The Awakening of Asian Womanhood - Forgotten Books

THE AWAKEN ING

OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

MARGARET E . COUS INS , B . MUS .

GANESH CO MADRAS

1922

PUB ! ISHERS’

NOTE

THE makers of h istory have no time to be

writers of it—til l afterwards . The author of

this book is so busily engaged in one depart

ment of history-making in India that it h as

taken the publishers two years to get the

materials for it from her . Her duties as Joint

Secretary of the Women’

s Indian Association

call her to places as far apart as Karach i and

Mandalay in the disinterested and loving

service of her sisters to which she has devoted

her life. A t the same time she has had to

fulfil over extended periods the duties of Editor

pro tem of Stri Dharma,”the monthly organ

of The Women’

s Indian A ssociation and the

non -sectarian feminist movement in India .

The contents of th is book have, therefore,come into existence , not as cold reminiscent

history, but as living and immediate despatches

in the form of newspaper and magazine articles

written during the campaign in India for the

bringing of the d irect power of women into all

departments of public life . This campaign

began with the demand for the leg islative

franchise by the Al l-India Women ’s Deputation

to the Viceroy and the Secretary of State in

19 1 7, and h as been amazingly, though not yet

completely, successful . Behind this demand

for the vote as a symbol of free citizenship lay

the principle of freedom for women to vote or

not to vote, to co-operate or to non -co-operate,

as they chose . This is the centre-point of all

Mrs . Cousins’

self -renouncing work . I t applies

to all purely national movements , and yet, as

work for woman as woman , knows no frontiers .

For this reason , Mrs. Cousins has laboured for

the sacred cause of purifying the world through

the free power of womanhood with equal zeal

in Ireland and England ( in both of which

places she suffered imprisonment for the

cause) , in India and in Burma .

I t is plain , however , from this book , that

Indian womanhood has won a special place in

the author’

s heart ; and those who have

observed Mrs . Cousins moving among her

Indian sisters have expressed their admiration

for her power of identifying herg elf with

their lives even despite linguistic d iff iculties ,

and of unobtrusively inspiring them to

unwonted activities . Her reward is the

warm affection of Ind ian women of all ranks

all over the country, who have responded to

her lofty sincerity and to her enthusiastic

practical idealism which steps without incon

gruity from argument, criticism or persuasion

on the public platform to the floor on which

she teaches arts and crafts (which sh e learned

for the purpose ) to Indian girls and women

as a means of creative expression and social

amenity .

This book , the publishers believe, will be

treasured by many the world over not only

for its record of one phase of the complex

struggle for India’

s freedom,but for its

declaration of universal and everlasting

principles concerning womanhood,for its illu

m inating character-analysis of Asian women

in general and its intimate appreciation in

particular of three of India’

s most notable

women of today.

The chapters of this book have appeared

as articles in “ The Times of India,

” “ New

India ,” “

Stri Dharma ,” “ Tomorrow

,and

Britain and India Where necessary,permission has been obtained for theirinclusion ,

for which the publishers express their thanks .

CONTENTS

PAGE

T h e Awakening of Asian Wom anhood 1

Indian Womanh ood A Nationa l Asse t 17

Indian Marriage—Actual and Idea l 27

Indian Wom en and Freedom 50

T he Southborough Franchise Comm ittee ’s Report 61

Suffrage Debates—A Study in Con trasts 73

Indian Wom anhood Today 84

Shrima ti Ram aba i Ranade 107

Shrima ti Sarojin i Na idu 1 16

Shrim a ti Aba la Bose 127

Burm ese M in ia ture s 136

Characteristics of Asian Wom anhood 145

CHAPTER I

THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN

WOMANHOOD

NOTW ITH STAND ING the immense exten t of

the continent of Asia , and the great number

and variety of the races inhabit ing it , it is very

remarkable how, from t ime to time , it responds

as one entity to a single well-def ined current

of thought . H istory shows u s how a wave of

relig ious revival has swept over it from end

to end at one time , a wave of artistic expres

sion at another time , of political weakness a t

st ill another ; and a t the present time there is

rising in the hearts of Asian womanhood a

mighty wave o f desire for freedom .

From Palestine to Japan it d isplays itsel f.

I t whispers its presence amongst the

Moslem women ; i t shouts o f itself a long the

s treets o f Canton ; and it wins its victory in

Sou th India . Everywhere there is a shaking

2 THE AWAKEN ING or AS IAN WOMANHOOD

o ff o f shackles - and everywhere it is from

with in that the effort comes to get rid o f them .

I t is n o t Westerners wh o are com ing along

and , from outside , strik ing o ff fetters . No !

the women of Asia are , o f their own init iat ive ,and through their own growing surge of

desire for self-expression,pressing against

their barriers and break ing them down .

People hard ly realise h ow much activity is

going on in these direction s . The feeling

shows itself in d ifferent ways in different

countries . In one place women rebel against

veils ; in another country, or part o f a country ,they begin to make use of umbrel las and

sandals ; in another they rebel against the

bind ing of the feet ; in others they ask for

e ducational facilities or for polit ical recognition .

Intercommun ication between the various

countries of Asia i s comparatively small .

The Indian woman , as a rule , knows muchmore about the women of Brita in or America ,thousand s o f miles away from her, than o f

the Ch inese women who are her next-door

n eighbours . Yet a fa ir amount o f information

has been gleaned from various sources by the

Women ’ s Ind ian Association about the details

THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD 3

o f the growing feminist movement in Asia,

and progress ive men and women everywhere

will no doub t be glad to have i t brought to

the ir notice in a collected form .

Rev iewing broadly the peoples wh ich

comprise Asian womanhood , the ch ief are

the Muhammadan , the Jewish , the Indian ,the Burmese , the Chinese , and the Japanese .

Amongst the Muhammadan women , whether

of Asia M inor , Arab ia , Persia , Turkistan ,or India , the stirrings o f a new life are

discernible,the movement for removing

veils being so strong in Teheran among the

Persian women tha t a deputation of well

known women waited some time ago on their

Prime M inister to request h im to help them in

their attempts at emancipation . The Arme

nian women have volunteered to fill adm in is

trativ e posts in order to release the ir men for

act ive military service in an army which the

Armen ians have mobilised to oppose the

Turks . The Republic of Armenia has been

the first to appo int a woman as a Con sul,

having constituted an Armen ian widow i ts

Consul to the Empire of Japan . So advanced is

education for women and girls in Afghanistan

4 THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

that a Women’

s University for the study

o f medicine has been built in Kabul , and has

f ive hundred women students in attendance .

The Turkish women have been forced out of

their very strict pum’a h by the rigours and

hardships of war , and the poor things are now

in a very deplorable state , preliminary doubt

less to a freer l ife in th e future .

Twentyfive women representat ives o f dif

feren t countries in the N ear and M iddle East

a t tended a World Conference of Communist

Women at Moscow in 1921 . The presence of

these Asian women , who had surmounted

alm ost incredible difficulties in journeying

thither, created a very profound impression .

One of them , T ursum Baya , a member of the

Executive Committee of the Sov iet Republic of

Turkistan , replied to greetings on their behalf

as follows I greet the International

Women’

s Conference from the women of

Turkistan . The struggle of the Russian pro

le taria t has Opened the doors to the women of

the East. We who have been slaves o f sl aves

are now entering a l ife of freedom . We join

hands with you in a common cause .

”The

Conference made a great impression in Europe .

THE AWAKEN ING or AS IAN WOMANHOOD 5

The women in Palestine have started a

Jewish Women’

s Equal Rights Association to

combat the poss ibility o f women being subjected

to the authority of the Rabb inical Courts

courts which apparently scarcely recognise that

a woman has a separa te e x istence at all .

According to the orthodox Jewish teaching , a

woman cannot be a wi tness , or the guard ian

of her children , nor can sh e inherit , orown her

own earnings . She remains all her life under

the tutelage o f her fa ther , husband or brother .

The Jewish women have sent forward a

memorandum to the Government prayin g that

they may not have to come under the jurisdic

t ion of these courts a s they cannot submit to

such a degradation .

Turning then to Ind ia , one finds that ,though the percentage of education is appal

ling ly low, the tradition o f Ind ian law leaves

women very free to take any position for

which they Show themselves capable . No

Indian politica l organisations were at any

time closed to women . Women have at

every stage of Indian history taken h igh

positions in their country’

s public service .

Springing from their religiou s philosophy


there is fundamentally a belief in sex equality ,and th is shows itself when critical periods

demand it . Thi s h a s been clearly shown

during the movement of the past ten years for

self-government . Women have had their

share in all the local Con ferences and in the

National Congress . No one who was present

can easily forget the sight of the platform at the

Calcut ta Congress of 1 9 1 7 when three women

leaders , Mrs . Annie Besant , President of the

Congress , Mrs . Saro l i n i Naidu , representative

of the H indu women,and Bibi Amman ,

mother of the A li brothers and representative

of the Muslim women,sat side by side

,

peeresses of such men-leaders [also present] as

T ilak , Gandh i and Tagore, and receiving equal

honour with them .

During all this time , the men o f the Indian

nation demanded that whatever rights of

self-government were granted to them should

be applicable to wom en also,and this b ig

human principle has been turned into effect by

them in the local Councils over which they

have ga ined control . In the Bombay and

Madras Presidenc ies women have the Munici

pal and Local Board s vote,and they exercise

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8 THE AWAKEN ING or A SIAN WOMANHOOD

compulsory and h as extended its period of

years, the future of Ind ia w i ll be rosy indeed .

An incident will il lustrate the Sp irit of the

new life in women . When a group o f

Muhammadan women went recen tly to vote

at a South Indian Munic ipal election , though

a special pol ling boo th had been arranged for

women with a woman registrar o f votes ,these women would no t be content until the

male superintendent of the polling station

came and personally guaranteed that their

votes were legitima te and wou ld be effective

for their candidate

The Non-co-operation movement is playing

a large part in the awakening o f Indian women .

The wives o f imprisoned leaders become

themselves leaders and public speakers ,Presidents of Conferences , organisers of

meetings , etc . Large numbers of women are

collectors for the funds of the movement ,and everywhere women encourage in a ll ways

its policy o f me manu facture) . P)It is qu ite probab on e day the women

of Ind ia will lead the women o f the East in

al l publ ic movements , as they are the f irs t to

get their hands on the helm of government .

THE AWAKEN ING or AS IAN WOMANHOOD 9

The Burmese women are possibly the

freest women in the East,taken all round .

They ha ve the business of the country almost

entirely in their own hands,and the standard

o f female education is also very high amongst

them . They are fettered by neither caste

system, pa ra/( 1 h nor early marriage . The

Burmese Leg islative Counc i l unanimously

requested the British Parliamen t to include

woman franchise in its Bill for Reformed

Burmese Government .

In China women are dec idedly awake .

The Far Eastern press reported that on M arch

30,1 92 1

, over a thousand militant suffragettes

held a meeting in Canton to discuss plans for

securing equality'

of the sexes . The meeting

was of the m ost enthusiastic character . The

hall was decorated with scrolls inscribed

Equality of the sexes ! G ive us the vote '

Woman Suffrage for China From th is

meeting a parade o f over 700 women marched

through the streets to the accompaniment of

songs,and

,invading the Canton Provincial

Assembly, wh ich wa s d iscuss ing a bill for the

election of d istrict magistra tes , demanded the

addition o f a clause granting women the right


to vote . The Assembly was at once thrown

into d isorder, and the women underwent some

rough treatment . A fter the uproar had

subsided , the women had an audience with

the Prime M inister, and later with the chief

of the M il itary Government , both of whom

promised to help them to attain their obj ect .

Later news informs us that the motion failed

to gain a maj ority when it was subsequently

introduced into the Assembly . We may

therefore expect to hear more of the agitat ion

of these eager,hard-work ing and practical

women . An other notable feature of Chinese

progress is the fact that there. are hundreds of

Chinese women doctors , Chris tian converts

who have taken out their d iplomas in America,

a country to which a large proportion of the

intelligent girls o f Ch ina go for their

education .

Here are the words o f a Korean woman

who is believed to be the f irst ever to have

entered public affairs : For.

the past four

thousand years ,”

She said,

“ the women of

Korea have been forced to stay at home and

look after the children . Now the broad curren t

of p rogressive ideas Sweeping the world ha s

THE AWAKEN ING or ASIAN WOMANHOOD 1 1

reached into the most secluded corner of our

land , and the time has come for the women of

Korea to awaken and to p lay the ir part in th e

general social welfare .

”

Events have marched so quickly in th e

Land of the Rising Sun that one is not sur

prised to read of the large number of Japanese

women who are tram conductors , typ ists ,

detectives , clerks, teachers , and pub lic enter

ta in ers there . But while n inety per cent o f th e

g irls got a good education ,women had no

political rights . They were only allowed to

l isten to the proceed ings in the D iet,and quite

a large number did so . They were no t allowed

to form any kind of pol itical association or

to become members of any men ’s politica l

society . A strong agitat ion arose recently , led

by the University women,aga inst these unjust

and arbitrary limitations . A largely Signed

petition was presented to the D iet in 192 1 and

with much lobbying of the Members resul ted

in the introduction of a Bill into the lower

House o f Representatives for th e removal of

these prohibitions . T o the del ight o f all , th i s

passed w ith a large majority . Hopes ran h igh ,only, alas to be dashed to the ground when th e

1 2 THE AWAKENING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

B il l wen t for ra t if icat ion to the House o f Peers .

An influential member , Baron Fujim aru , took

a reactionary view o f the mat ter and carried

the Peers with him in h is contention that

such a Bill would jeopardise the possibility o f

t he Japanese women being good wives and

mothers”

. The Bill failed to get a majority ,a nd the women suffered a great d isappoint

ment . But the reverse made them more deter

mined than ever to win their freedom ,and

t hey organised such a vigorous campaign of

protest and of education of the Peers that a year

l ater [ 1922] they won the right to form politica l

societies and to attend polit ical meetings .

Japan is the only Asian country where the

women are showing a strong international

spirit . They have started a branch of the

International Women’

s League for Freedom

and Peace . They are al so showing specia l

i nterest in all efforts toward s disarmament .

Another important side o f their emancipation

i s the organisin g of the mil lion -odd women

factory workers into Women’

s Trades Unions .

I n th is they are far ahead of any Eastern country .

Final ly, the ch ief Buddhist sect h as agreed

t o remove all sex disabilities from women

THE AWAKENING or AS IAN WOMANHOOD 13

Buddhist priests,and to allow them the right to

participate in all detail s o f temple adm inistra

tion .

In order to measure adequately the sign ifi

cance o f the various attempts a t revol t that are

tak ing place throughout the womanhood o f

As ia , on e must remember how differen t h a s

been and still is the point of V iew in the

East regard ing womanhood from that in the

West . Throughout hundreds of centuries th e

Eastern woman has fitted into the Eastern

scheme o f th ings , not as the companion , chum ,

partner, co-equal of man ; not as the self

chosen , to be wooed and won by the lover ;not as the independent soul working ou t her

own salvation , but as the passive , secondary ,

remote , dependent , usually ignorant but

necessary female , whose purpose in l ife wa s

fulfilled only through her abil ity to produce

sons—and daughters as a concession,T he

Eastern view gives little or no value to a

woman a s an ind ividual soul ; therefore it is

tha t the v oung widow is considered such a

waste product and is so desp ised . But to th e

woman a s mother , unlimited honour is accorded

in theory, and often , though no t always,in

1 4 T H E AWAK EN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

practice . As marriage is th e gateway to

freedom for French women,and econom ic

independence for American,so is motherhood

for a l l Eastern women . The roots of th is

honour o f the mother-woman are deeply

imbedded in the relig ions of Asia , a ll o f wh ich

preach a doctrine of spiritual entail (through

a son] more stringent and b ind ing than

a ny merely material entail of land or title .

I t is along the line of retention of honour for

t he woman as mother or prospective mother,t hen

,that a ll the gropings after greater

freedom are expressing themselves in Asia .

I f the manhood of the race is being educated ,while the womanhood is left in ignorance

,

then , for the sake of the future respect of the

s ons for their mothers , the girls who wil l be

these mothers must get education . For the

sake of her honour as mother , a legal right to

a proport ion of her husband’

s property must

be granted to the widow-wife . For the

protection o f her sons, the mothers of another

Asian nation , the Japanese , are ag itating that

they may be g iven the right of forming

a ssociations , one to be for the promotion of

internat ional peace .

1 6 THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

background to every effort for progress that is

being made by women right across A sia . That

the same movement for emancipation i s

d isplay ing itself from end to end of the

cont inent without much impact from theWest ,

is a proof that Asia is one by links of religion ,fundamental custom , temperament , at titude to

life,and

,above all , by its ideal of women .

CHAPTER I I

INDIAN WOMANHOOD ;

A NATIONAL ASSET

NO movement for n at ional , moral , or social

progress can atta in its true and maximum

success if i t stud ies the wel l-being and works

through the agency of one sex only or

primarily . Usually however the welfare of

women is considered of such secondary

importance that it ' i s e ither overlooked,or left

to the future for enquiry, or taken for grantedas being so satisfactory a s to need no improve

ment . Yet a l ittle though t enables one to

trace many of the problems need ing solution

back to the failure to recognise the vita l

importance to India of the service which can

be rendered to her only by her wom en

problems that h ave arisen because of cond ition s

in women’

s life which urgently n eed remedy

ing in order that the gifts brought by them,

2

1 6 THE AWAKEN ING or AS IAN WOMANHOOD

back ground to every effort for progress that is

bein g made by women right across A sia . That

the same movement for emancipation i s

display ing itself from end to end o f the

continent without much impact from theWest ,

is a proof that Asia is one by links of religion ,fundamental custom , temperament , at titude to

life,and

,above all , by its ideal of women .

CHAPTER I I

INDIAN WOMANHOOD !

A NATIONAL ASSET

NO movement for national , moral , or social

progress can atta in its true and maximum

success if it stud ies the well-being and works

through the agency of one sex only or

primarily . Usually however the welfare of

women is considered o f such secondary

importance that it ' i s either overlooked,or left

to the future for enquiry , or taken for grantedas being so sat isfactory a s to need no improve

ment . Yet a l ittle though t enables one to

trace many of the problems need ing solution

back to the failure to recognise the vita l

importance to Ind ia of the service which can

be rendered to her only by her wom en

problems that h ave arisen because o f condition s

in women’

s l ife which urgently need remedy

ing in order that the gifts brought by them,

2


in common wi th the women of al l nations,to

their motherland may be as valuable as nature

has intended them to be .

The Creator of the univ erse has entrusted

to women the supreme honour of creating

in detail and bringing into being every

human unit in the nation . Women are the

supreme nat ion-builders in the physical sense .

Their function of motherhood,with its

pains,responsibilities, recompenses , sorrows

and joys , i s an internation al bond of union

among women a ll the world over . The service

g iven by women to the nation in the bearing

o f children is invaluable , a service paid for by

their very lives in only too many cases,alas

since in India 232 more women than men die out

of every between the ages of 15 and 30.

Women constantly face th eir own battlef ield

without any pomp , glory , proper equipment or

due appreciation ; and in their person is the

struggle often fought to a finish between the

forces o f L ife and Death . They are as much

national heroes as any khaki-clad sold ier in

the European War . Part of this great service

of build ing bodies consists in the immense

work of feeding , clothing, and cleaning

I ND IAN WOMANHOOD : A NATIONAL ASSET 19

t he community . The work of the world

would go on badly, and the temper of th e

men suffer seriously , but for the amount

o f cooking a lone done by women ! Men

rarely real ise that women’

s work is a great

d eal more than sitt ing at home . Women

t hemselves rarely a ppreciate their own work

at i ts proper and proportiona te value . In

real ity Indian women are doing as grea t a

part of the work of the country in build ing up

t he human bodies as men are doing in build ing

up the National Constitution or in doing any

o ther work that belongs to them .

Marriage and motherhood are especially

important in India because there are in India

only 954 women to every men , un l ike

Great Brita in and Ireland where there are

two and a half millions more women than

men in the total population . In these circum

stances it i s most necessary that the conditions

o f marriage should be the best possible in

o rder that there may be a continuation o f

healthy children , of strong men and women .

Physiology,western experience, race statis

t ic s , all prove that motherhood imposed on

m ere children o f from 13 years to 1 7 years

20 THE AWAKEN ING or ASIAN WOMANHOOD»

of age is the source of weak progeny , and '

debilitated , prematurely aged and diseased

women . The Indian custom of child-marriage

is an anachronism an insul t to the moral self

control of Indian young men and young women

the ev i l legacy of an ancient fear, unbased at

the present time ; a menace to the physique of

the Indian Nation : and a continuous deprecia

tion of the service which her women are

wi ll ing to give in its best degree to their

country .

Not only does th is stupid custom o f child

motherhood strike at the physical well-beingo f the Nation but it also affects its mental

progress . One o f the conditions of good

motherhood is that the mothers, who so

largely mould the minds of their children,

should not be ignorant and reactionary .

I n olden times girls got educat ion with the

boys . Then came the t ime when this form of

education ceased , but the other systems

brought forward d id not include equal

opportun ities for girls . Indeed , for a time

these systems were blind to the existence of one

great hal f of the Nation . Then arose that

ignorance in I ndian womanhood which is the

22 THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOO

sufficiently realised that women naturallydemand and apprecia te beauty in their

surroundings . Their desire for lovely colours

and fine textures in their clothes , for prettyornaments and j ewelry, for f lower-decked hair

and perfumes , have a much deeper root than

vanity . I t is an evidence of their inherent

love of beauty , and it is an invaluable asset to »

the Nation since it draws forth the arts and

crafts that are the pride of India . I t is no

harm for girls to have a love of really beautiful

th ings . Far from being a weakness . it is a

strength , so long a s it is not used only for

selfish enjoyment,but cultivated w ith a view

also to adding to the beauty of their country .

Let them be encouraged to bring all the love

lin ess they desire into their homes,their

gardens, and their country . Thus will they

enr ich sordid human conditions . This same

inherent love of beauty shows itself in the

talent g irls have for learning poetry, for acting“

(when they get the chance) , for music . They

have natura l g ifts of imag ination and sensitive

emot ion which at present are largely wasted .

for want of the education which alone can

make permanent the fleeting inspirations

IND IAN WOMANHOOD : A NAT IONAL AS SET 23

of the artistic soul . Who does not remember

with‘pride such poetesses as M ira Bai ,

MuktwBai, Toru Dutt and SarOJ I n i NaiduThere is a wealth of art-life hidden and dor

mant in Indian women waiting for educationa l

opportunity to m anifest i tself . Oh , the tragedy

o f it that only one girl out o f every hundred ,or only th irteen out o f every thousand

,gets any

education in India ! The disgrace of this

state of affairs is appall ing, n ay ,

criminal,

when one th ink s how in the West 90 girls

out o f every 100 get a good , free and com

pulsory education lasting at leas t eight years .

In add ition there is the insult shown to the

fem inine side in the fact that for every 13 girls

educated there are 138 boys provided with

schooling,that is , over ten times as much

attention is paid to boys in India in one

of the most vital points of the Nation’

s life than

is paid to girls—a suicidal policy indeed ! for

the resul t is that of every 100 boys who wish

to march forward , 90 will be held back by the

illiteracy of their untaught g irl-wives .

I gnorance makes slaves . S lave-mothers

produce craven children . The ignorance and“

enslaved condit ions of la ter Roman motherhood


brought about the fal l of the great Roman

Empire . There is a Western saying , Educate

tha t you may be free Foremost , then ,among the race-regenerators and nat ion

builders will be those large-minded persons

who work for the education of women .

Not only do common-sense and common

science demonstrate the desirability,nay , th e

absolute necessity of greater educat ion and

greater freedom of body and soul for women ,but al l the Indian rel igions support th is ideal

of the equal comradeship of the masculine and

the fem inine . Time was in India when Sh e

could boast of her daughters as women o f

individual ity,power and capability, women

who were no mere shadows of men , but sturdy

human souls, equalling men , with full freedom

for self-expression . Ind ian women to-day

must follow their example,nerving themselves

to face and fight all forms of national ev il , such

as self ishness , intemperance , and immorality ;emulating their self-reliance ; th ink ing for

themselves, ashamed to be hung any longer

like mill-stones round the necks of the ir male

re lations,but, instead , offering their own free

services to their Motherland with their own

‘

JNDI AN WOMANHOOD : A NATIONAL ASSET 25

d istinctive views concerning the solution of

national problems . The Nation is but the

larger household . The motherhood-spirit is

wanted in its administration Men are not

m others and fathers combined ! Let them not

a rrogate all public service to themselves ,but leave opportunities for public service as

well as private service open to women . Now ,

when schemes of self-government are being

d eveloped,let no artificial man-made barriers

and restrictions be placed in the way of woman’

s‘free entry into the political , religious and

s ocia l l ife of the country . She may not be

ready yet for it, but the path must not be

in a state of blockade and of vested sex

p rejudice when she reaches the point at

which her spirit and influence of mother

hood overf lows from the private life to the

m othering of th e national family . God alone

m ay put bounds to the progress of the

human sou l whether it functions in a male or

female body . Let neither sex arrogate to

itself that D ivine righ t of restriction ,but let

f reedom and equa l opportun i ty, mu tua l ourour

a g amon t , respect and recog n i tion form the

f oundations of a new era of comradeship of


men and women I n the land sacred with

the memory of heroes and heroines . Then

only will India realise the value of the gifts

her women can bring to her a ltar, and the

impoverishment of her national life tha t is now

taking place owing to the false conditions under

which they have to live - conditions so bad

that in stinctively no man wants to be reborn

a woman ; and woman herself depreciates or is

ignorant of her own value , acquiesces in wrong

ideas of herself as temptress ,’

unclean and

secondary, instead of realising the honour and

responsibility that are given to her by th e

Creator .

I t will not always be SO, and those who

work for the day of her coming into her fullkingdom are amongst the blessed pioneers

of humanity .

CHAPTER I I I

IND IAN MARRIAGE—ACTUAL

AND IDEA !

MARRIAGE is primarily a rela t ionship -symbol i c

cal of the D ivine union between Soul and Spirit,

and its spiritual purpose is to be the means

by which the united man and woman may

realise D ivinity during earth life . Second

arily ,it is the uni versal method in organised

social li fe for regulating the natural attrae

t ion to each other of the sexes for com

pan ionsh ip , and because in the order of

nature their d ifferences in quality must be link

ed together in order to bring about a sense of

emotional sat isfaction and the best results in

human activity . Then the consummation of

th is desire for unity is made use of by the

Lord of the World for the cont inuance of the

species,though experience proves that there

may be equal happiness in a marriage relation

2 8 THE AWAKEN ING OF ASIAN WOMANHOOD

without physical progeny . In general practice

a mongst us, however, the order of its obj ects has

been reversed , and the first place in marriage'i s g iven to the importance of physical union

and of immediate reproduction ; the next (and

o nly dimly in the East) to the ideal companion

s h ip and equal co-Operation of the sexes in all

the affairs of l ife ; and in theory now , and

generally in practice,marriage

, a las, actually

becomes a stumbling -block to the attainment of

s piritual vision .

In no land does marriage en ter so continu

o usly into the daily thought of the people as in

I ndia . A t the very moment of the b irth o f a

c hild , the sigh of relief if it happens to be a

boy, the sigh o f disappointment if a girl , large

ly arises from the connection in thought with

t he necessary later marriage of the infant .

A s the child grows up , the parents are con

s tan tly haunted by the diff iculty of gathering

together the dowry for the daughter, or of seek

ing where a wealthy girl may be found

whose money will help to educate or set up

the son . The present customs in Indian

l ife regarding marriage on the money side

f orm one of the influences that are changing

3 0 THE AWAKEN ING OF A S IAN WOMANHOOD

not go to the length of Sneh a lata who commit

ted suicide rather than put her parents to

h ardship on her account . I noticed recently

a little girl of about twelve looking aged,

a nxious and depressed on returning to school

a f ter a summer hol iday . On enquiry, I found

that it was due to the disappointment of fruit

less searching all the two months for a

h usband for h er who would fulfil all the caste

and dowry qualifications .

Even when the husband is secured there is

t h e continual fear regarding the boy’

s health“ in the case of ch ildren married very young

,

!

lest the little girl he left a widow. (There are

widows under fifteen years of age in

Ind ia at present .) Then there is always the

remembrance of a p ossible hard , unsympa the

t ic and tyrannical mother- in -law who plays a

greater part than the future husband in the

girl ’s thoughts of marriage .

There is also that fata l arrest of all mental

d evelopment as the girl comes near her age,

”

a criminal custom only equalled by its climax,the snatching of the girl the moment she

attains puberty, and the forcing of motherhood

o n her—j ust as sh e turns fourteen After

IND IAN MARRIAGE—ACTUAL AND IDEAL 31

t h e age of twelve She is withdrawn from

school , and from then till the moment when

she atta ins puberty , she is confined and

g uarded like a prisoner , and j ealously watched“

for fear her chastity might have even the

b reath of scandal passed over it, and her

m arriage be in any way interfered with . She

is discouraged from learning anyth ing , except

perhaps cooking . I know cases in which even

a ccomplishments such as music are looked at

a skance . She is no t allowed to move outside

h er own street , hardly beyond her parents ’

house . Her companions are limited . She

g ets p ractica lly no physica l exercise . All but

th e dullest girls Suffer from reduced vitality,

d epressed spirits , and much suppressed

rebellion of the mind at a state of a ffa irs which

t hey instinctively feel to be wrong and um

n atural . A s in the sacred name o f Religion

p eople have been tortured and murdered , so in

the holy name of chastity and marriage,the

bodies,minds and souls o f a ll the young

Muhammadan and caste girls of India are

starved and dwarfed . Their bodies are

deprived o f air and motion and contact with

n ature ; their minds are denied knowledge of


books, or free human contact ; their sou l s are

wounded by the repression of a ll their im

pulses towards free self-expression,and by the

denial o f the W ide experiences of life without

which life becomes meaningless . The result

is that these young gir ls are in the worst

cond it ion possible when custom forces them

into the sexual embrace o f an almost unknown

husband , and in an agony of shyness,self

consciousness and fear the first-born , th e

continuer of the race , is conceived .

In a state of weakness and sickness, th e

l ittle freedom that the married girl has restored

to her during this first year of marriage is not

o f much avail, and the immature young system

g ives way under the strain o f child-bearing

and the prevailing unhygienic conditions of

ch ild-birth , and the litt le g irl-mother’

s life is

sacrif iced to the sel fish snatching at salvation

by the elders of th e family through the

product ion o f a male child a t the earliest

possible moment to perform the parents’

death

ceremonies ! Daily one hears of such deaths of

tender girl -wives who , in any other land ,would have had an unfettered girlhood in which

to consolidate all the sex-adjustments of their

I ND IAN MARR IAGE-r—ACTUAL AND IDEAL 33

bod ies,and to grow strong enough to become

happy and healthy creators o f a strong race of

ch ildren . Stat istics show that between th e ages

of 15 and 30 the number o f wom en. who die is

a s compared with m ale death s .

Even amongst those girls who are strong

enough to survive all th ese customs and

cont inue an ordinary married life,there is a

m inimum of companionship between the

husband and w ife probably until the girl is

over th irty , and by that time sh e h a s becom e

such a recognised inhabitant of th e kitch en

that sh e ha s l ost the power and the in terest

to bridge the gulf of years of customs,

” and

become h is true partner ; and th e sam e holds

good of h im . Final ly the m arriage resolves

i tself into an unbreakable associa tion of one

accounted superio r , bound to protect and

support an inferior, with on e whose ignorance

makes her dependent , helpless and incapable .

O f course fear o f the effect s of public op in ioni s what bind s the pair a s mill-stones round oneanother

’

s n eck s . I t is really neither religionnor a sense o f duty . Even i f cond itions

become intolerab le and they agree between

themselves to separa te , the g irl’

s people may3

34 THE AWAKEN I NG OF ASIAN WOMANHOOD

obj ect to her return because of the talk of

relatives and neighbours ; t he husband may

fear that he will be so misunderstood and mis

represented that he may even be outcasted ; so

the marriage rela tionship is continued despite

its hollowness and misery, and its mocke ry of

marriage as it ought to be .

This i s but a bare outline o f the general

conditions of marriage in India to-day .. I t

could be rein forced by shocking deta ils a t

eve ry step , such a s the sexual excesses of

many youth s , the bad temper and attempts a t

d isobedience o f the girls , the appalling infant

mortality, the wife-beating, the intrigue and

passion bred of lack of mutual trust and

respect ; and , underlying all the colossal arro

g ance o f masculine humanity cla iming for itself

a ll the attr ibutes and worship belonging to

Gods , and demanding unquest ion ing obedience

from th e fem in in e hal f, —conduct which is utterly s ubversive of the great truth that Shiva and

Parvat i are equal though d issimilar halves of

the one D iv ine Being , a relationship that

human l ife should reflect .

Marriage g ives no right to a man to i ll-treat

h is W ife, to enforce obedience on her , to beat

IND IAN MARR IAGE—ACTUAL AND IDEAL 35

her , to keep her in ignorance , to make a common

drudge of her . I t g ives her no right to stand in

his way of progress or reform , to wear out h i s

l ife with nagging, to keep him bound by her

laziness,incapacity , superstition or con serv a t

ism . Neither must marriage be legalised l icence,

ruinous to body and soul , wrongly enforced as

a duty or a necessity . Such th ings belong to

the reign of the human brute . True marriage

is sacred , a nd d ivorce is against a ll occult and

spiritual law but it can never be righ t to con

tinue l iving with a partner who degrades you ,or prevents you from call ing your soul your

own . D ignified and calm separa tion by mutual

agreement is the lesser evil , and more worthy of

rat ional human beings than angry and irritating

d isunion . M istakes when made ought not to

be pers isted in if circumstances can be so

arranged as to mainta in an honourable liv ing

for both parties .

The greatest adm iration must be accorded

to the great mass o f people who, in face of such

diff icul t conditions of marr iage , patiently bear

bodily suffering and mental depriva tion ; who

carefully protect and with d ifficul ty support

their households who’

pull together to the


best Of their abil ity so that the wedded state

may be kept intact and that their children may

be decently brought up . When there has been

so much that is great and honourable under

present customs,what will no t be possible in

improved conditions Even in the best

ord inary home-l ives there is plainly to be

seen now an unnecessary impoverishment of

the health,the af fections, the spiritual life ,

which every lover of the Indian people longs

to remedy .

Having thus re viewed the marriage state in

the generality of cases , le t us bring to mind

the ideals of marriage stated and inherent in

the Vedas , and a lso realised in Ind ia in olden

times,and largely in other countries at present .

The present time is the lowest point in the

Kali Yuga , and no one must despair because

th ings are so bad now, but realise instead that

as certain as is the ebb tide , so certain also

will be the flowing tide, and ours is the pri

v ilege o f hailing it, giving news of it , and

hasten ing it . A S in Christianity wi th the

Curse of Eve there was also the prophecy of

i ts removal in due course,so will India also

return to her better ways in the days at hand .

38 T HE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

says that the H indu Relig ion holds up an

ideal of marriage superior to a ll others , though

unfortunately the practice has become degrad

ed . The very h igh ideal it lays down ,

when faithfully complied with , has produc

ed even to the present t ime instances o f

ideally married couples bound together for

the spiritual service of the world . Every

one knows the ideal of equa l comradeshipvowed at the pacing together by h usband

and wife of the seven steps “ Become thou

now my partner, as thou hast paced all the

seven steps w ith me Apart from thee

I cannot live . Apart from me do thou not l ive .

We Shall l ive together ; we each sh all be an

obj ect of love to the other ; we shall be a

source o f j oy each unto the other ; with

mutual goodwill shall we live together,sharing alike all goods and power combined .

”

These are the words which embody the true

Aryan ideal of a marriage , but they were

composed at an age prior to era s of foreign

conquest , at an age when women were as well

educated a s m en , when they were great

students of th e Vedas , when they had the

right to ' perform sacrifices , when they were


free to renoun ce m arriage altogether, when

the husband was above twenty-four and the

wife over s ixteen , when the g irl had the

right to choose whom she would take as

husband , as in the cases of S ita , Draupadi and

Damayanti, and , having herself made the

choice, proved afterward s a model of faith

fulness , helpfulness and self-sacrifice , as the

true partner of h er husband . These words ,repeated now to a child -wife

,are almost

blasphemy , a mockery of the implied condi

tions of understanding , capacity and freedom

of circumstance o f both husband and wife .

They were n ever meant to be said to a child

under ten years o f age who cannot possibly

comply with them , and who , j ust after

hav ing promised not to l ive apart , is im

media tely separated from her husband , and

returns to her parents’

house .

The ideal s o f m arriage stated in the Rig

Veda are worthy of being followed by every

nation in the world ; indeed it is sad to th ink

that h igh -caste India is further from following

them in many ways than any o f the western

civilisations . Ana lysing the Vedic marriage

ri tual , Pandit Mahadeva Sastri says that

40 THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOO D

the words used in taking the seven s teps,

Show that husband and wife enter o n the

duties o f married life,not as mere novices ,

but both as responsib le persons , hav ing had a

full previous t raining .

“ Woman is to be

man’

s comrade in life,h is S a lali i , with the

same range o f knowledge and interests , mature

in body, m ind and understanding,able to

enter into a purposeful union on equal terms

with a man o f equal status,as l ife partner ,

of her own free choice,both dedicating their

life-work as service to the D ivine Lord of the

Universe , both ready to fulfil the purpose of

marrie d life from the very day of marriage

onwards .

”The rule which says that men

and women of the same Ve rn a should marryimplies that they both have chosen the same

spec ia l l ine o f work a s the dominant concern

of their married life by which they have

determined to seek and to serve God—either bythe rearing o f progeny , the de ve IOpm er

'

I t of

natural resources , the education o f the young ,or the pure spiritual life . I n order to obtain

the best results in th is co -operation , the

Gotra‘

o f each should be d ifferent , and th is

Mr. Mahadeva Sastri interprets a s meaning

IND IAN MARRIAGE—ACTUAL AND IDEAL 4 1

that the rel igi ous temperaments o f the two

Should be unlike , such a s the temperament

su ited to the ka rma -m a ng o , j u a u a -ma rg a , or

b/mé t i-ma rg u .

Thus the Ved ic ideal of marriage discloses

i tself a s an adult and freely chosen partnership

of a man and woman having identity o f a im

though difference of method in attain ing it ,and presupposes that the woman is a s We ll

educated both secularly and religiously a s the

man . What a perfect type of tha t idea l of

marriage were M r . and Mrs. Browning, the

great English poet and poe tess , and are Mr . and

M rs . Gandh i in our own day in Ind ia !

The true Aryan marriage is someth ing far

broader and deeper than the continuance of

the race , or the production of a male child to

perform S hra dha s , or the satisfaction o f the

sex-desire nature ; and it certainly is not in

the terms o f a letter which I re cen tly saw

from an undergraduate to his father-ih -law

demand ing h is fourteen-year-old wife .

“I am

determ ined to have my wife . I need her

services —services -particularly as he a lso

commanded that she Should g ive up at once

her music and her general studies .


God has made man and woman as comple

ments of the on e D ivine Self manifesting

itsel f in two sl ightly d ifferent forms,and it is

right and natural that there should be a power

of attraction between th e sexes ; and even that ,a s the lower animals have attained the best

results in the process of evolution by natural

selection ,”

so a lso the human animal , helped

stil l further by its reason and intuition , should

base its marita l relations on a spontaneous

af fection and respect,not worked up at the

command o f a parent, but well ing up from

natural associat ions and ties,mental and spirit

ual . But in order to make th is free choice a

practical possibility , there must be more nor

mal and unfettered hompan ionsh ip between

the young men and women of the country . I t

will take some time to establish th is condit ion ,but come about it certain ly sha l l , in this land ,as it has done in others . The present d ivision

of the sexes in a ll the affairs of life is unna tu

ral to the last degree , and i s on e of the causes

of the backwardness o f modern Ind ia . The

best qualit ies in each sex are drawn out by

the presence of the other,save W here the

brute nature reigns supreme, and I have


greater faith in the chast ity of Indian youngwomen than conventional thoug t cred its

them with . I cannot bel ieve that Ind ian

young people , i f g iven the freedom of com

radesh ip granted to young people in the West ,wou ld prove themselves less worthy of it or

abuse it . The present a ttitude of the elders to

their young people is a veiled insul t which th e

latter Should resent .

In order to raise the present ideal of marri

age to the level of anc ient days , when the

Rishis moved in Bhara tavarsh a and taught its

people directly, many changes will have to be

made in the attitude , thought , and practice of

the Indian people regard ing marriage .

For the rescue o f the race from physica l

degeneration , from premature old age individu

a lly , from wastage o f child l ife , from the gripof nervous diseases

,a move must be made by

the parents towards raising the age o f marriage

for the ir g irls and boys . The easiest steps to

th is will be along the path of extended time

and facil itie s for the education of girls (else

weeds will grow up between the ages o f

twe lve and sixteen in the uncult ivated soil of

the girl’

s mind) , and along the ' path o f


e xclusion.from all h igh class and Na tional

s chools and colleges of married young men

s tudents . Pressure also must be brough t to

hear to get a B il l passed lega l ising post-puberty

m arriages .

The growing des ire throughout the youth of

t he country , and the e lders also to a large

e xtent , to serve their coun try fa ithfully, can

f ind its express ion in a greater patriotic and

relig ious consecration o f the united lives of

t h e husband and wife to the service of God

and the Motherland This would bring

a bout natura l ly that equa l'

s tandard of sex

morality and conduct which must be the goal

o f all who are interested in th is subject .

People usually forget tha t when they insist on

a bsolute chas tity in women , but allow men

to be unfaithful,they are condemning a

p ortion o f womanhood to the worst life of

u nchastity . There cannot be l icence for men

with out th e worst consequences to both the

c haste and the prostitute women . I t is qu ite

a s n ecessarv for the husband to be chaste as

the wife—a natural law that is not palatable

t o either -West or East at th is present stage

o f socia l order wh ich h as been evolved almost


body must raise some fund to support

a nd educate such rebels when they are

turned out of their hom es,until they are

trained to earn their living . such an

institution would give courage to many

c onscience-torn young people,and enable a

better stand to be made against the persistence

o f an order of marriage customs that the laws

o f nature , national economics , reason , sent i

ment and intuition , a ll condemn .

Patriotic parents have a field of national

s ervice ready at hand in doing their share in

reforming the present customs of marriage .

As a first practical but partia l step they should

decide never to marry their ch ildren young ;never to allow their daughters to l ive with

t heir husbands t il l after they are at least

sixteen , the years till then being given to a

good education and in the case of their boys

they must ask for no dowry . By courage and

steadfastness in performing this essential duty

to their Moth erland , the sad and widespread

c ases of virgin widows would be quickly and

quietly ended ; the degrading practice of selling

human beings to the highest bidder in the

marriage market would be a stain wiped off


the fair fame o f India ; the physique o f the

next generation would be improved .

Marriage is a curse in our land !”exclaim

ed a h igh caste Brahmana to me . But

it need not be ,”I repl ied .

“ I f only its

preceding conditions are improved , it may be

the greatest blessing in the world .

”Let us

imagine such an ideal Indian marriage

Indian boys and girls , young m en and young

women , freely and innocently attend ing school

and college together , meeting in a natural

way in a ll Indian festivities ; an affin ity

d iscovered the parents’

blessing ob

ta ined ; a betrothal for a period during

which each learns to know the other better

before the irrevocable step is taken . Then

comes the happiness of marriage at an adult

age , with freedom of companionship, co

operation in plans for private and public

service , probably home-mak ing in a house of

their own ; and , when the foundations of th is

un ited l ife are well la id with the blessing of

consecrat ion to Brahma , choice of motherhood

by the wife , the coming o f children , the care

and love of them , fa ther and mother equally

able to help them in their studies good health,


intelligence,respect

,peace and p iety in the

home . What a centre o f power for the

upliftment o f Ind ia —and n o t impossible of

atta inment .

Neverwil l peace and hum an n a ture m e e tTill fre e and equa l , m an and wom an gre e tDom e stic pea ce

Those who even now are experiencing the

uncha n ging happin ess of a un ion rooted in

deep self-discovered love , grounded in mutual

mental respect , bound together by perfect

mutual freedom of action , rising h igh above

personal d if ferences in the search for truth ,branch ing ou t in many lines of individual

,

fam ily and nat ional service , bearing the

blossoms of beauty of life and the fruit

of “ generations of exalted deed s and fin e

heredity ; such people know that it is indeed

true that marriage is a state in wh ich “ j oys

are doubled and sorrows are halved For

suc h couples there can be no possibil ity of

se paration or d ivorce either in this or other

l ives .

Knowing such marriages not only to be

made in Heaven but to be the nearest state

to heaven on earth—the completion of the two


halves o f the human circle happily married

people ache at see in g the misery o f the marri

ages around them , brought about under d if ferent

conditions, and they are impelled by their own

happiness to try and persuade others to rise to

the ideal,and for the sake of the Individual

the Race , the Motherland and Rel igion make

such new conditions of marriage as will bring

back again the days of Y agnava lkya and

M a itreyi , of Rama and S ita , of Shiva and

Parvati.

CHAPTER I V

IND IAN WOMEN AND FREEDOM

I HAVE l ived in Ind ia for over s ix years . I

have always loved the Indian people . I have

had the great privilege o f m ixing very

intimately with their home life . I have tried

to find the best points in their habits and

customs . I h ave had special Opportunities of

con tac ting the l ives led by women in all but

two of its Provinces . But , with all the good

will in the world , my daily growing experience

of Ind ia brings wi th it a daily grow ing

knowledge that , when compared with the

freedom o f thought , word and action in which

the women o f other countries l ive,the women

of Ind ia are the most fettered and cramped in

the world to -day .

This statement does no t apply to the women

of the lower castes , such as the peasant cla ss

or the coolie cla ss ; neither does it apply to the

IND IAN WOMEN AND FREEDOM 5 1

women o f the West Coast nor to Bombay ;but , with variations in degree , and with notable

exceptional groups and individuals , I am

convinced o f i ts truth . The major ity of those

affected do n o t realise the limitations o f their

lives . They have seen noth ing different ; or

where they see it in th e case o f Britishers , i t is

so far removed from anyth ing pract ical for them

at the moment that it is without appeal to them .

Yet to those who desire to serve Ind ia and who

have seen what may be the fulness o f women ’s

lives in other c ivil isations bo th East and

West, in Burma , Japan , America and Europe ,no movement connected w ith the freedom

of Ind ia seems more fundamentally necessarythan the Freedom for Women Movement . Not

a ll th e Governments in the world can g ive Ind iatrue swa ra i if Ind ians themselves , men and

women , do n o t remove the chains of ou t -ofi

date custom that hold the h igher class Indianwomen in impoverishment of body

,m ind and

sou l .

For Northern women and for al l Muham

madan women the pura’

u tz or z enana sys tem is

th e gaoler . For South Indian and n on -puro’a /z

women it is the early-marr iage system and it s

52 THE AWAKEN ING or A S IAN WOMANHOOD

concom itan t , the exaggeration o f the idea of

wifely obed ience . Underly ing a ll the limita

t ions imposed on women is an appa l l ing lack of

faith in the higher and purer nature of men

and women . The men seem to th ink that the

sight a nd companionship o f women would

tempt them beyond control , or each man thinks

that while he would be a ll righ t,n o other m an

could be trusted to Speak to h is women-folk ,and especially not the men of h is own sta tion

in life ! The women are brought up to look on

men (other than father , husband or brother) a s

th eir natural enemies . They al so have lack of

faith in their own sex . What a vicious circle !

For the prevention of a few errant human

beings al l women are “ cribbed , cabined and

confined and a poisonous atmosphere per

m ea te s all I nd ian life . I believe that th is

mutual fear is a mia sma , a legacy from

a t ime of military conditions, and it i s an

unfounded slur on both sexes in the present

day .

The zenana system prevents free and natural

physical exerc ise such a s walking ; i t promotes

bad health and especial ly con sumption through

lack of fresh a ir and sunl igh t ; i t arrests the


of the life o f common human ity in the street s .

I also saw for myself that even amongst the

orthodox older lad ie s,wh o probably would

assert their approval o f the purda /z , human

nature and na tural curiosity assert themselves,

for they took every opportunity to peep through

the sl its and smal l mica openings in the cover

ings of ourmotor-car , and enjoyed every excuse

for getting a drive or a change from their

houses . I al so came across a number of

instances where lad ies who kep t strict pura'a lz

in their nat ive towns had no hesitation in

moving about freely and uncurtained in a

strange town .

As for disease,and especial ly consumption

,

it i s rampant among the inmates of the

z enanas . A doctor o f a roya l household h im

self told me of the case of the death of a j unior

princess which might have been prevented if

only the doctors had been allowed to see her

in time and d iagnose from the eye . They had

been permitted only to feel her pulse , her

hand being thrust through a curta in . When

sh e was at dea th’

s door they saw her face and

recognised the true nature of her d isease which

they would have been able to cure had they

IND IAN WOMEN AND FREEDOM 55

known it earlier ! She was one o f the many

victim s to this unnatural system .

In the South,while there is more freedom

o f movement women seem to have to ask

permission before th ev make any new

move . Th is is not the case with adult women

in other countries . I t is the natural result of

the child -wife system . The husband feels

himself a s much father a s husband to h is little

g irl-wife , and it is h ard for both o f them to

get out of the wrong relationship when sh e

grows up . The wrong atmosphere it engenders

about marriage was exemplified to me when ,in reply to my enquiries about h is newly-wed

wife aged ten , a college student replied with

pr ide,

“ I th ink Sh e will be very obed ient”

More and more the whole world is comin g

to realise the right and the necessity o f the

soul to freedom o f opportunity for self

expression . Self-determ ination is a necessity

for the individual man or woman as much a s

for the caste , class or nation . The whole

T ime-sp irit is working toward s the l iberat ion

of woman in every country,but along d ifferent

l ines according to the different c iv il isat ion s .

H ow can we help it in its work in India


There are seven m illion more men than

women in India , therefore it follows as a

national service that every wom an should

marry , and it is the way to freedom for married

women that we have to seek . I t has been

found along one road in places so far removed

as M alabar and Burma . There it h as come

through economic freedom . Land and pro

perty lie in the hands of women entirely

amongst the West Coast women , and m oney is

made a lmost entirely by women in Burma

they are the shopkeepers o f their na t ion .

We may call that the power o f the pu rse .

There are four grea t L iberators stand ing

ready to a id wom en to freedom . They are

Religion , Education , Patriotism and Love .

There is an atm osphere of freedom for

women in all centres o f pilgrimage and

holiness . Benares City and the holy Gan ges

are graduating colleges in emancipation for

the women of the pura’a /i -keeping Provinces !

What a brea th of fresh a ir and fresh vitality

comes to every woman who goes on a

relig ious pilgrimage ! What equal ity and what

absence of sex-consciousness there is for

women as they bathe ceremonially in holy

IND IAN WOMEN AND FREEDOM 57

rivers North or South The frees t woman in

the world probably is th e authen t ic so u uya siu i .

I t is one of the astounding paradoxica l surprises

of paradoxical and sel f-con trad ictory Ind ia to

see the most veiled and sheltered o f pura’a h

women on dry land,suddenly appearin g with

out any shyness or awkwardness in the Ganges

or the Jamna side by s ide with m en of a ll

kinds . I f only all life be looked on as a

pilgrimage,if the home be regarded as a holy

place , i f only th e spir i tual a ttitude is taken of

soul help ing soul rather than of sex vehicles

ready to prey on one another, then the burden

of sex limitation will be lifted from the

shoulders of fettered womanhood and suspicious

manhood .

Education is a l iberating influence of th e

greatest importance . A tra ined and well

furnished mind g ives its owner self-confidence,

discriminat ion , a proper com parat ive sen se of

values , and independence necessary as an

accompan iment to greater freedom of action,

responsibility and movement . Ignorance is

weakness , knowledge is power We have to

pull up the percentage o f l iterate women from

the present shameful two per cent to 92 . I t


i s a task o f supreme importance and of almost

paralys ing magn itude,but i t has been done by

o ther nation s and it must be accomplished by

the var ious Ind ian Provinces . In Kashm ir the

desire to help wom en along th is path to free

d om has sprung up so strongly tha t a band of

volunteers has been formed o f young m en who

have pledged themse lves to teach the reading

a nd writing o f their vernacular to the women

o f the ir families . I t was started in Srinagar,and in two months 450 Kashmiri primers were

purchased . I f th is type of national service

will only spread and f ire the imagination and

t he z eal of those who h ave themselves had the

p rivilege of education , a long step on the road

to the freedom of womanhood and the freedom

o f India will have been taken . The present

rate of growth of educat ion amongst women is

f ar too slow . The mother should be the g uru

o f the child ; instead , if we bring a notice of a

meet ing to a lady in her home , sh e has to call

o ut for her little Ramaswam i or her little

Sush ila , a nd the ch ild reads out the notice th e

c hild is now the g uru o f the mother—truly iti s the Kali Yuga ! But when women are able to

read for themselves scriptures , books of travel ,

IND IAN WOMEN AND F REEDOM 59

b iographies,novels and newspapers , what an

expansion o f consciousness there will be ! How

the men tal hori z on will w iden , what freedom o f

thought will be stimulated that la ter w il l express

itsel f in insistence on the necessary freedom o f

action for the manifestation of the growing soul

Patriotism is playing an important part in

emanc ipating Indian women . I remember how

they were stirred to th eir dep th s by the

internment o f Mrs . Besant , and I walked w ith

a large number o f them in a public procession

of men and women in honour o f her release .

Things have gone very swiftly for women as

well a s men s ince then , and n ow even Muham

madan women , l ike the mother o f the A l i

brothers , the pol it ical leaders , have come right

out of th e z enana a s their sacrif ice to their

patriotism Whether we approve of their

political pol icy or not , it is a wonderful fact

that women’

s ardent desire for the freedom of

their country ha s g iven them such personal

freedom that they are now welcomed into the

open streets as volunteers,as p ickets

,as

polit ic ian s . Causes save one ,”remarked a

wise woman once . This i s particularly true

of women . Their line of least resis tance is

60 THE AWAKENING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

sel f-sacrifice . They do not naturally move

towards fighting for their own freedom,but

through throwing themselves into a cause”

they ach ieve their own l iberation . The“cause ,

”however , must itself be related to

the attainment of some aspect of progress or

emancipation . The Indian national movement

cannot progress without the aid of women

the l iberat ion of women will be aided by their

devotion to the nationa l movement .

Finally—and primarily—there is the universal as well a s personal Unlooser o f all bonds

! ove . I f only there were deep , true love

existing between each married adult man and

woman in Ind ia , there would be no need for

th is chapter . Perfect love casteth out fear .

”

Where there is perfect love there is perfect

faith and perfect equality . Suspicion , j ealousy ,domination

,obedience

,l imitations , al l d is

appear . Even the thought of freedom vanishes

in the realisation o f perfect partnersh ip tha t

is unity , not dual ity ;

Fre edom th a t is fond o f its own n am e

Ha s n o t y e t sh e d its ch a in s , bu t pe rfect loveM ake s h appy bonds th a t are bu t anch orageT o th e fre e sou l .


da te , unworthy o f“

the t imes,an anomaly

,a

thing to be go t r id o f at the first possible

moment ; and they smashed i t up for good .

Nor was the East untouched by the sp irit

of the t imes , for even in conservative China

the women urgently cla imed the vote . Know

ing all th is,the decision ( in 1 9 1 9) of th e

Southborough Franch ise Comm i ttee and the

Government o f Ind ia to perpetuate this d is

cred ited sex-d isqualification advertises to a ll

the world tha t the views o f th ese gentlemen

are in th is particular beh ind the times , tha t

they consider Ind ian conditions beh ind the

t imes,Indian women lagging behind al l other

wom en ,and that they intend them and India

to remain beh ind the times . A lthough th i s

decision cannot be regarded a s f inal,for the

Government o f I nd ia Despatch invites further

enquiry,and desires that the opinion s of the

publ ic generally be obta ined”on the ir pro

po sa ls, i t i s a mat ter for inf in ite regret tha t

t he Comm itt ee in the ir f irst pronouncement

fa iled so lamentably in up-to -da te , reconstruo

t ive statesmansh ip in th is fundamental aspect .

Instead of profit ing by the experience of oth er

countr ies,they seek to launch the Ship of

SOUTHBOROUGH COMM ITTEE’

S REPORT 63

respon sible self-government with a l ist

towards masculine monopoly instead o f with

the equipoise o f male and female co-operat ion .

They have so little awakened to the serious

ness o f the subj ect that the Despatch d ismisses

the claims , rights , and responsibilities o f one

whole hal f o f the popu lat ion o f Ind ia in two

short sentences as if w ith a wave of th e

hand .

I t is ent irely sign if icant , however , tha t th e

one member of the Government who knows

Indian cond itions from the inside,and is

th erefore most fitted to voice Indian Opin ion,

S ir C . Sankaran Na ir, opposed the ir view ,an d

pressed for the removal o f the sex disqua lifi

cation from the Outset . In the preceding

paragraph to that on the Disqual ifica tion s it i s

stated that th is wh ich is “ the f irs t electora l

system set up in Ind ia ,”wil l probably rema in

f ixed for a g iven t ime . They say : We do ,

not expect that the initia l al lotment wi l l be

abandoned until political l ife in Ind ia becomes

more reconciled than i t is at present to what

we regard as a fundamenta l princ iple o f

responsib le government , namely , the va l id ity

of a majority decision .

”Judging from this


pronouncement, if the Comm it tee’

s proposals

become law, wom en wil l be excluded from

any share in their own government until

some vague future date . I t is on the fol lowing

words that th e pol it ical fate of womanhood in

Ind ia (both eastern and western) i s decreed :

In the present condi t ions of I ndia we agree

with them ( the Southborough Committee ’s

recommendations) that i t is not prac tica l to

open the franchise to women .

”They have

thrown their who le opposition to , and refusal

o f, women’

s immediate enfranch isement on

th e single ground that i t is no t“ practical ”

No proof is g iven as to why it is not pra cti

cal I t is s imply the dogmatic statement of

seven English gentlemen in the Governmen t

of I nd ia .

As the mot ive of th is article is not merely

bitter attack , or rig hteous indignation, but

c onstructive criticism and an attempt to

change this most important detail of a schem e

o f Reforms which in other respects seems to

have been thought out very carefully, i t is

essential that evidence should be shown in it

tha t i t is pra ct ica l to adm it women to the

franchise nowand to do as S ir C . Sankaran Nair


S REPORT 65

and M r . Hogg desired—remove the sex disqualif ication at once .

I t must a lways be remembered in d iscussing

the quest ion o f th is sex-d isquali ficat ion , tha t

there is no demand for the enfranchisement

o f a ll women ; that the removal of th e sex

d isqualif icat ion would ( judg ing by the analogy

of the Munic ipal vot ing) give voting rights to

at most about a mill ion women out of the

three hundred million odd population ; that

t hose women would largely be the most

independent , the best educated , and the rate

and-tax-pay ing women in the country . Though

small in number these women would be

invaluable assets to public life , and their

enfranch isement Would remove from woman

hood the stigma of inferiority , incapacity, or

superiority to a desire for public service,all a t

present implied in her being classed in the Dis

qualifications with the criminals , lunatics and

children of her country as unfit for citizenship .

When at th is same juncture and in these

social conditions the Governments of Bombay

a nd Madras have found it practical to open

the Municipal fra nchise to women , it cannot

be truly said that the vote for the higher5

66 THE AWAKEN ING OF A S IAN WOMANHOOD

elections could not a lso be exerc ised by them .

I n these Presidencies and th eir associated S tates

there is no pa ra’

u li system . W ith the encour

agem en t of the women’

s societies wh ich are

spring ing up daily , and the interested instruo

tion of male relat ives , women voters would

not be found backward in discharging their

national duties . I t is no t the habit of woman to

fa il in her duty when sh e knows what is expect

ed o f her . I t is Sometimes forgotten that it was

only after the grant o f the vote to women in

England that societies for instruction in

citizensh ip sprang up . I t would be almost

entirely the women who are Munic ipal voters

who would become voters for th e Provincial

Councils , and no practical difficulty stands in

their way in these two large and progress

ive Presidencies . In Assam also the Ch ief

Commissioner regards the matter a s eminently

practical . Neither the Madras Local Govern

ment nor the United Provinces Governmen t

opposed Women’

s Suffrage The practica l

d iff iculty seems to arise entirely in the

pa ra’u li distr icts of India , and no one seeks to

min imise it ; but it cannot be pointed out too

often that in Australia , where women are


S REPORT 67

freer than perhaps anywhere in the world,women ’

s votes were collected at their homes

when suffrage was first granted , and th is

system w ith special women election off icers

can and must be followed in India for

these specia l d istricts . An examination of

page 270 o f the Committee’

s Report will Show

how much specia l trouble can be taken to

collect men’

s votes . Thus even in pura’

a lz

parts the removal of sex-disquali fication is

practical . Neither the Southborough Com

m ittee nor the Ind ian Government alludes to

this thorough ly feasible solution of the seclu

s ion o f women”excuse for the postpone-a

ment o f women’

s enfranchisement.

The number Of women who would be

qualified , i f equal ity o f political opportunitybe gran ted , will be probably about on e million .

Even it half of these d id not vote,it i s stil l no

reason for denying it . From the Report we

find tha t in some Di stricts not 40 per cent of

the men voters used their right,and the

number of University electors is less than a

couple of thousand men . It is quite a s practical that even a couple o f thousand wom enshould be given the vote to represent the


whole fem inine thought and interests of the

nat ion . The desire to obta in women’

s votes

would have the very practica l result o f bring

ing forward reforms d irectly touch ing the

interests o f women and ch ildren which other

wise might have been long postponed .

The Southborough Franchise Committee d is

poses o f the claims o f women in four short

paragraphs ou t of a volume of 400 pages .

They admit that numerous petitions were

sent to them on the subject ; on ly on e Local

Government (Benga l) definitely opposed it ,and then only as premature ; and though

they record th at n o strong opposition was

revealed by the evidence”

(for none ex

ists !) yet they decided (as aga inst all th e

posit ive and l ittle negative opinion , ) not

to recommend the extension of the suffrage to

women ” This cannot be considered a fa ir

decision ; it is not in conformity with the pro

portion o f evidence before them ; it is in

complete Opposition to the will of the direct

representat ives of the Ind ian people a s shown

by the A l l- India Women’

s Deputa tion , many

women’ s societ ies and polit ical societies, and

by the votes of over delegates at the


d ifficult ies would be involved in th e actual

recording o f votes The whole question of

Indian franchise bris tles with grave difficultie s.

They are grappled with in the case o f men .

I t is grossly unfair to refuse to overcome them

in the case of women , especial ly when a

practical working precedent h a s already been

shown by another country .

For these four reasons , each with no t a leg

to stand on when practical ly enquired into,these four Englishmen , two Brahmanas and

one Muhammadan Sahibzada “ propose to

d isqualify women”

. One other Englishman

boldly d issented , and in a true L iberal spirit

advised that the “ sex-disqualification Should

be removed a t the outset of responsible

government in India T h e others do not

bold ly oppose woman suffrage on principle,

they probably recognise that the world has

gone too far ahead in thought now for that to

be publ icly expressed , but they take shelter

i n a friend ly paterna l pat on the back to the

petitioners , men and women,and say in

effect : “ Very good,my children , but I have

nothing for you today . Come again to!

morrow . I t is the same old story o f : Wait


S REPORT 7 1

and see , but India cannot afford to wait . She

must take her place a t once side by side with

other Nat ions in the Emp ire . The honour

able position o f women must be upheld in the

first great step in the National Charter—th e

Reform Bill .

The Indian deputations to England must

press for it with al l their power,supported by

the women voters , the Labour Party and the

L iberals . They will be supplied with facts

from India which can controvert the obj ections

o f the Committee . I t is the duty of every lover

of Ind ian honour and every respector of I nd ian

womanhood to work for the reversion of th i s

decision in th e Reform Bill itself .

In no country is th is sweeping d isqual if ica

t ion of sex to be less tolerated than in Ind ia ,whose history shows that the women who so

desired were given , without any barriers of

man-made legal restrictions , the fullest oppor

tun ity to serve in the religious life, on the

battle-f ield , in the councils of their people , in

all the public life .

To this modern Temp le of the Motherland

its polit ical l ife—the women who so desiremu st be allowed to bring their offerin gs of


thought and service , and the way must be

opened at once . No “ practical”purpose is

effected by remaining beh ind the times”in

postponing a permissive , not compulsory ,right of sel f-expression .

CHAPTER VI

SUFFRAGE DEBATES—A STUDY

IN CONTRASTS

HUMAN ITY is a strange creature . I t does

most unexpected th ings . The debates on.

Woman Suffrage in Madras in April and in

Poona in July , 1 92 1 , are an instan ce in

point . Except for the exertions of one

woman’

s organisation,the Women

’

s Indian

Association,it could not be m aintained that

women in the Madras Presidency were

advanced enough or organised enough to show

a very strong demand for the leg islative

vote , and yet it took only an hour and a hal f’

s

debate to Show that the Madras Counc i l was

preponderatingly in favour of granting woman

suffrage . On the contrary,though Bombay

is noted everywhere for th e advanced educa

tion and free status o f its womanhood,and

although as many as n ineteen women’

s a sso

cia tion s in Bombay City alone had comb ined


i n a large public meeting to demand the vote ,

and four splend id meetings were held in

Poona a t one o f which there were over eigh t :

‘

hundred women present and all enthusiastic ,yet in the Bombay Council it took three days

o f hard verbal f ighting to wear down the

o pposition against granting the women’

s

c la ims .

I had the good fortun e to be present at each

o f these historic debates , and in almost every

detail there was a most interest in g contrast to

be noted . In setting , in atmosphere , in both

men and women , they were different . I t is

a fruitful p sycholog ical study for someone to

fol low up . I shall merely state facts a s they

impressed me .

F irst , as regards the Council Chambers .

I nteriorly the Madras chamber carries off th e

p alm for artistic effect , impressive dign ity and

well-planned arrangement . To ment ion only

two points to the detriment of th e Poona cham

b er, the exit door for members is behind the

President ’s chair,and it must trouble him

considerably to be constantly interrup ted byth ose exit and entrance bows of Members

whi ch he so rigorously demands ; another

SUFFRAGE DEBATES 75

point is that there is n ot even a strip o f mattin g

on the hard-paved floor, and the boots of the

Members made a horrid c la tter every time

any one moved in or ou t . I noticed with a

smile that one hybridly-garmented Mahratta

Member had by the second day safeguarded

h imself from sel f-consc iousness by the appli

cation o f gleamingly noticeable rubber heels .

There are no d ivision lobbies in Poona . Votes

are recorded in curta ined corners that remind

ed one of a medium’

s cabinet at a Sp iritual istic

seance . One realised the superiority of the

severa l doors on each side of the Madras

chamber , and the utility of beauty in the latter

Chamber’

s arrangemen t and colour scheme .

But exteriorly the setting o f the Poona

chamber is more del ightful than the d ingy

surround ings of Fort S t . George in which the

M adras chamber is situated . In Poona there

is a la rge garden full of roses and oth er

flowers , with fine shady trees and an impress

ive drive . The arch itecture of the build ing

is a lso d istinctive . I t is one o f the residences

of the Governor o f Bombay,the levee hall of

which is being lent for the Council purposes .

I should th ink that it will not be lon g before


the Councillors build a more suitable chamber,especially if they pay a visit to the Southern

Presidency .

A t the Madras debate noth ing had struck

me more than the absence of Westerners .

There were only four present then , and even

they seemed to be shrinking into invisibility .

Not iceably too there wa s an overwhelming

majority of non-Brahmanas,and only eight

Muhammadan members . I t was strik ingly an

assembly of representat ive Indians , having

power to rule their land with a m in imum of

interference from foreigners . How different it

was in Poona ! By atmosphere , by power of

oratory , by the largeness of their numbers, and

the importance of the posts they held , the Eng

lishmen seemed to dominate the proceedings ;perhaps not really so , but that is the impres

sion one go t during that debate . Then also

there were the groupings of Parsis, of Gujeratis ,of S indhis , of Mahra t tas , of Muhammadans .

While in Madras we heard only one speaker

using h is mother-tongue , in Poona quite a

number of speeches were made in quite a

number of vernaculars, and at one time the

President himself had to use some vernacular


Deputy President on the day of the M adras

debate .

The atmosphere o f the debates themselves

was very different . In Madras there was a

sense of tension and anxiety on the women’

s

part for only half an hour a fter the proposer’

s

speech . From that time onward , except

from the Muhammadan members,the si tt ing

became an accumulat ion of appreciation of

womanhood and o f faith in giving i t the fullest

opportunities for expressing itself in any and

every way it des ired . Only three Members

thought the question premature , one be ing one

o f the Engl ish Members of the Executive

Council , and even he did not press the point .

The only other western spe aker, ,

a Scotsman ,

strongly supported the resolution . The per

vading tone in Madras wa s a blend o f senti

ment abstract pr inc iple , and rel igious rever

ence I orwomanhood .

In Poona the debate stretched over three

days,and the first day

’

s sitting was a five

hours ’ accumulation of g loomy opposition

utterly unexpected . The mover of the Resolu

tion had not g iven perhaps enough strongreason ing in his Open ing speech , and the

SUFFRAGE DEBATES 79

President took it so much for granted that th e

Council was in favour that he gave special

chances to Opposers to prove their case against .

A quasi-philosoph ical , poet ical , sentimental ,but wel l delivered speech by a Westerner , the

Registrar of Co-operative Societies , was given

opposing the co-operation of men and women

in pub l ic life (surely b e is a contrad iction in

terms and a paradox !) H is lead was fol lowed

by many,and especially by four other English

men who harped on the theme of postpone

ment . In one case the speaker asserted that

women always and everywhere were reaction

aries , and to give a vote for th is resolution

was to give a vote for reaction . The in justice

of th is statement stil l hurts . The atmosphere

in Poona was that of a combination o f cautiou s

business men who wanted to be sure in advance

of the success o f their venture , and o f wait and

see British pol it ic ians . These were all clear,

articulate and clever speakers , and by their

manner they almost pulled across the line

the quieter and more intuit ive or democratic

supporting party . I t was a tense menta l tug

of-war. and it certa inly would have been a

tos s-up which Side would have won if th e


d ivision had been taken that evening A s in

Madras , the Muhammadans as a body with a

few exceptions were in oppos ition . The Parsis

were strongly in favour . Other groups were

d ivided .

On the second day, the Irishman who is

o ne of the Execut ive Councillors saved the

reputation for progress o f the Westerners by

h is very forceful support, and got practically

t h e f irst clear applause of the debate by h is

reference to M rs . Ram aba i Ran ade (widow of

th e late Justice R an ade and President of the

Seva Sedan) as on e whose presence would

honour,grace and help that Council or any

o ther . I really th ink his speech turned the

t ide . After i t the whole air seemed to lighten

th e Members began to talk more sense , and

ceased to commend unth inkingly th e perpetua

t ion of the s ta tus quo or to imagine eventual

it ies of a terrifying nature . Facts founded on

the resul ts of the Municipal voting prevailed

o ver f iction ,and commonsense won the day .

I t was part of that same commonsense that

decided most o f the English members to

abstain from voting in the division , as it was

made clear to them as the debate went on that

SUFFRAGE DEBATES 81

th is was a matter for the Indians to settle

themselves . There was grea t jubilation when

the voting actual ly took place and the figures

were announced ; 52 for, 25 against . When I

happened to exclaim to the Members and

friends afterwards in the lobby,“ I t was a

good f igh t ,”they laughed , but that is really

what it was . In Madras it was a walk-over,

in Poona it was a victory .

The number of women wh o attended the

Madras debate was comparatively small,and

al l through the women’

s previous campaign

the co-operation of western women (with

three exceptions) with their Indian s isters was

conspicuously absent . I t was most inspiring

to find , contrar iw i se , in Poona over fifty

western women , includ ing the Bishop’

s wife,

the General’

s wife , the Executive Councillors’

wives,missionaries and teachers o f all k inds

keenly j oining with the H indu , Parsi , Mukam

madan and Indian Christian women in en thu

siasm for the women’

s cause ; and the same is

the case in Bombay and other cities of the

Presidency . Over a hundred women attended

the Poona debate , and ten times as many

were eager to come if only there had been6


accommodation for them . The presence and

keenness o f the women of all communities in

th e visitors’

gallery had a good deal to do with

the satisfactory o resu lt of the Bombay debate .

I think it was the women of the Bombay

Presidency who were the greatest gainers'bythese debates , and the men of Madras Pre

sidency ; the former by the very real Spirit

of sisterhood that was developed among them

and the amount of political education those

three days gave them , and the latter by their

unhesitating and ungrudging response to the

sp irit of th e times .

Over 40 members spoke in the Bombay

Council and 25 in Madras . Individually we

women had equally fine and chivalrous knights

in both Presidencies who championed our

cause most ably both inside and outside the

Chamber and to whom we feel most deeply

grateful . Taken however, - as two contrasted

assemblies of men in their attitude to the

aspirations of their sisters for a free field and

no favour, probably their own f igures are

their truest index , in Madra s a majority of 37

in an attendance of 70 (52 per cent) , and in

Poona a majority 27 in an attendance of 92

SUFFRAGE DEBATES 83

(27 per cent) . Bombay Presidency will do well

to make up for a certain loss of prestige sh e

has suffered in this matter by becoming the

first Presidency to enforce compulsory educa

tion on girls equally with boys , or by putting

some women on the Bombay Corporation at

once .

The question which now arises is , Which

is going to be the next Province to enter the

lists on behalf of its women—Bengal , theUnited Provinces , or the Panjab

CHAPTER VI I

INDIAN WOMANHOOD TODAY

NO country has a longer record of famous

women than India . I ts“ Rig-Veda ”

is

recognised as the oldest literary product in the

world,and a number of the hymns or devo

tional poems included in it are admitted to

h ave been written by women of the time .

I n India’

s later mythological stories women

are as noble and as free as the men . There

is S ita,the emblem of faithfulness and devo

tion,yet having to submit to the ordeal o f f ire

because th e breath of scandal had played upon

her ; there is Gargi, famous as a relig ious

d ialectician , and M a itreyi, the lover of philo

sophy , who preferred the Sannyasi l ife in the

forest in company with her husband to a life

o f wea l th , ease and worldliness in her city

household there is Savitri who chose her own

husband even against her parents’

will, and

86 THE AWAKEN ING OF ASIAN WOMANHOOD

self-expression a s did the men,and that a free

and untrammelled natural comradeship existed

between men and women in India un til the

t ime of the Muhammadan invasion .

Then everyth ing changed for Indian woman

hood . Muhammadanism has a d ifferent phi

losophy of l ife and the hereafter from H indu

ism . It secludes it s women from the sight of

all men save the husband ; only to a veiled

woman does it pay respect,and all its married

women are so strictly guarded that not even

to draw water from her well may a Muslim

woman leave the z enana . Naturally when these

people spread conqueringly over the land, carried

away by the lust of war and power, they , l ike

all mili tarist people in their mom ent of victory,came under the sway of their passions, and

finding Indian women going about freely, and

judging them by their own pura’a h standards ,

thought them loose women , and used them

a ccord ingly .

Their rule lasted five centuries,and during

that t ime the H indus of the North were

driven in sel f-defence to introduce the pura’a li

and early-marr iage system . The pan ic of

fear swept all older customs and wiser ways

IND IAN WOMANHOOD TODAY 87

before it , and never had war and conquest

such a harvest o f unnatural and far-reaching

effects on the race concerned . Though the

power of the Muslims has been dethroned for

over a hundred and fifty years , stil l the

obsession of sex-distrust holds sway over

the h igher castes of India . In them the men

and women are so divided by interests , cus

toms , outlook , lack o f intercommunication , tha t

they may be likened to two different races

rather than the complementary halves of one

race . W ith in these castes every man save

the husband is tacitly regarded as the woman’

s

potential ,enemy every woman save the wife

is looked on by the man as a probable tempt

ress . Everywhere there is an exaggerated

awareness of sex-consciousness wh ich is the

d irect evil heritage of the militarist rule of a

particularly masculine . religion that even goes

to the length of denying an individual soul to

a woman .

Accord ingly on e f inds the pura’a /i system

and child -marriage entrenched in H indu homes

everywhere in Northern India where the

Moghul dynasties held greatest sway , and in

South India also certain aspects of it have


become so common that it would be difficul t

to remove them quickly . The wife may not

talk to any other man than her husband,even

h is brothers being forbidden friendship with

her . Ladies do not go to public meetings ;they may never go about unaccompanied , and

usually the four walls of their houses and

courtyards are their boundaries, save for visits

to the temple to which they go together in

bands .

Here at once it must be stated that while

the g osha system prevails amongst all the

castes in Northern India, and women are only

rarely seen in the streets or anywhere in

public , and then only closely veiled ; in th e

South of India there is no such pura’a h system .

Though the higher caste women in southern

India lead a more secluded life than western

women , the coolie women , the peasant

women , the lower caste townswomen walk

and work freely and openly, and in most

respects have a health ier and happier life

than their sisters of the same standing in the

West .

I t was during that warlike time , which may

well be called the “ Dark Ages”

of Indian

t vary( l

90 THE AWAKEN ING OF ASIANWOMANHOOD

o f education in,Ind ia is a d isgrace to its connec

tion with Britain,and in respect of female

e ducation it is in an appallingly low condition .

The last statist ics show that out of the total

population of India only 106 men per thousand

c an read or write in their vernacular,and only

10 women in every

If it were not for the great body of traditional

national culture imbedded in the religious func

t ions and oral knowledge of th is ancient people

handed on from its golden age,

”on e would be

inclined to th ink that Indians must be a rude ,boorish people , seeing that their average of

e ducation is so deplorably low ; but , as a matter

o f fact, despite their ignorance of book-learning

a nd the three R’

s, the maj ority of Indian women

h ave an inbred sense of grace,courtesy

,good

manners , tact , and knowledge of religious

arts and literature , far in advance of the Board

School girl, or even in many cases the College

trained girl of the West . W ith th is basis

I ndian girls pick up very rapidly the education

imparted in the few-and-far-between schools .

Unt il primary education is made free and

c ompulsory for girls , with school hours better

a djusted to the Special domestic claims on

IND IAN WOMANHOOD TODAY 9 1

young Indian girls owing to the absence of

servants , the status of women cannot be much

improved . A t present there is only on e

school in every six villages , and only boys

attend most o f such schools . Money must be

lavishly alloca ted by Government or by

private philanthropy for building schools , for

paying staffs and upkeep , and for supporting

numbers of training schools and hostels for

teachers . Indian women , especially widows ,should be induced to come to these by means

o f free scholarship s for education and boarding .

The most crying need of the moment is a

supply o f women teachers , either eastern or

western . Unless elementary education is

quickly and broadly extended to girls through

out all India , there can be no sat isfactory

improvement in the status of Indian women ,nor will they be in a position , or even have

the wish , to call later for certain reforms in th e

customs o f the country . Facili t ie s for college

education are relatively far in excess of those

for primary schooling , and this is only the

creat ion o f an apex without a breadth of base .

The greatest barrier to education , however,in the higher castes comes from the custom


o f marrying the girls at about the age of ten ,and then jealously guarding them within the

four walls of their home so that no breath of

scandal m ay tarnish their fair names beforethey go to their husband

’

s homes at about the

age of fourteen , then to undertake immediately

the responsibilities of motherhood . I have

spoken of this crucial matter in a previous

chapter, but must repeat it because of its vita l

importance . Through th is custom the educa

tion of g irl s is ended just at the time they are

becoming properly interested in it, and many

are the tears shed when the fiat goes forth,

“ You must not go again to the school .”In

no part o f th e world so much as in India

would Aristotle have been justified in calling

women arrested developments

This habit of early seclusion affects also

the physI cal status of Indian womanhood

very detrimentally, for it enta ils lack of exer

cise just at a t ime when Open-air games would

be most useful in build ing up the physique for

the stra in that will so shortly be placed on it .

The heavy rate of mortality amongst these

young wives is one of the strongest witnesses

to the need for raising the age at which a girl


for the wife to stand when in her husband’s

presence if a strange man comes to her

house and enquires for her husband , Sh e may

n ot answer h im , but will take it a s an insult

that he should address her at all .

The woman exists only for the husband and

the children , but has no ind ividual recognition .

This is one reason why a widow becomes such

a waste product in Indian social l ife . A

woman has no thought of, or right to, a life of

her own ; She stands or fal ls entirely by her

relationship to manhood , either to husband or

son . A girl who is not married before puberty

is a cause for excommunication ; and if Sh e

marries after that age her children will be

considered illeg itimate . I t is very regrettable

that the Bill to legalise post-puberty marriage,

introduced in the Legislature , has SO far failed

to pass into law, as it would make reforms

much easier of attempt by progressive parents .

No review of women’

s position could exclude

the servant question . I t cuts very deeply into

the Indian woman’

s life . Members of a

different caste or even sub-caste may not touch

the food or bedd ing or persons or the wells of

members of a higher caste without polluting


them . Accordingly , a Brahman household

must have a Brahman servant as cook , nurse ,etc . ,

and these high-caste servants are scarce

and expensive,so the chief work of the house

hold is usually done by the women . Besides,

the preparation o f food is l ooked on as a re lig i

ous duty and privilege , and the care of th e

baby and its breast-nursing are absolutely

incumbent on the mother for over its f irst two

years . These things turn the women of the

household often into drudges , overworked

cooks,and mere sex-machines through lack of

balance from any intellectual or truly Spiritual

part of their nature . There is the other

extreme of very wealthy families where the

wife becomes litt le more than a doll . I t is

not impossible , but it is not SO usual as one

would like,to f ind the happy med ium amongst

women whose husbands are in moderate or

poor positions .

Theoretically , n o country , no rel ig ion , holds

womanhood in such h igh hon our as H indu Ind ia

does . NO other religion of the present t ime

worsh ips Goddesses ; no other looks on th e

Mother a s D ivine . Practically, woman stands

in a contradictory or ambiguous position . AS


wife She is virtually the servant o f her hus

band—her primary virtue must be obedience ,and She must a sk her husband

’

s leave before

undertaking anyth ing unusual . Yet a s mother

She is the virtual ruler of their children . Her

slightest wishes are obeyed to an extraord inary

extent by even her middle -aged sons . I t is in

this relationsh ip that the immense power of the

women of India lies , and when Indian mothers

are as well educated as Ind ian fathers they will

have much more d irect influence on public and

private l ife than the western mother h as.

I t can be definitely stated that throughout

India the status of woman in her capacity as

mother is much higher than that of any west

ern mother and it is along the line of the

responsibility thus thrown on her , to know

how to lead her children wisely and patriotic

ally, that the public spirit of Indian woman

hood may best be developed .

On the other hand , in no other country is the

status of the widow so low and lamen table as

in India . A child may be married at f ive

years and a few days afterwards h er husband

may die , but yet Sh e becomes a l ife -long

widow , though the second marriage ceremony,


selfishness of the family elders , and the diffi

cultie s o f obtaining suitable caste lodgings in

strange places , combined with the obj ection

f el t to any woman of a hig h caste earning

money for herself (it being a reflection on the

power and willingness o f the male members

of the j oint family to support her) and lastly ,her own diffidence derived from her sense of

being under a curse of Karma , al l make it

extremely d iff icult to ' remove her to the in

f luence of a good educational training for th e

service of her sisters and country .

Despite the d isadvantages in status e num e

rated , there is no doub t that the Indian woman

o f the higher castes is Sh ielded sp lendidlyfrom the uncertainties , d ifficulties , and tempta

tions of the rough-and-tumble life of the wage

earning western woman . A S there is no ex

cess.

of women over men in India , there is the

Shelter of her husband’

s home ava ilable for each

woman , who is thus never forced into earning

her l iving . W ith in the narrow conf ines of th is

home She has a peaceful,irresponsible

, un

troubled life , ful l of quiet l ittle relig ious festi

vals , many charities and hospita l ities,and

surrounded by the love and devotion of her


children . She is often steeped in religious

l iterature,and sh e cultivates music and

the various home handicrafts . Thus , with

practica lly every woman provided with a

home,i t is extremely unlikely that there will

a t any time be an incursion of women into

the arena o f labour Similar to that in the

West . I n the Shudra'

caste , however , women

work very freely Side by Side with men in all

k inds of labour denied to their sisters in other

countries ; but sex, and not the quality of the

work done , rules the rate o f payment in India

as elsewhere . Generally speaking,the

status o f the Indian woman o f to-day is very

Similar to that of the women o f early

Victorian times in England . She has better

rights of property , however , more respect

from her religion for h er sex , a greater re

v erence shown her for her motherhood, and

no man-made legal barriers to her public

activi ties under H indu law , whose princip le

seems to have been She m ay do what sheca n do

The future prospect of Indian womanhood isdistinctly hopeful . Public op inion is fast

waking up to the wrong done to the women

100 T HE AWAKEN ING OF ASIAN WOMANHOOD

and the impoverishment caused to the public

l ife by the lack o f education they have

had ; and the ca ll o f freedom is making

itself heard in the hearts of a ll the younger

women .

In all matters regarding women the Bombay

Presidency , comprising 1 9 million of people ,is far ahead of any other part of British India .

I tS girls are well educated , marry as late as

possible , and do not become mothers before 1 7 .

I tS women were granted the Municipal vote

some years ago and make good use o f their

right . Next to Bombay comes the Madras

Presidency with i ts population of 40 millions .

I t h as practically no pum’a h disability

,but it

h as a dowry system in its h igher castes

which is unworthy of any progressive country .

Match-making h as become a sordid matter of

business without romance or ideal in it . The

parents of the girl have to pay exorbitant sums

to induce the bridegroom’

s family to consent to

the marriage . This makes a family of girls

a lmost a curse to the ir parents .

I n these Presidencies women are being

encouraged to attend public lectures and

meetings of all k inds , to read vernacular


of Calcutta and North Ind ia , and the Women’s

Indian Association,which has 50 Branches

with its Headquarters a t Adyar,Madras .

There is a purely independent Ind ian Women’

s

University,run more on Japanese than on

British models , where the vernaculars are

the medium o f instruction , and English is

made a secondary foreign language , unlike

the Government institutions .

‘

A great Sign of

the times is that parents are beginning to look

for education as a desirable equipment in the

prospective wives of their sons . I ncreasingly

important Ladies’

Conferences are being held

annually Simultaneously with the National

Congresses .

The Social Reform Conference as early as

1 9 1 7 passed the following resolution,which

is a regular Woman’

s Charter Of Freedom of

Opportunity no t yet accorded to her by western

countries“ That sex Shall form no disqualification to

women entering any position or profession for

which She Shows herself capable .

”

The modern public spirit in women first

Showed itself clearly when a number of the

best-known Indian women were SO deeply

INb I AN WOMANHOOD TODAY 103

moved by the wrong s inflicted on their Sisters

in the Fi j i I slands that they went in deputa

t ion to the Viceroy about the matter and

succeeded in gaining the most urgent reforms .

In 1 9 1 6 the women o f the country were

stirred with indignation at the in ternment of

Mrs. Besant , and held many women’

s protest

meetings,and walked in procession to the

temples to pray for her release . The most

important event til l then in the h istory o f Ind ian

women under British rule was the representative

A ll-India Women’

s Deputation which waited

u pon the Secretary of S tate for India in 1 9 1 7 ,and for the f irst time made a clear demand

for Woman Suffrage and pressed for numerous

e ducational facilities . S ince that time there

has been practical unanimity between all

sections o f opinion in Indian political l ife

tha t women Should be g iven their responsible

share in self-government ; that , as the Nation

al Congresses have expressed it,“Women

p ossessing the same qualifications a s are laid

down in any part of the (Reform ) Scheme

shall no t be d isqualified on account of sex .

”

The idea of an independent life , apart from

the life of marriage , i s foreign to the thought


of the ordinary Indian woman,and is l ikely

to remain so . Yet it is possible to feel the

stir of a new life,new attitudes to problems ,

new desires for wider service to the Mother

land moving with in her quiet Sphere . The

transi tion period between the types of women

will be a d ifficult one for each individual .

Already it is being felt SO, but such is the

price of growth in freedom . Men are anxious

that the women of the land Shall keep pace

with them , and they welcome women to all

their representative gatherings .

One of the most notable women in India to-day

is Mrs . Sarojini Naidu—poetess-politicianpeacemaker . She h as written poems wh ich

move all India by their beauty and patriotism ;

She has been a leading figure in all political

and social reform movements , and She has been

elected President of several Provincial Con

ferences : She has been one of the greatest in

fluences making for the H indu-Muhammadan

entente ; She is the l iving continuation of the

famous women of India’

s past,one of the very

brightest j ewels in its crown o f starry f igures .

M rs . Gandh i has suffered martyrdom in an

A frican prison in her tigh t“

for the freedom o f


b rushed aside like a moth with ind ifference .

I f you deign to keep me by your S ide in the

path of danger and daring,if you allow me to

s hare the great duties o f your life , then you

wil l know my true self .”

CHAPTER V I I I

SHRIMAT I RAMABA I RANADE

THE late Justice Ran ade has many claims on

the gratitude of Ind ians for the great work he

initiated and accomplished , but the more I see

and know of the life o f Bombay and Poona ,

the more do I th ink that Mr . Ranade’

s greatest

ach ievem ent was h is wife . Under her care

the great institution known a s the Seva Sadan

has developed from being a H indu Lad ies’

Social Club with about twenty members in

1 909, into the f inest educational inst itution for

married women in India with a daily atten

dance of over 900 married women in 1 922 .

What manner o f woman is this who has

been able so to stimulate in other women such

a widespread desire for knowledge and SO to

organ ise successful methods of satisfying it !

She is a typical daughter of her land—Maharash tra—Simple , hard-working , hard-headed ,


soft-hearted , practical,idealistic

,patriotic ,

paroch ial , Shy , brave , conservative , p ioneering ;a paradox of good qualit ies , but supremely a

servant of her Sisters, with life dedicated to

their advancement .

Readiness seems to me to be her funda

mental characteristic . I t is il lustrated by her

method of replying to my request that Sh e

would Spare me some of her valuable time at

the close of a meeting which we were both

attending , and then grant me an interview .

“ Come into my office now ;”She said ,

“ we

can have some time while the ladies are

ga thering , and I wil l tell you about my life .

”

So has She been ready and will ing to seize

every opportunity for helpfuln ess .

But while her Sp irit of readiness belongs to

her own soul , her capacity for being prepared

for the best use of the Opportunity is the

product of years o f tra ining and educat ion

given to her by her noble husband She

told me She was born in a l itt le village in

the Satara D istrict . That was in 1862 , and

She was only eleven years Old when Sh e

was marr ied to the then recently widowed

Mr . Ranade , aged th irtytwo . I t was a great


improving her mind , and gained SO much

courage from the example o f the Pandita that

in 1 884 She read an address to the Governor

praying that a G irls’

H igh School m ight be

established in Poona . In those days it took

immense courage for a woman to stand up in

public a t all , even to read an address composed

by her husband . In these days it is not public

Opinion a woman speaker fears , but her own

nervousness . Mrs . Ranade is now a ready ,forceful speaker, able to set forth clearly and

convincingly the points She wishes to make .

Justice Ran ade l iked to have the newspapers

read aloud to h im . Sometimes he would ask

his wife to read , or sh e would be present

while his clerk read them . They would then

d iscuss public questions together,and this

proved the foundation of Ramaba i Ramade’

s

interest in affairs of the day . She used to

travel with her husband on h is official tours,

and both then and during his vacations She

came into touch with the wives of other

Indian off icials to whom She used to Speak of

what she had learnt through the papers and

through her precious conversations with her

husband . This led to the establishment of

SHR IMAT I KAMABA I RANADE 1 1 1

drawing-room meetings in her house . In

these private ways Sh e was bein g tra ined

for the great work which has now become

hers .

Alas,in 1 901 , after only f ive months

’

i ll

ness , the beloved husband was unexpectedlysnatched away by Yama , and the 27 years

’

comradeship was closed. For a year th e

afflicted widow remained in the strictest

seclusion , but her greates t ambition was to

l ive as her husband had encouraged her to do

for the service o f others. They had had no

ch ildren,but had adopted a daughter , and with

her Mrs . Ranade removed to a house which

was her own property in Poona , and there

Sh e tried to soften her sorrow in work that

Sh e knew would please h er husband and be

useful to others .

She started a Hindu Ladies’

Soc ial Club

wh ich met a t her house and wh ich later

opened classes for illiterate women and

widows . There was thus an organ ised body

o f women ready to whom the members of th e

Servants o f I ndia Soc iety could turn for helpin urgent socia l work when plague and famine

ravaged the city and the surrounding districts.


T hrough the co-operation of Mr . G . K . Deva

d har , one o f the prominent members o f that

Society , the whole scheme of the present

S eva Sadan was drawn up , and the Older

Ladies’

Club was expanded into it with

results then undreamt of . I ts Objects may be

summed up as education , mutual helpfulness,n ational s ervice . I ts means are organ isation

a n d self-sacrifice . The meaning of Seva Sadan

is the Home of Service .

AS M rs . R anade i s the life and soul of the

movement, it was'

but natural that it was round

her home that the classes first started . There

in a quiet street Off the main thorough fares of

Poona City , she and Mr. Devadhar, her right

hand-man , have grappled with problem after

problem of fin ance , staff , housing , expansion , as

they came up for solution . Oh , the pride that

shone in her eyes and thrilled in h ervoice

a s She told me the fact that She had just found

from the attendance roll that 900 women

were attending daily excluding those coming to

the maternity and infant welfare centre ! One

is tempted to rela te the romance of that story

of expansion , but it is the woma n we are here

c oncerned with . I t is characteristic of the


Sisters there , those Often more sinned against

(by society] than Sinn ing . Thus even her

Sundays sh e devotes to freeing souls in bondage .

Though pla in o f face, f igure and dress , at f irst

g lance hardly d istinguishable from hundreds

of other dull-sareed Marath i women , yet there

is a sense of alertness, awareness , al iveness

about her that marks her out from her Sisters,

and Shines from her clear , free eyes despite

the Spectacles which tel l o f l imitations of sight .

S imilarly,though She is small o f physical

stature, sh e is head and Shoulders over all of

us in her Sp irit of self-renunciation and in th e

success of her persevering work .

I asked her, What do you th ink of thef uture of women in Ind ia I t is full of hope

and promise ,”She replied , and in doing so

Spontaneously took my hand and pressed it .

I t touches a Westerner when her Eastern sister

does that . I t bridges gulfs and knits the human

Sisterhood together . L ik e M iraba i of the poet’s

intuition sh e

We ars litt le h an dsSuch a s God m ake s to h o ld big de stin ie s .

Her hands revealed her soul , for in their

touch was soft sweetness and strong vitality

SHR IMAT I RAMABAI RANADE 1 15

which still inspire me , and which promise the

blessing o f her remarkable powers of service

to humanity for years to come .

S ince writing the above M rs . Ranade has

become the proud possessor of the leg isla tive

vote , woman suffrage having been granted in

the Bombay Presidency . The greatest applause

of the three days’

debate on the subject in the

Bombay Council was given at the mention of

her name by the Hon . H . Lawrence , Member

of the Executive Council . Having first fully

supported the grant of the vote to women,he

went on to say that even their admission into

the Council itself a s M embers had no terrors

for him , for, said he ,“ There is no Council

wh ich would not be honoured , graced and

helped by the presence of such a woman as

one who is known to us all , Mrs . Ramaba i

Ranade”

CHAPTER I !

SHRIMAT I SAROJ IN I NA IDU

M Y acquaintance with Shrim a ti Sarojin i Naidu

most fortunately began at the centre of her l if e,

her home , and afterwards in sequence I grew

to know her in her ever-widening circles of

influence , power and service , as Poetess,

Peacemaker, Politician , Priestess of India’

s

freedom in foreign lands .

A daintily expressed invita tion had come to

me from her in June , 19 1 6, requesting me to

break a j ourney between Poona and Madras by

a call a t Hyderabad , where at her home we

might talk over many things we had in common .

I well remember the del ightful sense o f cool

ness and culture that greeted my jaded senses

as I entered her beautiful drawing-room , where

the perfection o f artist ic taste had known how

to combine the rich effects o f Eastern colour in

carpets and crafts with the comfort ofWestern

1 1 8 THE AWAKEN ING OF AS IAN WOMANHOOD

understanding o f the struggle of women then

proceeding for political and economic freedom

in other countries and heard her wise attitude

to fem i nist problem s o f the East,that I cried

out with in mysel f : She is greater than they

told me . She is greater than her poems . Her

patriotism is the rival even while it is the

inspiration of her poetry . For her country

She would sacrifice even her beloved gift of

song .

”She was not then the power in politi

cal a ffa irs that she has Since proved herself,but

my feelings then about her have proved them

selves true prophets . I was much impressed

with the bigness of her mind and the dainty

grace of her small person , fragile after her

long wrestle with pain .

It was touching to see how she was the

cherished one in the household . There was

the protecting strength and upholding of her

clever, quiet husband with h is sen se of power,the admiration and pett ing given her by her

ch ildren , the devotion and consideration shown

her by her servants, all bearing eloquent

tribute to her ideal character as wife, mo ther

and employer . In personality sh e ever kept

reminding me of France . I felt I Should be

SHR IMAT I SAROJ I N I NA IDU 1 1 9

speaking French and not English to her . The

silver ornaments on her dressing-table of the

French Empire design,the gestures She SO

often uses,sl ight mannerisms ak in to pose ,

the foreign nuance in her accent, and her wit

and vivacity,caused one to speculate rom an ti

cally about her last incarnation and dream of her

as the bright and Shining Star of some brilliant

French salon at the height of France’

s glory .

Or, rather, She is the Aryan type from which

we can see how easily sprang the whole Celtic

race . I n appearance , save for her dress , she

might easily be taken for an I talian , such is

the Sim ilarity between the root-stock and its

children of Europe .

I have called her a Peace-maker, and it is

one of the names She best loves . I t is one of

her dearest desires to l ink with the bonds of

love and mutual interests and understanding

the great Muslim and H indu sections o f Indian

life,and from that unity to stretch out hands of

fellowship to the Western races . The cir

cum stance s of h er l ife have caused her to be a

living epitome of what She seeks . H indu by

birth , brought up in constant touch with

Muhammadans in a Muhammadan city , and


again in la ter l ife making h er home and

friends in the same O I ty ,rece iving her impetus

to poetic express ion from her contact with the

culture and civil isation o f Europe , and rece iving

a lso there her first recognition as a genius , She

is the product of al l the diversities Sh e now

seeks to unify . Thus sh e i s equally at home

in a Muslim gathering and in an English

lecture hall . The contribution Sh e , unaided ,made towards bringing about the H indu

Muslim entente cannot be measured .

I t was later that sh e responded to the call to

s tan d forward as the spokeswoman o f her

own sex in the Deputation s first to the

Viceroy, on behalf of the Ind ianwomen in Fij i,and next as the leader o f the A l l-India

Women’

s Deputation to the Honourable E . S .

Montagu , Secretary of S tate for Ind ia , during

h is h istoric visit to India . I t was then that

she fully identified herself with the cla im for

the pol itica l Franch ise for Indian women , a

movement which She made particularly her

own during the following years . I remember

She told us She had chosen her saree with

care that day SO tha t i ts effect might be l ike

the gleaming of the Silver moonligh t in the


Committee of the National Congresses . Her

experience and training in public adm in i

stra tive work of a national kind make it essential

that al l the new Reform Legislatures , even

the most exalted,be freely open to women

such as She , SO th at their services may be

availed of in consolidating and expand ing the

instalment of national freedom given by the Re

form Bill forwhich She worked SO strenuously .

Part o f her popularity as a publicist is due

to her gift of eloquence . She is one o f the

most sought-after speakers in India . Old and

young flock to hear her . Her enunciation is

clear , her voice carries a surprisingly long

distance , her subjectS arare always interesting

and top ical , her s tyle is rhetorical and impas

sion ed, depend ing on making its effects more

by appeals to the emotions and intuition than

to the reason . She also possesses that personal

magnetism and charm of manner which are

SO essent ial for a fine lecturer . Her English

is perfect,but I h ave always wished to hear

her speak in one of the Indian mother-tongues .

I imagine she would be entirely irresistible in

them . AS might be expected , imagery and

figur es of speech of all k inds abound in her

SHR IMAT I SAROJ I N I NA IDU 123

addresses and there is a n atural tendency

towards rhythm in all her prose which add s

to its appeal to the listener .

She who passed her Matriculation at th e

age of 1 2 has long been the idol o f students a l l

over India . I once saw her being met by

crowds of them at a railway station where the

wealth of flowers heaped upon her might have

seemed an answer to her own cry

H ide m e in a shrine of rose s ,Drown m e in a wi ne o f rose sDrawn from ev ery fragran t grove

And with her , as with Browning’s “ Patriot

,

it h as indeed been Roses,roses

,al l the way

save where the thorns of physical pain have

caused her to cry out

Pa in -weary a nd d ream -worn I lie awake ,Coun tin g like he ads th e bla z ing stars o ’

erh ead .

From all this admiration and acclamation

She turned at the call of patriotic duty,

and l ike a true politica l sannyasin went

out in to the wilderness of the West to add h er

persuasive voice to those other servants o f

Ind ia who went in Deputation to the British

Parliament in connection with the formulation


o f the promised Reform Bill . Her Memo

randum to the Parliamentary Joint Committee

o n the desirability and justice o f granting full

franch ise and polit ical equality to Indian

Women was a rem arkable combination of the

p rose of fact with the poetry of ideal ism . I t

won high encomiums from all,and will remain

a classic o f feminism in this country . A fter

t hat S he has spent her t ime in visit ing various

European countries , always in the interest of

I ndia . She had a royal reception in a

tour she was requested to take in Sweden . At

t h e Conference of the International Women

S uffrage All iance held in Geneva , Switzerland,h er addresses made a profound impression and

revolutionised the false ideas of many con

cerning the conditions and capacity of Indian

women . In Paris Sh e received a great ov a

t ion , and her lec tures in all the important

c ities of Great Brita in drew very large and

appreciative audiences who were en tirely

c harmed by her eloquence . She brought to the

West the message of Ind ia’

s spiritual culture ,

o f its ideals of Ahimsa , tolerance , passive

resistance,soul-force , and the worship o f the

M other . She is a Priestess o f a new Gospel,


generally for future India the advantages of

c ircumstances which were excep tionally hers,

a nd which undoubted ly helped to make her

Na tive o f a com in g dayFar upon our human way ,

Wh en in ey e s of a ll Sh a ll sh ineWh a t is proph ecy in th ine .

CHAPTER !

SHR IMAT I ABALA BOSE

( ! ADY J . C . BO SE )

IT is strange that the wives of great men do

not get their adequate Share of public attention ,for it takes a grea t woman to be the worthy

helpmeet of a genius , be he a scientist, artist,poet or statesman. The Indian Rishis recog

n ised th is fact when they decreed that the

wife of the Guru was to be g iven a s great

reverence as the Guru h imself . The world

of science and the Indian people who recog

nise S ir J . C . Bose as a modern Guru have

not recognised how much indeb ted they are

to h is wife both as an ideal wife for such a

man and as an outstanding personality in her

own righ t . She is on e o f the most awakened

women in India today and on e o f th e most

potent forces in Soc ial reform in Bengal .


By heredity,temperament and education

Lady Bose is admirably fitted for the great task

She is destined to fulfil . Her father , the late

Durga Mohan Das , was an ardent member of

the Brahmo Samaj , a leading lawyer in Calcutta ,and a champion o f education for girls . He

was one of the founders of a GirlS’

School

which became so highly efficient that it was

desired that it Should be joined w ith the well

known Bethun e School,and raised to the status

of a College for women . Lady Bose retains an

intense affection and admiration for her father ,who was such a wonderful man that he seemed

like father and mother in on e (her mother had

died early .) A long the road of science he

destined h is Abala to travel , and She spent

four years attend ing the Med ical College in

Madras. but became such a victim to fever for

the la st year in the trying clima te of that city

that much to her disappo intment sh e had to

give up her studies and return home . But

her tra ining in sc ience gave her the basis

for intellectual companion ship and affin ity o f

interest with the young scient ist whom Sh e

j ust about then met soon after h is return from

England . J agadish C . Bose is Six years h er


perfect order . I t is a characteristic of this

scientist that he is always spotlessly dressed .

He says he is too absent-minded to be a safe

driver of h is car, but he has none of the

personal untid iness that one sometimes associ

ates with researchers into th e unknown : but

then,perhaps his wife is eyes and ears and

hands to him on the lower levels of daily

life : it struck me , at any rate, that Sh e is.

Indeed She admitted as much when Sh e said

that he could never have managed for himself

on his long tours .

She has accompanied him in all h is world

tours,although at first She was herself very

much averse to travelling Now Sh e enj oys

i t thoroughly, and She told me that nothing

broadens one’

s outlook so much as meeting

representat ive men and women of different

nationalities and yet f inding humanity much the

same despite its surface differences . She is pro

bably the mos t travelled Indian woman of

today . She h as met the most famous scientis ts

and literary men no t nearly every coun try

and has formed warm friendships w ith a

number of families both in Europe and

America .

SHR IMAT I ABALA BOSE 13 1

My first impression of Lady Bose was , Here

i s a free woman full o f motherliness andflcomm on -Sense

”I found later that, though

sh e has no ch ildren of her own,sh e mothers

e ight nephews and nieces who think the world

o f her ; Sh e mothers the students of the R e

search Institute ; and as the enthusiastic and

hard-working Secretary of the Brahmo GirlS’

School and the Six schools O f the “Nari

Siksha Samiti She mothers over 500 girls and

a large number of young wives and mothers

t o whose education Sh e devotes her fine

! organising ability .

Her dedication to the promotion of education

dates from the days of her girlhood when the

intense wave of national feeling swept

through Bengal,and n o more fervid patriots

could be found than Abala and her two

young friends . The three o f them had, one

day , when girls , locked themselves into their

room and solemnly vowed to on e another

that they would do exerc ises daily to make

t heir bodies strong , and devote their lives to

the service of the ir country. For years Sh e

opposed the idea oflaccepting any Government

a id for g irlS’

schools under her care,but a


growing realisation that it was the money of'

their own people, to be used for the service of

the people , reconciled her to taking grants for!

the Splendid school for which She and her sis

ters and brother contributed R S . How

I wished , as She told me of those unique vows ,that thousands of girls throughout Ind ia m ight

be Similarly f ired w ith dedication to health ,self-reliance , and educational service of others !

Her keen patriotism shows itself in the

practical detail s of her home life . During

my enjoyment of her delightful hospitality I'

not iced the absence of foreign -made art icles in

her home . Everywhere were brass and stone‘

vessels , homespun cloths, Dacca saries, Indian

printed cottons as curta ins and covers,meals

taken in the orthodox Indian fash ion (delicious

food it was , and I felt honoured in partaking of

it in the Ind ian manner, ) Indian furn iture and

p icture s by Indian artists . Only in scientific

appliances is the West allowed to enter,and

hyg ien ic , sanitary, and labour-saving arran ge

ments are made full use of in th is wise lady ’s .

home . I t would be a happier , health ier and

wealthier day for India if al l her housewivesthus combined the best of East and West in


a Training Home and Hostel for W idows and

Ind igen t Women to be established in Calcutta .

I t bids fair to become the blessing to Eastern

India which Mrs . R an ade’

s similar institu

t ion has been to the Bombay Side . She has

had the great encouragement of receiving a

Donation for it of Rs . from Shrim a ti

Harim ati Datta , another Bengali lady .

Devoted primarily to the care and com

pan ionship of her husband , Lady Bose has

proved in her l ife that the awakened Ind ian;

wife of today can combine most able service to

the education of her sex with private home

cares , and that the internationalism of science

can be linked on to the promotion of national

well-being .

So far back as 1 900, Swami Vivekananda

with h is penetrating insight , could see all these

powers in her . In on e of h is letters about the

Parisl n terna tional Congress of 1 900 he writes“ Here in Paris have assembled the great of

every land,each to proclaim the glory of h is

country . Savants will be acclaimed here, and

it s reverberation will glorify their countries .

Where is thy representat ive , O thou the

country of my birth Out of this vas t

SHR IMAT I ABALA BOSE 135

assembly a young man stood for thee, one of thy

heroic sons , whose words have electrified the

audience, and will thrill all his countrymen .

Blessed be th is heroic son ; blessed be his

devoted and peerless helpmeet wh o stands by

him always .

Indeed,She might be termed our inter

national object-lesson to the world of the

ideal Indian wife,a veritable modern Ma itreyi,

wandering this forest of a world with her

husband,giving and receiving knowledge of

the D ivine Unity in Manifestation .

CHAPTER ! I

BURMESE M IN IATURES

THEY came tripping along a busy street of

Rangoon , attracting me by the smiling inter

change of their merry conversation which

seemed to be echoed by their fluttering pink

Silk scarves and their pattering sandals . This

pair of Burmese girls seemed as careless and

thoughtless as butterflies, when suddenly, on

passing the steps leading up to the pagoda, they

dropped on their knees on the crowded foot

path , and there, beside the pagoda railing , in

terrupted their careless chattering by an act of

sweet and simple prayer of devotion to the

Buddha typical of their whole race . A S devoid

of self-consciousness or sex-consciousness as

the flowers they carried were they as they

rose and flitted onwards again .

FR 916

She sat beside m e. on a cosy couch in a

Burmese drawing -room . Her j et-black hair


with the newly born pride in home manu-r

facture that is becoming as evident in Burma

as in India . I also purchased the under

camisole of the costume . Though it was

elaborately made with a design necessitatingmuch care and stitch ing , it s cost was only on e

rupee ! There must be “ sweating ” some

where , I fear, that needs investigation . I S the

grea t industry of Burmese women beingexploited No Burmese men-shopkeepers are

to be seen ; all the reta il commerce of the

country is in the capable hands of the women .

Arithmetic is the favourite subject of th e

Burmese school-girl . How different from .

India !

Rows of l ittle g irls,unlike any others I had

ever seen , were being taught in much the

same way as all other ch ildren of the world,but their teachers were essentially different

because of their strik ing youthfulness . These

have come forward voluntarily to staff the

National Educational Schools which Since !

two years ago have introduced in to the

curriculum the teach ing of the Buddhist reli

g ion and the more extensive use of the Burmese

BURMESE M IN IATURES 139

language . ! eal for service as educationists is

noticeable among the young men and women

o f Burma to-day . A delightful lunch of Burmese ‘

delicacies served by th ese young ladies to the

accompaniment of music on the Burmese

harp rounded off my visit to these GirlS’

Schools . Young men and women teachers

moved together easily ; and these brigh tly

dressed graceful girls fluttered handkerchiefs

from the windows as I drove away, and then

shyly and quickly ran out of sight, leaving me

with the impression that they had done some

thing unusually demonstrative for their custom ,

the dears !

In the great Golden Pagoda (Shwe Dagon]a procession comes along Slowly and with

dignity . It is that of a Shan Chieftain who

had come from North Burma to honour the

Prince of Wales . Men and women move

together the Chieftain,his wife, sons and

daughters,members of h is retinue of both

sexes . A l l are richly dressed in Silks , the

women’

s skirts heavily embroidered round the

ends in silver and sequins ; beautiful j ewels are

on their necks and hands (not on their faces)


y e t gaudiness and ostentation are noticeably

a bsent. The good taste of the Burmese in

dress is unimpeachable . They carry flowers ,candles, favours, trays of sweetmeats and

fruit as offerings . The Chieftainess directs

the p lac ing of,th ese on the Shrines while the

young daughters are frankly more interested

in the people visiting the Pagoda , and we

politely exchange stares until they proceed

with their devotions .9k 9!

Behold the sh ining Golden Pagoda on the

left,carved brown wooden minarets on the

right,gleaming white Shrines and tall palm

t rees in the background and a host of greyrblue pigeons on the marbl e platform in the

foreground . In the midst of these is a woman

in a brown Silk skirt,a white muslin Short

j acket, a brilliant yellow scarf which throws‘ into relief the .vivid black of her hair and the

motions of her pretty hands as sh e scatters grain

in the sunlight to these feathered friends o f hers

whose rank s are now increased by a number»o f crows and some cocks and hens . Thus is. sh e practising compassion to all creatures

i 916


h ouse for the following hour . Such is the

quie t family eventide in the village .

9K 3K i

A t home , Shopping , in the Pagoda , every

where , sh e carries her large cheroot,lights

i t now and again , smokes it gracefully, allows

it to go out but stil l carries it for further

pleasure . I t may be on e of those so long and

th ick that it lasts for a whole day . Sm ok

ing is the most observable feature of the

Burmese woman’

s life . Beside it the ciga

rette of the modern Western girl Sinks into

pale insignificance . But what about nicotine

poisoning !

The tall,pretty , young Burmese woman is

s triving to l ift up her heavy basket of pro

v isions from the Shore . A well-dressed

Muhammadan of middle age is about to pass her

and sees her efforts . He kindly and respect

f ully helps her to hoist it to her head . She

smiles her thanks,and they proceed in Opposite

d irections . N o race antagon isms here .

élé is it!

Those deep wicker and lacquer trays carry

food for sale,explains my friend . Very littl e

BURMESE M IN IATURE S 1 43

c ooking is done in individual homes by

Burmese townswomen , s ince they leave their

houses early for their business ; so meals are“bought ready cooked da ily . This is the

Burmese solution of co -Opera tive k itchens .

Who are these approaching in a line on e

b eh ind the other Each wears a fawn-yellow

robe,each bears an earthen pot on her head .

There is a sense of peace and aloofness about

them . Only when they pass close by can

one distinguish that they are women

Buddhist nuns . They live in their own

community build ing near the beautifu l pagoda

crowning the hill which juts into the ri ver,

and they are wend ing the ir way down the

steep bank to the riverside for the evening

supply of water . Thousands Of such ded icated

women there are in Burma , vowed to the

service of the Sanga (communal order) and to

the quest for illumination . Did n ot the

Buddha say in the S za‘ta

,

Woman may atta in the h ighest path of

holiness that is open to man—Arhatship


A Splash and a light laugh I look towards

the Shore,and there is a young woman

swimming out towards our steamer . With

rapid strong strokes She leaves the shore , her

black hair gleaming in the sunlight , then back

again Sh e moves till Sh e reaches a naked

small girlie . She catches her up and plays

with her in the water while other bath ing

women and men lazily watch the pair .

Having deposited the youngster on the bank ,the young mother tightens her dark bathin g

dress around her, and out sh e dives again in

Sheer joy Of water, sunshine and motion !

Free as the fishes are the women O f Burma .

Neither in the water , in the trees, on the

open roads , nor in the market place does the

Burmese woman know fear,or hold suspicion

against man in her thought .


speculation , these again cul tivate independence

and self-reliance which produce a marked

individualism with its ten dency , at worst

toward s arrogance and aggress ion , and at best

towardsorganisation and strict order .

On the other hand , most of the character

istics related to th e Asian civil isation can be

traced to the influence o f the tropical climate

on over s ix hundred mill ions of its population .

Overpowering heat for six m onths in the year ,glaring sunshine , burning sand to walk on ,and an enervating atmosphere which weigh s

one down ; all these prove the very reverse

to bodily and mental stimulation . Those who

can afford to do SO stay indoors in darkened

rooms,move about as little as possible, and

cultivate passivity rather than activity . Re

creation is got from playing cards, dice , or

other sedentary games , th rough the cultivation

of literature , music or pa inting , or through

enjoyment of the drama in the cool hours of

the n ight , a play usually beginning at 10 p .m .

and end ing about 2 a m . Even those who are

forced by economic n ecessity to work at

m anual and 'unskilled labour are prevented

by conditions of heat and lassitude from doing

CHARACTER ISTICS OF WOMANHOOD 147

as much work per day as would be easily done

by a similar worker in a temperate Cl imate .

The consequence of this fundamental factor

of climatic environment in the lives of Asian

womanhood is, th at, speaking generally, the

physique of eastern women h as remained

undeveloped . The women are physically

small,fragile , dainty , graceful , and f all an

easy prey to fevers , plague , consumption ,epidem ics and th e strain of childbirth . To

the western mind the lack of interes t shown

by Asian women in games , outdoor sports, and

physical culture is a striking characteristic of

Asian civilisation . T o the eastern mind

western women look physically over-developed,

hard,bold

,big , and a s I f they had sacrif iced

beauty on the altar o f robust good health . There

are two points of view to everything But the

evidence of statistics leaves on e in no doubt

that the health of Asian women is deplorably

poor, as seen by the very high percentage of

women who die young , and by the low age at

which the general death average stands com

pared with that o f other countries . Exceptions

to th is state of affairs are to be found in women

of the hill-tribes, and in women of the desert .


It is interesting to note in passing that all

t rades seem open to Asian women without

any d istinction of sex trades-union ism .

Women take a full share in the building and

road-making trades in India,for instance .

One sees women mounting four flights of

ricketty scaffold ing steps carrying heavy loads

o f bricks or cha n am ( l ime) on their heads,and seemingly having no nerves . A long the

Chinese coasts the women sail the junks as

skilfully as any men . In Burma the whole

retail trade of the country is efficiently carried

on by the women . In Bhopal S tate there

is still a battalion of women warriors as

bodyguard to th e Begum . The women every

where who have equality of freSh air,ex

e rcise , and mental opportunity with men,

Show the ability to develop equal physica l

powers ; but these are usually the women o f

the poorer classes . A las ! the world-wide

characteristic of payment for labour by sex,and not by Similarity o f work , holds good

East as well as West ; and I n all except the

teaching professions women are pa id at a

much lower rate than men . Sex as an

economic factor is penalised everywhere


there is a great con spiracy of silence about al l

sex m atters . I t is strange that in the East,where all the particulars relating to sex are

known to all, even to the young children ,custom in all its countries enshrouds woman

in mystery,and seeks to secure respect for

her by Shutting her away from view . This it‘

does in one country by veiling her, in another

by practically incarcerating her in harems , in

another in zenanas,in a third by so manipul

ating the feet ( in the name of beauty !) that

they are made only the size and Shape of a

C losed fist on which it is nearly impossible to

balance onesel f or walk (thus hobbled] without

torture . The giving of respect to woman has

come to be associated with customs and

conventions of the social life rather than

with the inherent character of th e woman

concerned .

The general artificially imposed aloofness

from the masculine half of hum anity, and

indeed also from the women outside their own

family circle,has developed in A sian women

characteristics of Shyness,modesty and timid

ity hard to find in women at present in other

parts of the world . In the upper classes they

CHARACTERIST ICS OF WOMANHOOD 1 5 1

a re retiring almost to the point of self-efface

ment. Downcast eyes in the presence of m en

i s the order of the day from Japan to Suez .

I n many countries women cannot bear to

appear before men or strangers (even women

strangers) without th e safe enfoldment of a

veil . Behind its protection they will speak

more at their ease . Will it be believed that ayoung Muhammadan lady who in tends to make

the law her profession,and who has already

passed her first law examinations with

d istinction , has done all her study behind the

curtains of strict pa rda h And an Indian young

lady who is brilliantly clever,and is becoming

an eye specialist in the medical profession in

London , cl ings to her veil and retains almost

all her g as/1 a customs in that city o f women’

s

f reedom

The timidity thus Shown does not Spring

from fear or cowardice,for Asian history and

story tell over and over again of the bravery of

women—Jae] , Padm in i, the warrior queen ofJ hansi , Sangh am ita , T eru té , Abu tsun i ; it is

the result of seclusion with in narrow walls

literally and metaphorically,in such darkness

that the glare of the full l ight o f day at first


half blinds and confuses them ; and it is onlywhen they have become accustomed to the new

circumstances of free conversation with those

outside their own immediate circle that they

Show their real charac ter and ability . The

Shyness Shown is also due to an excess of self

consciousness and exaggeration o f sex -con

sciousn ess. Whatever may have been the

d ifferent status of eastern women in early

historic times , it is the case that the East

today iden tifies woman too n arrowly with her

function o f child-bearing,and the atmosphere

of awareness of sex is too tangible for psv

chological good health . However, it g iveswomen the appealing and alluring aspect of

the charm of sex , and strengthens all the

dist inct ively feminine tastes of an aesthetic

nature , such as love of colour, ornament , music

and rhythm .

T h e characteristic of repose , more properlydescribed as a lack of restlessness , is marked

in all eastern women . In Asia,

there is no

feverish racing after changing fashions . T h e

dress of Indian women is the same in form

today as it was thousands o f years ago . During

a few years when the fever of westernism


bu t still it is the ambition of every woman to

dress in silk , for long experience has taught

them its durability, its lightness, its beauty,its easy laundrying , its ceremonial purity .

In a recent large assembly for Convocation in

Madras every woman was dressed in Silk

except the Europeans . W ith regard to the

d isposition of cloth ing , East and West are veryd ifferent . The evening-dress low necks of

the West are Shocking to the East, whereas

the amount of bare leg displayed by women of

m any Asian countries would appear highly

improper to a westerner . After a long stay

in the East,western hats seem a peculiar

phase of feminine eccentricity , for no eastern

woman wears more than a veil or part of the

f olds of her dress-drapery on her head .

I t is not generally known outside Asia that

women all over the Asian continent indulge

in smoking . In Japan a very small and

d ainty pipe is used,in China and Burma and

S iam large C igars or ch eeroots, I n Northern

I ndia the hookah and the same amongst all

the Muhammadan women of Western Asia .

The tobacco seems to be of a milder kind th an

t hat used by western smokers , and it is just as

CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMANHOOD 155

well , as large masses of eastern women are

d evotees o f the weed .

T h e use o f powder and colouring m atter for

t h e eyes and Skin seems to be world wide .

I t reaches its cl imax in the Japanese, but

o ther races also have striking colouring

customs . The merchant-caste women in

India cover their faces , arms and legs with

a greenish -yellow called saffron . Al l Indian

women adorn their brow with a small Spot of

c rimson which denotes respectability and

marriage . A widow is not allowed to wear

i t. Collirium is used to darken the eyelashes

by Indian women blackening of the teeth is

s till done by Japanese married women .

There is much more display in the East

t han in th e West in the wearing of j ewellery .

The Chinese and Japanese women wear very

little, but women of the other countries of

A sia amply make up for their lack . From the

l owest to the highest the cry is for “ j ewels,m ore j ewels This has two reasons, partly

inherent love of beautifu l and beautifying

things, and partly because the jewellery be

c omes the woman’

s property and constitutes her

bank account . O ften the lobe Of the ear is


pierced all round and ornaments are inserted

in each piercing . The nostrils are also

p ierced and nose rings or nose jewe ls in serted .

In the hair, round the neck , on the arms,sometimes almost covering them completely,round the waist , round the ankles and on the

toes there are ornaments of gold , silver and

precious stones . In those countries where

jewellery is popular, it is as fashionable to

wear on e’

S whole regalia in the morning as in

the evening , in the market-place and at a festi

val . In many a case a face is d isfigured in

order to make pegs for j ewels whose purpose

paradoxically is to make the face more

charming .

A more aesthetic form of adornment finds

much favour in certain races , namely, the use

of f lowers for the beautifying of the hair and

the household . The Burmese women have

very dainty ways of weaving flowers into the

swathing of their hair , and at marriage times

in India flowers are SO intricately twined into

the plaiting of the hair that the whole head is

covered with a floral cap . The love of flowers

for every purpose is a prominen t trait of

eastern women and Shows itself especially in


ideals regard ing their duties and method of

development .

Nature has g iven her compensation to her

eastern daughters by making them superlatively

the custodians and exponents o f gentleness .

The eastern woman’

s belief that supreme

happiness results only from utter service

to her husband whom sh e is taught to regard

a s a God , gives her a purity and quiet sweet

ness not Similarly found in other parts of the

globe . I t also gives a distinctive f lavour to her

self-sacrifice . A ll women are self-sacrificing ;but the element of fatalism (Karma , the W ill

of God,Kism et) gives a pecul iar grace of resig

nation to the patience with which eastern

women bear all suffering . I f they were not

so resigned,they would not have SO many

calls on their powers o f resignation ; but that is

the western,not the eastern , point of v iew ! No

thing can excel the graceful gentleness Of the

Asian woman , whether sh e is Showing it in the

deta ils of hosp ital ity in which sh e is SO free

handed, or in serving her husband with food

(no matter how late he may be sh e wil l not

touch a bite lh erse lf t ill he is first served) , or

in sharing in the religious functions in which

CHARACTERIST ICS OF WOMANHOOD 159

her importance as mother gives her an essential

p art,or in her care of her children who are

her living j ewels, or in her respect and vener

ation for her parents in whose presence she

will not Sit down without the latter’

s perm is

sion, or f inally in her devotions at the shrines

of her deities where her deeply religious

nature Shows itself fully .

The eastern woman is too prone , in her self

deprec iation , to consider her sex a curse , and

to th ink that to be born a man is a mark of

superior evolution of soul . A ccord ing to

Christan bel ief , Eve , the first woman (likewise

an Asian) felt also that her sex was a curse .

(Why do people overlook the fact that Adam ,

man,was fated to live under a curse also T o

Eve,however, was made the great and joyful

promise , tha t the curse would be removed

from her as time went on ; that through her

power to bring a saviour-soul to earth,the

whole of her sex would be set free from the

domination of the desire-nature of man and

the travail o f painful Childbirth . The awaken

ing of women all over the world to the

enlarged responsibilities that are theirs to

mother and redeem the world is a proof that


the curse is lifting . I t will perhaps take an

mon of. t ime to accomplish , as it involves funda

mental changes in the present sex relation

ships of men and women ; in the development

o f both mascul ine and feminine qualities of

soul in each man and woman ; in better

c onditions of health for women ; in the more

equalised intellectual development of women ;in entirely reformed conditio ns of labour in

th e world ; in the birth , from many of the

purest, virgin-souled women , Of many great

Gurus and world-reformers . But the Dawn

o f th is Day of Hope has arisen . W ith awe we

hail it , both East and West, the dawn in which

the awakened womanhood of both hemispheres

is mak ing itself ready to give its distinctive

gifts each to each and to Human ity for the

regeneration of the World

Prin t ed by J . R . Aria a t t h e Va san t a. Press, A dyar, Madra s.

The Awakening of Asian Womanhood - Forgotten Books

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