Page:Sketches of some distinguished Indian women.djvu/39

Rh horses, surrounded with a brilliant following; the poorer pilgrims come in "ekkas," little two-wheeled carriages, and bullock carts, while others, who cannot afford a conveyance, tramp wearily along in the dust. Men, women, and children of all ages take part in these pilgrimages and meet with a common purpose, for all alike, rich and poor, young and old, healthy and diseased, come to bathe in the purifying waters, or to offer their prayers on a spot whence they believe they gain immediate access to the gods.

Many of the pilgrims travel hundreds of miles to the appointed spot, and meet there others who have done the same; and the occasion is often taken advantage of by a Hindu father, to arrange that which is ever uppermost in his thoughts, namely, the marriage of his daughters. Although it is nowhere so stated in the Hindu Scriptures, it is a popular belief that a woman cannot obtain salvation unless she has been married. It is considered a sin and a shame for a father to have marriageable daughters on his hands, and it is therefore hardly to be wondered at that parents are not very difficult to please in the matter of suitors, and jump eagerly at any opportunity of disposing of their daughters.

Once upon a time, that is, about fifty years ago, a Hindu father set out upon one of these pilgrimages, taking with him his wife and his two little girls, aged respectively seven and nine. In the course of their