.247 



On Slavery in Southern India. 



being brought up invariably in the creed of their master, are at 

 t>nce amalgamated with the family itself, who treat the males 

 indulgently, with somewhat of that privileged familiarity allowed in 

 all countries to those who are permanently attached to a family, 

 and are rather its humble members by adoption, than its servants 

 or slaves. They are well fed, well clothed, and employed in domes- 

 tic offices, common, except in familes of the highest rank, to many 

 of their master's relatives. The free communication with others, 

 and facility of access to the British tribunals, which the want of all 

 restraint over egress from the house, ensures to the male domestic 

 slaves, combines with the indulgent treatment of their masters to 

 qualify their bondage, so as nearly to exclude it from what the 

 term slavery implies. Such, however, is not the lot of the female 

 domestic slaves, employed as attendants on the seraglios of Mus- 

 sulmans of rank : they are too often treated with caprice, and 

 frequently punished with much cruelty. Once admitted into the 

 haram, they are considered part of that establishment, which it is 

 the point of honor of a Mussulman to seclude from all communi- 

 cation with others. The complaints made to me as superintendent 

 of Police at Madras, against the Nabob of Arcot, and subsequently, 

 wh^!n magistrate of Bellary, against the brother of the Nabob of 

 Kurnool, gave me an insight into transactions committed in the 

 recesses of the female apartments of these two personages, which 

 has left on my mind a strong impression of the cruelty and wanton 

 barbarity with which this class of female slaves are subject to be 

 treated. The murder of more than one female slave, alleged to 

 "have been committed by the brother of the Nabob of Kurnool, 

 induced me repeatedly to address the Madras Government ; nor 

 was it until he added to them the murder of his own wife that he 

 was confined as a state prisoner, instead of being brought to trial 

 for his life, as I suggested. Indeed little doubt can be entertained 

 that the seclusion of female slaves in the harams of Mussulmans 

 of rank, too often precludes complaint, prevents redress, and 

 cloakes crimes at which Europeans would shudder. The agrestic 

 slaves, on the other hand, are invaribly Hindoos of the lowest 

 and most degraded castes, such as the Pullers, or outcasts alto- 

 gether, such as the Parriahs in the Tamil country, residing usu- 

 ally in the out skirts of the village; food dressed by them 

 being abomination, and their touch defilement to their masters. 

 In Malabar, indeed, the master is attended, wherever he moves, 

 by an imaginary halo; for the distance which the slave must 

 keep from any of the pure castes including the lowest, or Soo- 



