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 tection which would have been afforded to her had she been married under the new law. Polygamy was an immemorial custom in the Kuch Behar family, and it was argued, with some show of reason, that there would be no guarantee that the Maharajah might not at some future time choose to follow the fashion of his race.

It would be neither useful nor interesting to follow into further detail the controversy on this subject, or the mutual recriminations of the two factions. Suffice it to say that the match was finally decided upon, and in March 1878 Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, accompanied by his brother and other members of his family, escorted his daughter to Kuch Behar, where the marriage was celebrated according to Hindu rites. A protest had indeed been entered by the bride's friends against the introduction of idolatrous practices, but in spite of it some of the figures and other objects usually worshipped on such occasions were placed in the courtyard where the ceremony took place, and the "Homa," or fire sacrifice, was performed in the presence of the bridegroom after the bride had withdrawn to her own apartments.

This latter ceremony, which forms an important feature at orthodox Hindu weddings, is as follows. The bride and bridegroom sit side by side before an altar on which a fire is kindled, and "ghee," or