Chapter 3
A MARRIAGE IS ARRANGED

BEFORE describing my stay in the Law College, I would go back a little to make mention of the various ceremonies which my father and mother performed for their only son and hopeful. Before the earthquake of 1905 my father performed my Chhatian (ear-boring
ceremony) at Machhi Bhawan—eight miles from my village— where there is a spring full of fish and the temple of a goddess. We left home in the evening, men, women and children marching
like prilgrims, singing songs all the way. We slept the night in the open, in a mango grove.

The next morning very much to my dislike, my head was shaved. My ears were pierced by a prick of the gold earrings that had been prepared for the occasion and had pearls in them. It was a painful process but soon my new attractive clothes and sweets took away the feeling of pain. Thirty-two goats were offered to the goddess, the head of each being severed by one stroke of the sword by a Rajput servant of my father. A grand feast was held to celebrate
the occasion. The whole of the town of Nurpur and all friends of father from Dharamsala and all our relations attended this feast. Separate arrangements were made for the Muslim invitees on the occasion under the supervision of two friends of my father, Abad Bhat of
Nurpur and Sheikh Amir Ali. My grandmother presided over the whole show. Her authority over her sons and relations was supreme.
She was highly respected and implicitly obeyed by everybody in the village and the neighbourhood. My father, though now a
leading lawyer, obeyed her like a child.

The next ceremony was the sacred thread ceremony. This was performed at our Bhadwar house. I was then in my B.A. A number of learned Pandits sat officiating at it in all solemnity. As a Brahmchari (novice) I was dressed in leopard skin and yellow loin cloth,
and was given a stick to protect me and a mat to squat and sleep on.


to be continued......

(this account is handled by Har-Anand Publications)