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sought after by parents as suitable husbands for their 

 daughters that they command a high price in the matri- 

 monial market. The followicg extracts from the report of 

 the Bengal Salaries Commission, 1886, describing the rise in 

 the standard of livino; amono: the oflBcial and other classes in 

 that province, might almost, word for word, be taken as 

 accurately portraying the condition of things in tlie more 

 advanced districts in this Presidency : 



*' We find it quite impossible to arrive at any definite 

 conclusion as to the actual cost of marriages, because our 

 informants' statements vary so much one from the other. 

 It seems, however, that the marriage of a son does not, as a 

 rule, cost so very much more than it did in old days ; indeed, 

 some people tell us that a father may even gain by his son's 

 marriage. It is a strange bub undoubted fact that acade- 

 mical distinctions command a very high price in the matri- 

 monial market, a youth who has several ' Vniversity passes ' 

 being regarded as a very desirable parti and having to be 

 highly paid to induce him to bestow his hand in marriage. 

 It would also seem that ' Kulinism,' or the practice of 

 marrying a daughter to a man of the very highest section of 

 one's caste, and paying a large sum for the honour of having 

 so exalted a son-in-law, is dying out in proportion as acade- 

 mical honours and the success in life to which they lead are 

 more and more valued. In either case, however, the cost of 

 getting a daughter married is very heavy, and at times is 

 even ruinous, to men of limited means, such as are most of 

 the ministerial officers ; and the spread of education, so far 

 from having led to more reasonable practices, seems rather to 

 have exercised a contrary influence 



" Native ladies and children also now wear more cloths 

 than formerly. Although, for obvious reasons, we cannot 

 go deeply into this delicate subject, we have ample evidence 

 to show that both in material, fashion, and ornamentation, 

 female clothing is more costly than before. Children also, 

 who even in respectable families wore no cloths at all during 

 their early years, are now often clothed in expensive gar- 

 ments. It must not, however, be forgotten that some articles 

 of clothing are cheaper than formerly, such as those made of 

 English piece-goods and the like. It is doubtful how far this 

 cheapness counterbalances the increased outlay caused by a 

 love of finery. 



" Under the head of dress comes the important question 

 of jeweli'y. This also, we think, must always have formed a 

 serious item, in Indian domestic economy, because, in days 



