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THE STORY OF AN INDIAN PKINCESS. 249
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
* The Press Has Teemed Of Late Years Wit...
apparel , wearing only , according to the usage of ordinary Hindoo widowsperfectly white garmentsunadorned by embroidery or
even so , much as a variegated border , ; while a small necklace was her sole article of jewellery .
Alia ' s learning was but limited , though she could at least read and understand the sacred books of her religionand was
accustomed diligently to study them ; but reading and , arithmetic , needlework and the management of the house , constituted ,
at least at that time , the whole range of a Mahratta princess ' s education , and in this respect Alia had had no advantages
beyond her compeers . It was but in scanty measure therefore that intellectual pleasures were at her command ; while lighter
diversions , from which she always held aloof , had probably but little charm for a nature like herseven had her religious feelings
allowed her to take part in them ; but , it is pleasant to learn that notwithstanding this abstinence from recreation , neither the
sorrows of her temporal lot , nor the superstitions which darkened her spiritual creed , could cloud that serene cheerfulness which is
the natural reward of well-doing , and for which she was always eminently remarkable . Seldom did she indulge in anger ; but
whenever it did happen that her indignation was justly aroused , her countenance , according to _BaramuTs report , was terrible to
behold , and her servants trembled to approach her—a proof that her virtue was duenot to her being without passionsbut to the
control under which , they were kept . Free , too , even , from those smaller weaknesses which have so often disfigured characters
otherwise great , she had so little relish for flattery that when a Brahmin once wrote a panegyric upon hershe heard it read
with atiencethenwith the remark that she , was a weaksinful woman p and no ; t deser , ving such fine encomiumsdirected it , to be
thrown into the Nerbudda , and took no further , notice of the author .
The wealth which this princess lavished on lazy and ignorant fanatics , and in support of senseless superstitions , might seem to
have been so misapplied as to constitute almost a blot on her characterbut in her age and country not only could piety scarcel
have been , otherwise manifested , but even policy equally justified y such a course . A doubt of her wisdom , founded on her profusion
in this respect , having been once expressed to an intelligent Brahminhe replied by asking whether Alia Bhyeby spending
double the , money on an army which she did in charity , and " good works" ( a term applied , of cours © , to all that was done for
Brahminism ) , could have preserved her country above thirty years in a state of profound peace , while at the same time she made her
subjects happy and herself adored ? " No person / ' said he , " doubts the sincerity of her piety ; but if she had merely possessed worldly
wisdom she could have devised no means so admirably calculated
VOIi . XI . T
The Story Of An Indian Pkincess. 249
THE STORY OF AN INDIAN PKINCESS . 249
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1863, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061863/page/33/
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