164 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER XV. 
I am now about to give a remarkable narra- 
tive of a Malabar Brahmin, related to me whilst 
I was in India by a native servant who lived with 
me at Bombay. This Brahmin, who was a young 
man, had a beautiful wife about sixteen years of age. 
She was the admiration of the neighbourhood in 
which she resided, and her husband loved her with a 
fervour equal to her beauty. Indeed, they entertained 
a mutual affection for each other ; their domestic hap- 
piness was therefore far greater than is generally found 
to result from Hindoo marriages, which are not often 
productive of much domestic peace, the wives looking 
upon their husbands as tyrants, and the husbands 
treating their wives as mere drudges. This is the 
common feeling among married couples in Hindostan, 
whether Mohammedans or Hindoos. 
The young Brahmin and his lovely consort, 
however, were exceptions to this general rule. 
They were happy in the reciprocal interchange of 
affection, and neither looked for enjoyment beyond 
the precincts of their domestic hearth. The fame of the 
Brahminee’s beauty had spread far beyond the bound- 
aries of the village in which they dwelt ; and the 
husband Was not a little proud to find that he pos- 
sessed a treasure which gained him the envy of many 
