Walter Matthew Gallichan

“ The position of widows is as unfortunate as that of childless women, or the mothers of girls. There are millions of widows in India, many of them young, and well constituted for re- marriage and the functions of motherhood. Hindu- ism forbids the second union, though the law is being modified. A girl widowed at eighteen must remain celibate for the rest of her life. ”

“ This Indian lady has drawn up an indictment in a little volume, called ' The High Caste Hindu Woman." Her criticism deserves our attention as representing at any rate the earnest opinions of an educated native woman, who desires the highest well-being for her sisters.
One of the wrongs of women in India, whether living in monogamous marriage or in the zenana, lies in the disability of the mother who bears only daugh- ters. We have been assured that India is a country where women are held in the highest esteem. ”

“ The Pundita says that, through incapable treatment, a very large number of women die in India, and she attributes the high female mortality to this cause.
An instance of the conservative spirit of Hinduism has arisen lately (1913) . The suffering woman of high caste runs the risk of grave religious and social censure if she undergoes an operation for the cure of a serious malady. Thus, the Maharanee of Indore had to come to England for an operation for appendicitis, and it is said that she incurred blame for breaking away from the tradition forbidding such relief. ”

“ The girls of respectable families are not allowed to sing or dance, but sometimes they imitate the dancing of the nautch girls. Dancing is usually an art practised only by the professional dancers, who are not highly esteemed in society.
The system of marriage by parental arrangement is condemned by the Babu. He contrasts the custom with the freedom of selection permitted to Western women. Early marriage in India is attributable to the extreme dread of losing caste. It is most im- portant that every well-born girl should be betrothed or married while still a child. ”

“ This writer thinks that Hindu women have lost a glorious past inheritance : " Ours is an absolutely unbroken tra- dition, overlaid and obscured, but still so real that it has prevented the raising of anything like the sex- barrier I find in England. We are not pioneers, but reawakeners."
Mrs. Naidu's ideal of freedom for women is not the winning of political powers through the franchise, but " a social and intellectual existence, equal to, while different from, that of men." She states that educated men in India, both Hindus and Moham- medans, are giving attentive heed to the claims of women. ”

“ This writer gives a picture of the whole career of a Hindu woman from her birth in the zenana to old age. He asserts that children are brought into the world without adequate medical assistance. The midwives are chiefly of the low caste, and they are old women who know scarcely anything of maternity treatment. They occupy, however, an important position in India, and are called " second mothers." Many infants die through defective attention and a lack of knowledge of children's ailments. ”

“ These anomalies in the treatment of Hindu women appear highly singular to Western people, who tend to out- grow their traditions more easily than the Orientals. Modern science, with its hostility to belief in fables, superstitions, and magic, is not in harmony with the credulous, imaginative Hindu outlook and venera- tion for old customs. ”

“ She gives a review of various employments which might be followed by her Hindu sisters. Her book ' The Position of Women in Indian Life," has some- what more of the spirit of the West than the East. Mr. S. M. Mitra, the well-known writer on Indian life, is very emphatic, in his introduction to the volume, concerning the need for reform.
" India must learn Western ways and keep pace with the West, or she must go to the wall. India must assimilate Western ways. Blind imitation will not do. The Indian must try to harmonize Eastern prac- tice with Western civilisation." ”

“ In the Panjb, Hindu women who lose a female child during" infancy, or while it still sucks milk, take it into the jungle and put it in a sitting position under a tree. Sugar is put into its mouth and a corded roll of cotton between its fingers. ”

“ Wife-beating is fairly common in almost every part of the world, and is practised with greater frequency in England than many persons imagine.
Medical science in India is in a backward state, although the treatment of disease is receiving more study, and modern methods are being introduced. ”

“ Accretions in belief and doctrine, and probably the introduction of polygamy, the immolation of widows, and the pre- cedence given to sons before daughters, obscured much of this ancient Aryan idealism, and weakened the position of women. More submission was incul- cated to women; there arose practices that give evidence of a growth of the patriarchal system in family life, with a lessening of women's liberty and opportunity for freedom of social companionship with men. ”

“ In the third month of pregnancy, according to the Grikya-Sutvas, the husband who desires a son should administer to his wife curds from a cow, which has a calf of the same colour as herself, containing two beans and a barleycorn for each handful of curds. ”

“ The Indian girl is capable of very warm friendships with girl companions. She goes to school, but the period of education is too short, as she usually marries before she is eighteen. At six- teen years of age, she is often already a mother. ”

“ The Hindu Scriptures, like the Christian Bible, contain statements that often appear highly contradic- tory. We have read passages from the sacred books of India extolling women and the mother. But the " Laws of Manu " contain this sentence : " Of dis- honour woman is the cause ; of enmity woman is the cause; of mundane existence woman is the cause; hence woman is to be avoided."
Again, in a Hindu proverb, we read :
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1 Woman is a great whirlpool of suspicion ”

“ The protracted marriage cere- monies and rites are criticised by this writer. There is too much publicity and interference on the part of relatives. The bride and bridegroom know little or nothing of one another; yet they are united for life in the closest of human intimacies. ”