Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-10-13
INDTA'S CHILD WIDOWS.
THE UNHAPPY LIVES LED BY The
WOMEN OF THE EAST.

what . uigh Caste Hindoo Christian
wanna. saws of Her Sisters-Betrothed
In Their Infancy They Are Till Death
the slaves of Men.
At All Souls church, the Pundita Bamabai,
a high caste Hindoo Christian woman, gave
an interesting address concerning her work
in behalf OF the child widows OF India. Inc
Pundita Is a slender little woman with q low
musical voice She has remarkable COM
mand Of English. She was attired IN tine
simple white vestments OF her people. one
is endeavoring to raise sufficient money 10
enable her to maintain a school in southern
India for the instruction of Hindoo women
The picture that the Pundita drew of the
condition of the Hindoo woman seemed 70
havo a strange interest for the hundreds OF
well dressed American women accustomed 10
liberty of thought and actionl The Hindoo
theory of creation, the speaker explained,
placed the women as a provocative energy,
the results of which have been sorrow ana
misery. The man therefore is the master
and is without blame. 1t is the duty OF
good mother to get her daughter under the
influence Of a male at once, for thereby Is
the females only salvation and hope FOR a
place in heaven. 1t is the custom, when
children are mere infants to promise them
to youths for wives. When the girl is not
vet In her teens she Is sent to the house OF her
prospective nlother-in-law, who educates her
with harsh measures and a stick, impresslng
upon her her inferiority to the male. Only
men are allowed to study the philosophy OF
salvation, and good wife on dying centers
her thoughts on her husband, SO that ON her
return to earth she may take the form OF q
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
feeling of pity for her loss, lest he, on re-
turning, take a step backward and assume
the shape of a woman. A woman who does
not find salvation through her husband will
be compelled. should she continue in the
form of her sex, TO be reincarnated S,400, 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-
gu 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 il he be
| in tho mood, as he is endowed with the
power of god A faithful widow worships
| her dead husband as if he were present in
the flesh Study makes the women skepti-
cal hence they are jealousy debarred from
it as a violation of orthodoxy.
missionary work cannot accomplish the
| disenthrallment of these women,n said the
! Pundita; sit must be done through educa-
ton. So far as my experience goes l think
| that it is next to impossible for missionaries
to reach the orthodox people, as they are
called There are some men who are at first
educated in western ideas, especially the
Brahmas, who will allow Christian mission
airy to visit the women of their household,
but most of them do it because they want the
women to be little educated, and since they
have no female teachers of their own they
are obliged to invite Christian women; but
I have known the men, while they allow a
| Christian missionary to visit their wives, to
strictly command their wives not to accept
any religious ideas, and thus placed the poor
woman in 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