Page:Sketches of some distinguished Indian women.djvu/66

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SOME DISTINGUISHED INDIAN WOMEN.

if they are too poor to buy gold ones they content themselves with silver ones, or even with imitation things made of gilt wire and glass, while in some parts of the country bangles of glass or brass are always worn by women of the lower classes. The ornaments of a high-caste and wealthy lady are very numerous and often of great beauty, both in design and workmanship; bangles and anklets, head ornaments and armlets, nose-rings and ear-rings, as well as rings for the fingers and toes, are indispensable, and their value, when made of pure gold and set with stones, is often prodigious. Those given by a man to his daughter on her marriage form, in fact, the principal part of her dowry.

After their marriage the young couple' moved to Cutch, where Gopal had been appointed postmaster. In her new home Anandibai occupied herself in her household duties, as well as continuing her studies under her husband's superintendence, but she greatly missed the affection and sympathy of her own family, especially as at Cutch there seems to have been no one with whom she could make friends, or from whom she could look for sympathy and help. The town and district of Cutch had long had a bad name as one of the most backward and uncivilized places in British territories, and the inhabitants were for the most part a low, ignorant set of people. Female infanticide was practised to