The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1894-01-18
THE LIGHT IN INDIA.
DELIVERANCE FOR INFANT
WIVES AND WIDOWS.
European Ideas Permeating the Iron
Bound Castles of Brahminism-The
Great Work of Pundita Ramabai
Among Her Countrywomeu.

THE unchanging East" will soon
be a misnomer. 1t is indeed already
such. The East is now changing,
and will presently be wholly trans
formed. India no longer lies slum-
bering in the lethargy that comes
from ages of superstition and worn
out civilization. Its politics, indus
tries, society, religion, all show the
workings of vigorous European
leaven, English education, English
methods of thought and action, Eng
fish inventions and English ideas in
general are steadily and not slowly
extending their sway throughout the
whole empire and etfecting what |
Hindoos themselves declare to be a
renaissance of Indian civilization, O
renewal of that earlier and better
social order that prevailed in the
golden era of their history, before
the Mohammedan conquest crushed
out their vital forces and made them
the inert and impuissant people they
have since been.
Perhaps the most significant char
acteristic of characterization. since
the Mohammedan conquest has
been the degradation OF women, es-
pecially in the form of child mar
riages and enforced widowhood.
These conditions did not prevail in
the former ages. In the centuries of
Sanskrit light and leading the women
of India were free They were edu-
Gated equally with the men, and par
ticipated as openly in social doings
But after the conquest all this was
changed. In order to protect them
from invaders, the Hlndoos began
shutting their women up closely in
their homes. This, OF course, de-
prived the women of all facilities for
education. Next, the custom arose
of marrying the girls in early child
hood, even in infancy; and finally 1t
was decreed that woman or girl,
becoming q widow, should not be al
lowed to remarry, but must for the
rest of her life be practically the
slave of her husbands or her own
family.
1t is against this child marriage
and compulsory widowhood system
that the strongest efforts for reform
| have been directed, both by English
missionaries and by native Hindoos
| who have caught the spirit of Euro
pean civilization. The work of the
Pundita Ramabai, who recently Wis
tied the United States, is still fresh
in mind. AS this campaign has been
directed against the very center and
citadel of Hindoo conservatism, and
especially against the great Brahmin
caste itself, its success has until
lately been much doubted. Now,
however, it is seen that decided
progress is being made, and that
this peculiar institution" is doomed
and is rapidly passing away.
The difficulty of converting a
Brahmin to Christianity, or even to
European social ideas, is still enor-
nous. "Our fathers worshiped and
believed thus" they say; land it is
impossible that they were wrong.
Had they been wrong they must
have found it out. If we believe you,
we must disbelieve them. How can
we do so?n Moreover, the doctrine
of caste is SO ingrained into them
thai they unhesitatingly prefer to
be wrong with their own people
than to be right with others. If
thoir ancestors are in hell, they wish
to go there too, rather than suffer
the contamination OF mingling in
heaven with people of other castles.
"How many Brahmins have you bap-
tized?' veteran missionary was
asked. Ten" was his reply. "And
how long have you been at work
among them?" Thirty years!'
While, however, the Brahmins,
and, in slightly less degree, the
Rajput and Kayastha castles, hold out
like veritable Bourbons against re
form, in the other castles and tribes
sweeping changes are taking place
1t was, indeed, high time, unless the
Hindoos were to become extinct For
their numbers were steadily decreas-
ing, while the Mohammedans were
increasing at startling rate. AS ar
example, in Bengal itself, in 1872,
the Hindoos outnumbered the Mo
hammedans by 500, 900; while to-day
according to the census just taken
the Mohammedans outnumber the
Hindoos by 1900. 600. There is NJ
question but that this is due chiefly
to the Hindoo system of enforced
widowhood The Hindoos themselves
realize it, and accordingly are now
for the most practical of reasons,
abandoning that system.
Pundita Ramabai is u high-cast,
y woman, and her work is among tn,
high-caste widows. She does no
aim so much at their remarriage a
their emancipation from famil,
thralldom and their education
When she began her work, four year
ago, it was freely prophesied tina
she would fail; .high-caste widow
would not come to her school, and j
they did, family influence would 500
draw them away again. AS mat
ter of fact, her school, the Sharad
Sadan at Bombay, was opened il
, 1889, with just one pupil-a girl @
tA-who had already been wido,
t six years! Since then dozens G
, others have entered the school, an
it now has a high reputation al
over India.
1t is still opposed by the Brahmins
, ard then some OF the inmates leav
, and return to their former hopeless
: life, like one girl OF 10, who sal
= that the esprit of her husband, dis
pleased at her attending school, ha
come to her and compelled her t
!, leave" Among the first twenty-fv
= pupils who had entered Ramabai'
!, school, one had become a widow a