She had in- 

 deed been educated in all the exclusive pride of her caste, and taught 

 to regard all who were not of the privileged race of Brahma asfrangi 

 (or impure) ; but this principle, though so early instilled into her 

 mind as to have become a part of her nature, was rather passive than 

 active ; it had never been called forth. She had never been brought 

 into contact with those, whose very look she would have considered 

 as pollution; for she had no intercourse but with those of her own 

 nation, and watchful and sustaining love were all around her. Her 

 VOL. in. 1834. i 



