Page:Advice to the Indian Aristocracy.djvu/177

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139

other valuables as costly as those in the possession of your wife. There is a very good Hindu saying as to the kind of ladies to be respected. The following ladies have to be respected:—(1) an elder sister; (2) an elderbrother's wife; (3) a wife's mother; (4) the sisters of parents; (3) the wives of paternal and maternal uncles; (6) the king's or master's wife; (7) and the wife of a priest or a teacher.

The general rule is that one should greet as superiors all his elder relatives, male or female. But your position requires that you should exceed the requirements of the general rule. There may be various special customs in use among different classes and castes. As I am unacquainted with these, I give the custom observed in my own house. All the elders that are born in my family, and all the female elders that are married into my family are to be saluted.