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Fractional quantities are frequently expressed in India by the fractional parts of a rupee, which consists of 16 annas. Thus, an 8-anna estate is half the estate; 3 annas is $3⁄16$, and so on. Similarly, a farmer may say he expects to get only a 12-anna crop—that is, a quarter less than a full crop. If he has paid his rent in full, he will call it a 16-anna rent; if he only cultivates a fourth of his land, it is a 4-anna cultivation.

To stretch out the hand to seize the moon is a common proverbial saying, denoting the vain attempt to do an impossibility, or to hope for something unattainable or hard to get.

The hardships imposed on Hindu widows are most deplorable, and can be but faintly realised out of India. Intense misery and loneliness, domestic drudgery and reproach, and a total renunciation of all earthly enjoyments, and of the simplest luxuries in food and clothing, are all summed up in the word widowhood. Rh