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C. W. ODLIXG^ C.S.I., M.1^'ST.C.E., ON ORISSA 



wherewith to pay for the usual festivities. The cost falls on 

 the father of the bride and it is a very heavy tax w^hich it 

 is not possible to avoid. The girl must be married before she 

 is twelve years of age ; display, the giving of gifts, feeding and 

 bestowing clothes on Brahmans, relatives and caste officials 

 involve an expenditure which in Europe would be looked on 

 as excessive, and frequently involves the parents in indebtedness 

 for life. On the other band, so far as the women of the family 

 are concerned, the sacrifice is almost more than willing, and is 

 tempered by no after regrets : the event is recalled in the years to 

 come, as the culmination of the family grandeur. In the 

 higher castes re-marriage is out of the question, and a widow's 

 lot is sad indeed, involving not only numerous penances, much 

 fasting and coarse clothes, but the reputation of being unlucky 

 and as such to be shunned at family gatherings. In the lower 

 castes there is more latitude as to re-marriage. The women 

 usually wear a good deal of jewellery, and unfortunately the 

 children do the same, a custom which has led to many murders, 

 children being decoyed to lonely places and then killed for the 

 sake of their ornaments. The family jewellery is in fact the 

 savings bank of the people, when times are good any savings 

 are converted into ornaments, a statement literally true as the 

 silversmith fashions the rupees, given to him, into the ornament 

 desired, very often in the customer's verandali ; should hard 

 times arrive the jewels are sold, and as their value consists 

 mainly in the metal used, one anna in the rupee (one-sixteenth) 

 being usually paid for fashioning, a good price is realised. The 

 ditlerence between the silver in the rupee and its nominal value 

 as a coin has interfered with this form of thrift. 



The children, I should say, are universally happy, their 

 parents are kind and devoted to them, and food must indeed be 

 scarce before they suffer; the climate does not necessitate any 

 large amount of clothing, and until they are five or six years 

 old they are not troubled Avith any. There is lots of sunshine, 

 ample room to play, and every effort is made to procure for 

 them such amusements as may be had, which not infrequently 

 consist of displays to which all are welcome. The liousehold 

 god is worshipped daily by libations of water and offerings of 

 flowers, but otherwise their religious observances are confined 

 to a few great festivals, on which occasions the people turn out 

 in their thousands to visit the temples and have a kind of bank- 

 holiday. The devotions do not include listening to addresses 

 or reciting prayers ; offerings are made to the idols, alms 

 bestowed on priests and mendicants and the religious part of 



