Meteorological Register, kept at the Surveyor General's Office, Calcutta, for the Month of November, 1834. Minimum Temperature observed at Sunrise. Maximum Pressure observed at 9h. 50m. Observations made at Max.Temp.and Dryness] Apparent Noon. observed at 2h. 40m. Minimum Pressure observed at 4h. 0m. Observations made at Sunset. 123 30,040 76,3 74,674,8 N.W.,118 N.,116 77,278,576,8 N. N. 78,579,5 77,5 N. w.,084 79,581,278,6 N. N.,050 80,282, 79,1 Nbw,042 80,281,878,7 N. N N.,046 79, 80,478, N. N. E. N. N. w.,074 79,782,878,3 N. w,070 79,582, 78,3 N. w.,082 78,4 80, 78,1 N.W. N.,110 78,279,777,8 Direction. Wind. THE CALCUTTA CHRISTIAN OBSERVER. SIR, February, 1835. I.-On Infanticide in Rájputána. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. There are but few officers who have visited Málwá and Rájputána, who are not well aware that many of the Rájput, and some other tribes of these provinces are, and have for ages past been, in the habit of destroying their female offspring on their birth. Circumstances have placed it in my power partially to ascertain the extent to which this practice is carried in some quarters of these provinces; and as the particulars cannot but be of deep interest to the benevolent public, and to every member of that paramount Government whose duty it is to do its utmost to eradicate this inhuman practice from within the range of its influence, I shall proceed to state them. Kota and Bundi. Hárá Rajputs of The Hárá Rájputs, who give their name to Harauti, and the heads of which fill the thrones of Bundí and Kota, are much given to this horrifying practice. I know many cases in which individuals of this tribe have destroyed their daughters, but I cannot state the extent to which infanticide is practised throughout the whole tribe. Apjí Hárá, Jagírdár of Koila, and a near heir to the throne of Kota, has destroyed several of his daughters. The last that was born to him was preserved by the maternal affection of his lady. When the child was born and announced to be a girl, the Thákur issued the order for its immediate destruction. The mother interceded : the proud Thákur, whose circumstances have been much straitened by the persecutions with which the late Ráj Ráná Madhu Singh visited his attachment to his kinsman the Maháráu, indignantly asked how in the present low ebb of his fortunes he was to provide the means for a suitable match for the girl, and repeated his order that the Madár juice be forthwith administered to the innocent babe. The mother still besought for the infant's life. The day happened to be the anniversary of the I birth of Krishna, the tutelary divinity of the Hárás. "For Srí Krishnají's sake spare the innocent babe," cried the fond mother: "Oh pollute not this sacred day by the commission of so black a sin." The Thákur relented, and this single daughter to the house of Koila lives to bless the name of Krishna. These particulars were given to me by a son of Apjí, whom I lately met in Málwá. Khichi Rajputs The Khichi Rajputs of Khilchipur are still more of Khilchipur. inveterately addicted to the practice than the Hárá tribe. With a view to ascertain the extent to which the practice was carried in this small principality, an inquiry was directed to be made of the number of sons and daughters now living of all the nobles of Khilchipur. The result of this inquiry is almost beyond belief. In 157 families (chiefly Khichis and kinsmen of the Rájá Sher Singh, with a few Rhatores, Umuts, &c.) there were found to be only 32 daughters where there were 189 sons living. Umut Rajputs of Nar- In the adjoining petty principalities of Narsingarh and Rajgarh. singarh and Rájgarh, the practice would seem, from a similar inquiry, to be not much less general. In 63 families in which inquiry was made in Nursingarh, there appeared to be but 19 daughters, whilst there were 75 sons living. In 18 families in Rajgarh the result was 21 boys and but 10 girls. I cannot be answerable for the entire correctness of these results but in such cases as I have myself had an opportunity of verifying I have found them correct. Now as the most extended inquiries of philanthropists in Europe and Asia have all shewn one result, viz. that the births of males and of females are of nearly equal amount, the only inference to be drawn from this disparity is, that females equal or nearly equal in number to the difference here exhibited have been destroyed. My knowledge of the fact however does not rest solely on this inference. Many instances of infanticide in these Khichi and Umut families have at the time of their occurrence come within my actual knowledge: the chiefs themselves have from time to time admitted their culpability in having destroyed one, two, or three, or all of their female offspring at their birth, pleading in extenuation hereditary custom, their high caste which would be degraded by alliances with inferior tribes, and their inability duly to meet the expenses of a marriage which they deemed suitable to their high descent, and vain pretensions. It is chiefly in those tribes of Rajputs, who in their pride deem themselves more illustrious in regard to caste than their neighbours, that the custom prevails. The inferior castes, who will give their daughters in marriage into higher castes, (the members of which will not however give theirs in return to them) seldom have recourse to infanticide: in these castes the custom is generally regarded as sinful, and visited with excommunication. In several of those tribes long habituated to the practice, a few chiefs of a warm benevolence have existed who have done their utmost to suppress the custom; who have themselves not only set the best example by preserving their own daughters, but promised to their poorer but equally high born kinsmen such pecuniary assistance as might be required to provide suitable matches for their daughters. The celebrated Jai Singh, the Rájá of Jaipur, as in other respects so also in this, shewed himself superior to the spirit of the age in which he lived. But his endeavours to suppress infanticide have not succeeded better than his attempt to introduce second Kuchwaha and Raja- marriages; for I know several recent instances wat Rajputs of Jaipur. of Kachwahas and Rajawats of the Jaipur territory, who, though publicly known to have destroyed their daughters, have met with neither punishment from the Jaipur Government, nor public and general condemnation from their neighbours. Rhatores The Rhatores of Márwár practise it less than their of Marwar. neighbours; I know not whether they have entirely abandoned the practice; I know of no instance of a Rhatores Ranawuts having destroyed his infant daughters. The Ranawat of Mewar. tribes of Udaipur still practise the crime, but I know not to what extent. Instances of infanticide in this tribe have come to my notice. The Jhala Rajputs, to which tribe the late Zálim Singh of Kota belonged, do not, I believe, practise infanticide, neither do the Saktawat, nor several other families in Mewár. Ponwars. The Thákur of Agra Burkhera, near Bhilsa, a chief of the Ponwar tribe, has frequently confessed to me, that the straits to which the oppressions of Scindia's Amils had reduced him, had driven him to destroy the two or three daughters that had been born to him; and I doubt not but that several of his many kinsmen have followed an example exhibited in such a high quarter. This Thákur, and also the Rájás of Khilchipur, Rájgarh, and Narsingarh have gone through the form of renouncing the practice, and have issued prohibitions against it to all their subjects. This is certainly matter of gratulation, but too much stress ought not to be laid on this single act. Rajput tribes of Aude. The custom was formerly practised to a great extent, I have understood, in Aude. I believe that many Hindu chiefs of those parts have now voluntarily sworn to their spiritual Gurus, that they will henceforth abandon it. But doubtlessly, through the whole of the North Western Provinces of Hindusthan and Aude, and in Cutch and Guzerat, instances of infanticide are constantly occurring amongst all the Rajput tribes. hazpur. Puryar Minas of Ja- But the practice is not confined to Rajputs*: when I lately passed along the frontiers of Bundí, Udaipur, and Jaipur, especially in the neighbourhood of Jahazpur, I discovered that infanticide was generally practised, also by the Puryar Minas, a race of wild mountaineers hereditarily addicted to plunder. On the occasion of my first visit in January and February, 1833, my stay was not longer than 15 days; during this period, however, I was enabled to ascertain with a considerable degree of correctness the extent to which the practice was carried on in all the principal villages of the Puryar Mínas. The following statement contains the result of my inquiries in Jahazpur of Udaipur, and Tonkra of Bundí. MEWAR. Jahazpur Parganna. I have frequently been informed by the present Nawab and minister of Bhopal, that Bábá Kán Singh Risáldár, a Sikh chief of rank and influence, and also Guru of the Sikhs in Bhopal, has destroyed all his daughters; that he has been induced to do this not from poverty, but from pride, disdaining to give in marriage his daughters to any man of his tribe, not of equal estimation with himself. |