But This Evening, Probably In Our Honor,
All The Hindus Dressed Magnificently.
Some of them wore darias
of rich striped satin, no end of gold bangles, necklaces mounted
with diamonds and emeralds, gold watches and chains, and transparent
Brahmanical scarfs with gold embroidery.
The fat fingers and the
right ear of our host were simply blazing with diamonds.
The women, who waited on us during the meal, disappeared afterwards
for a considerable time. When they came back they also were
luxuriously overdressed and were introduced to us formally as the
ladies of the house. They were five: the wife of the host, a
woman of twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, then two others
looking somewhat younger, one of whom carried a baby, and, to our
great astonishment, was introduced as the married daughter of the
hostess; then the old mother of the host and a little girl of seven,
the wife of one of his brothers. So that our hostess turned out
to be a grandmother, and her sister-in-law, who was to enter finally
into matrimony in from two to three years, might have become a mother
before she was twelve. They were all barefooted, with rings on each
of their toes, and all, with the exception of the old woman, wore
garlands of natural flowers round their necks and in their jet
black hair. Their tight bodices, covered with embroidery, were
so short that between them and the sari there was a good quarter
of a yard of bare skin.
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