Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-16

home life being falsely villified by q
Hindoo and when that American con-
tradicts and protests he is told by the
Hindoo that he, the Hindoo, knows
more of American home life than the
American himself does.
Reply Becomes Necessary
The ground is now cleared to reply
to a make-believe reply published in
The Herald to my lecture on Woman:
East and West" Any reader of my lee
ture will admit that 1t is so that 1t Is
reply entirely unprovoked. She has
merely reiterated the missionary myths
about Hindoo women-myths trotted
out every month by men and women
missionaries to keep up the flow of
contributions into mission funds
have heaps of cuttings Of these
articles, gathered during my four years
sojourn in America, articles so hideous
in their shameless falsehoods that 1t
has sickened me, as it sickens every
Hindoo in this country And yet have
not cared to contradict them, thinking
that they were not worthy of notice. A
reply, however 1t seems has become
necessary. And in replying 1 am deal
ing with all these reckless myths about
Hindoo home life which form the stock
arguments for missionary enterprise in
India.
Talks Of Missionary Zeal
In that lecture I praised the Ameri-
can woman highly; said she was full
of real womanly attributes; that she
was essentially spiritual. All I de-
plored about the American woman was
the system of intellectual education of
which she is victim and which fails
to draw out her womanly attributes to
the best advantage. In the concluding
II ci n T01u
admiration and appreciation of her,
admiration and appreciation which
have never been accorded her by any
foreigner, perhaps not even by her own
men. Yet the missionary zeal has all
lowed some women to ignore all that
high praise, and to insinuate that I
compared the American woman unfa-
vorably with her sisters of the east
The motive is apparent. "How is it,"
is asked, with our little sisters in the
far east?' Then comes as a quotation
from my lecture the following words,
which have hurt because they have
hurt the mythical object of the league
which has been founded upon the mis-
sionary myths:
"The degradation of the women of
the east is a myth born of the vests
profound ignorance of the inner life of
the east, and is partly attributable to
Tic misrepresentation OI LIdC dIIlldDlo
friend of ours, the Christian mission
ary."
Then The Herald article says: "The
western world is not wholly ignorant
of the zenana and it's hideous slavery,
not of women, but of children, child
wives ranging in age from 6 to IL
years.
1 assert that the western world is
wholly ignorant of the inner life and
fNte4
having had absolutely no access what
ever into that inner life, the Christian
missionary women included.
Women Are Not Slaves
Far from being slaves, the women,
child or adult, are loved and petted
and respected as no western woman in
any country is respected. The Hindoo's
respect FOR his women is sincere, re-
spect from his soul for her. her soul
and womanly virtues born of her soul
unfoldment brought about by spiritual
processes they undergo from childhood
She is given domestic duties which she
can cheerfully perform, which the
American woman or girl, who does not
perform, will do we'll and live more
healthfully to perform. There is no
marriage of girls at 6 or or or even
10. A girl is generally married be-
tween the ages of IL and 13, and pure
higher caste Brahman girls are mar
ried at far higher ages. No girl or her
parents are ever ostracised from their
caste for not being married before 70.
This statement will be news to all
Hindoos, from the highest to the low
est caste.
But 1t is useless trying to contradict
all the wild statements. The article
says the Hindoos believe their girls
and women have no souls. What a
shameless, reckless libel! Hindoos who
see the soul in every atom of creation,
in every plant and tree and animal!
Can they deny souls to their women?
Is Her Husbands Better Half
The Hindoo wife is called "saha-
dharmini," copartner-in-religion of her
husband. She is considered by him as
his "ardhangini," which means "the
other half of his SELF from which word
the English term "better half has
originated. If Hindoo women have no
souls how can they be the other half of
the men and copartners in their souls
concerns? Equally untrue is her state
ment that the only hope Of heaven of
the Hindoo wives is through the inter-
vention of man or by the burning of
their bodies on the funeral pyre beside
their dead husbands or by the birth OF
sons" Salvation of souls in India for
both man and woman is the result of
God-concsiousness Anyone, man, wo-
man or child, who develops unbroken
God-consciousness goes to God. The
development of this God-consciousness
is only possible, one would think, by
one's own Individual mental efforts,
backed by faith in and love for God.
But 1t is useless, as / say, to try to
reply to these reckless statements
which are either born of profound
ignorance of Hindoo life or are wiIful
Misrepresentation. One fact needs
only to be told to cut the ground en-
tirely under the feet of these caiumnies
of the Hindoos eoncocted by the mis-
sionaries. Not single Christian mis-
sionary, man or woman, has ever been
allowed to enter into the inner life of
the Hindoo home.
Missionaries Are Distrusted
The women missionaries are allowed
In some towns and cities to have access
into the female quarters of the Hindoo
homes. But the Hindoo women only
meet them In an outer chamber and
learn from them knitting and sewing.
The Hindoo women distrust these mis-