The Dickinson press., 1888-07-21
IyDEA's CHILD WIDOWS,
THE UNHAPPY LIVES LED BY THE
WOMEN OF THE EAST.

Whnt "a High Caste Hindoo Christian
Woman Says of Her Sisters-Bctrothed
in Their Infancy They Are Till Death
the slaves of Men.
AT All Souls church. the Pundita Bamabai,
Il high caste Hindoo Christian woman, gave
IN Interesting address concerning her work
in behalf of the child widows of India. The
Pullita is Il slender little woman with II low
musical Voice. She has II remarkable com
mnli of English. She was attired III the
simple white vestmcnts of her people. She
is cndeavoring to raise sufficient money to
enable her to maintain n school i'll southern
India for the instruction of Hindoo women
The picture that the Pundita drew of the
condition of the Hinloo woman seemed to
have n strange interest for the hundreds of
well dressed American women accustomed to
liberty of thought and action! The Hindoo
theory of creation, the speaker explained,
placed the women as a provocative energy,
the results of which have been sorrow and
misery. The man therefore is the master
and is without blame. 1t is the duty of a
good mother to get her daughter under the
influence of Il male ut once, for thereby is
the females only salvation and n hope for a
[itNt III utttNtI. IL y IL SuSlpIh. MIS
children are mere infants, to promise them
to youths for wives. When the girl is not
Vet i'll her teens she is sent to the house of her
prospective mothcr-inlaw, who educates her
with harsh measures and a stick, imprcssing
upon her her inferiority to the male. Only
men are allowed to study the philosophy of
salvation, and a good wife Oh dying centers
her thoughts on her husband, so that on her
,nf MN fp anYfh Sho may foEa tho form Nf n
man and study the philosophy that brings
salvation.
WHEN THE HUSBAND DIES.
When the husband dies he does not let his
thoughts revert to his wife other than in a
feeling of pity for her loss, lest he, on re-
turning, take a step backward and assume
the shape of n woman. A woman who does
not find salvation through her husband will
he compelled. should she continue in the
form of her sex, to be reincarnated $4,000 600
times. The domestic life of the Hindoo
woman is confined in four walls, and the
only opportunity she has of going outside is
to draw water. She rises and remains
standing when her husband enters the house
and seats himself. The husband can avail
himself of the privilege of bathing himself
in the sacred river, but she, because of her
domestic Imprisonment, being debarred from
making the journey, can enjoy only the ex-
qu;site pleasure of bathing his feet after he
has been swimming and then drink the
water. The power of the husband is abso-
lutte. He can doom his wife to hell if he be
in the mood, as he is endowed with the
power of a god. A faithful widow worships
her dead husband rs if he We're present in
the flesh. Study makes the women Skepti-
cal. hence they are jealousy debarrcd from
it as Il violation of orthodoxy.
missionary work cannot accomplish the
disenthrallment of these women,' said the
Punlita; lit must he done through etlucu-
ton. So far as my experience goes 1 think
that it is next to impossible for missionaries
to reach the orthodox people, us they are
called. There are some men who are at first
educated i'll western ideas, especially the
Brahmas, who will allow n Christian missions
airy to visit the womcn of their household,
but most of them do it because they want the
women to he n little educated, and since they
nave no female teachers of their own they
are obliged to invite Christian women; but
/ hav know the men, while they allow u
Christian missionary to visit their wives, to
strictly command their wives not to accept
any religious ideas, and thus placed the poor
woman i'll the plight of being compelled to
obey her husband, and at the same time read
her Bible. If she is sometimes convinced,
she has no power to accept the Christian faith
publicly. This renders her situation doubly
miserable. New York World.