Women Under Polygamy/Chapter 11
(Upload an image to replace this placeholder.)
Photo Underwood
BURMESE LADIES AT A GARDEN PARTY.
CHAPTER XI
MARRIAGE IN BURMA
Almost all of the writers upon Burma describe with enthusiasm the spell and the glamour of this beautiful country. We hear from visitors glowing reports of the happiness of the people, the delightful home life, and the attractive and amiable qualities of Burmese women.
Burma, with its flourishing capital Rangoon, is the largest province of India, and one of the most prosperous. The increasing population points to the comfort of the people and the vigour of the Indo-Chinese stock from which they descend. Quite ninety per cent of the natives are Buddhists. The system of education is better than that of most other parts of India, and, in the Western sense, the people are more progressive.
Polygamy is permitted in Burma; but the practice is not common, being confined almost entirely to a few upper-class families. Nevertheless, the tradition remains, and it has its influence upon the existing relations of the sexes. Though King Theebaw had only one wife, he lived in patriarchal grandeur, surrounded by a host of concubines and slaves.
There is no part of the East where marriage is as free as in Burma. Absolute sex-equality is said by some writers to exist here; and the liberty enjoyed by women so greatly exceeds all the privileges of their Hindu and Mohammedan sisters, that there is scarcely any comparison.
One of the most interesting phenomenon of the social life of Burma is the co-existence of a survival of mother-right and freedom for women in a community where polygamy is allowed and sometimes practised. Women not only dominate in the family, but they are entrusted with the most important business negotiations. In fact, the women of Burma are better merchants and traders than the men.[1]
Marriage among the Burmese is later than among the natives of most other parts of India, except in the region of the Parsees. In Burma girls do not marry till they are about seventeen, and from that age till twenty is the usual period for entering into wedlock. The offices of a priest are usually dispensed with by the couple, who undergo a simple ceremony, and eat rice together.[2]
The use of rice in marriage symbolism is common in many parts of the East. Rice, the staple diet of millions, is the most nourishing and plentiful of all the cereals, and it stands for an emblem of increase. Thus, the throwing of rice at bride and bridegroom in England is a survival of a ceremony of invocation to the gods to bless the pair with fertility. Confetti is now often substituted for rice in the towns, but the grain is still used in country districts of the United Kingdom.
There is no problem of celibacy amongst the Burmese. A man or a woman is considered quite incomplete until married. And as marriage is made very easy, and divorce no less facile, there is no reason why men and women should remain single. The abundant soil and the general prosperity of the country also favour marriage at an early age.
Divorce, though easily arranged, is as rare here as in other parts of the Indian Empire. Family life is usually very happy. There appears to be little marital incompatibility. Women are free within the home, and indeed, they usually rule in the domestic circle. Their influence in political and social affairs is not so palpable, but in business matters they often take the lead.
In a novel, entitled "A Marriage in Burmah," Mrs. M. Chan Toon gives an avowed faithful account of the life of an English girl married to a Burmese husband. As husband and wife were of different race, and held very dissimilar views, the novel cannot be taken as a fair presentment of ordinary monogamous marriage in Burma. The hero is depicted as selfish and intemperate. Towards the end of the story, he deplores that he has not had a son by a native woman, and he suggests to his English wife that she should select a Burmese girl to bear him an heir. The wife indignantly refuses, and announces that she wishes to have a son by a man of her own race. At this proposal, the husband is equally affronted.
Marriage between the Burmese, whether within or without the harem, rarely ends in the tragic fashion described by Mrs. Chan Toon in her novel. It would be difficult to point to any country where married life is as peaceful and idyllic as in Burma.
The women are usually slight and small in frame, and very graceful. Their eyes are dark and lustrous. In their long black hair they wear flowers. They love dancing and music, and are fond of festive gatherings in the open air.[3]
Everyone, including the children, smokes in Burma, and girls may be seen smoking big, strong cheroots, nearly a foot in length.
Regarding the constant use of tobacco, I may note here that some medical writers have asserted that smoking tends to induce sterility in both sexes. As the population of Burma is steadily increasing, in spite of incessant cigar-smoking by both men and women, to say nothing of young children, it seems necessary to examine more closely the evidence that tobacco produces infecundity; Professor Iwan Bloch asserts that it is not unusual in men addicted to smoking. It may be that the people of the Eastern countries resist the poison of nicotine more readily than those of the West. At any rate, the Oriental races that indulge in tobacco, and often immoderately, are by no means distinguished for a lack of virility and fecundity.
Coffee is also alleged to possess the same quality. Yet in Turkey, Egypt and among many Eastern peoples, strong black coffee is habitually consumed in large quantities.
The first sign of the change from childhood to adolescence in girls is made the occasion for a joyous ceremony. A family party is given by the parents, to which relatives and friends are invited. The girl is decked in her finest tamein, or robe, and she receives the congratulations of everyone present. A professional ear-borer is in attendance, who pierces a hole in the maiden's ears, so that she may wear from henceforth the large ear-rings that announce her attainment to womanhood.[4]
Boys in Burma, upon reaching puberty, undergo a ceremony of tattooing the legs with numbers of figures and artistic devices. There are various theories in explanation of the high position of women among the Burmese. Mr. Ferrass, who has given study to this question, remarks, in a letter to C. Gasquoine Hartley[5]:—
"There is evidence to show that at one time Burma was as densely populated as other fertile lands. A sort of War of the Roses prevailed there during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, which reduced the male element enormously. The women had to take up all the agriculture and manufactures. They learned to become independent, and, having learned it, stuck to it. The character must have much to say to it, for there are African tribes in which the women are driven to do all the work, and are in consequence not more independent, but less so than elsewhere. The Burman woman gives one the idea of being less feminine than the Chinese woman, on the one hand, and the Indian on the other. But which is here cause and which is effect? It is a very difficult problem. Certain it is that the women have now attained such a level of intelligence, and above all, of character, that they can hold their own in virtue of it. Whether they have those qualities by help of their opportunities, or the possession of the qualities made the opportunity, or both, it is hard, or impossible, to say."
"The Soul of a People," by H. Fielding, is a highly appreciative tribute to the fine qualities of the Burmese. There are three interesting chapters on "Women," in which the author's enthusiasm is infectious. The glow of the Burmese maidens' eyes is in these pages, and we get delightful glimpses of their home-life.
Mr. Fielding tells us that the women of Burma have the "hot love and daring of a man," and that they are "impulsive and full of passion." Sometimes they make the first advances in love. Passion is no mere passing incident in their lives. They live for love; it fills their whole emotion. At the same time, they all have work to do, and they are very rarely idle, like so many of the Mohammedan women. They perform men's labour in the fields and in carrying loads. Men in Burma sew and embroider. The women say that the men can do women's work better than a woman.
So hearty and wholesome is the love of life among these joyous optimists that it is difficult to persuade women to enter the religious houses. The Burmese girl does not wish to be a nun; she wants to taste all the pleasures of a healthy, normal life. She loves men, and wishes to bear children. Here is her sphere—in family love, the home, and domestic employments. The men are more inclined to pietism, and they often elect to live as monks. There are more monasteries than nunneries in the country.
Burmese women have the "rights" that they demand, and they have not been forced to fight for them. Buddhism has little or nothing to say for the position and the treatment of women. It is taken for granted that men are men, and women are women, and that the sexes want one another with an equal ardour. Sex equality comes simply and naturally among these cheerful, rational people.
There are very few divorces, for domestic concord is almost universal. Occasionally, there are tragedies, in spite of the prevailing felicity. Sometimes a girl commits suicide through unrequited affection, or through jealousy. Where love is accepted seriously we may expect to encounter the violent manifestations of passion.
Marriage is the destiny of every Burmese girl. But, as Mr. Fielding points out, the union of a pair of lovers is not a matter about which friends and neighbours are curious, as in the Western races. Burmese betrothed couples choose privacy rather than publicity, and weddings are very quiet affairs. There is no public show, such as we love in England. The bride and bridegroom enter into the civil contract, with but little ceremonial. Parade at such a time as this seems to them indecorous.
These fascinating people seem to me a race of artists. They esteem beauty, savour joy of life, and value love beyond riches. They hold revels and dances in the sunlight and open air. They toil industriously, but they play heartily and often. Have they not solved the secret of how to live?
The prosperity and the tranquillity of the Burmans are founded on sane social custom. I am inclined to attribute most of their well-being to the following excellent institutions and conventions:—
Freedom of selection, on the part of women, as well as men, in marriage.
The same standard of morality for both sexes.
Sharing of occupations and trades by men and women. There are very few idle women, as among the Western people, and in most parts of the East where polygamy prevails.
Fairly free social intercourse between the sexes.
Recognition of the supremacy of mothers in the home.
Facility of divorce.
Due estimation of the importance of the sex-passion as a social factor, and an absence of prudery.
The philosophic nature of the popular creed and its comparative latitudinarianism.
Rarity of harem isolation for women.
Early marriage with almost entire absence of celibacy.
No child marriage.
The high intelligence of women.
Legal equality for women.
- ↑ "Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies," Gwendolen Trench Gascoigne.
- ↑ Gwendolen Trench Gascoigne, Op. Cit.
- ↑ Mr. Fielding, in "The Soul of a People," quotes these lines from a Burmese love-song:—"Her cheek is more beautiful than the dawn, her eyes are deeper than river pools; when she loosens her hair upon her shoulders, it is as night coming over the hills."
- ↑ Op. Cit. by Miss Gascoigne.
- ↑ Mrs. Walter M. Gallichan, Author of "The Truth About Woman," "The Position of Woman in Primitive Society," etc.