Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-06-11

crease utlnB 10 per cent every y'hif
Indeed. the condition OF women In In
dia Is such that no parent wants TO
bring daughter into the world. He
knows she will be "a slave as wife
and an outcast as a widow. For this
reason infanticide was common a few
years ago. ana for the same reason II
is stll practised here and there away
from the eyes OF the police. i hear 1t
whispered that girl babies are stran-
gled and that poison II sometimes laid
on their mothers breasts 50 that when
they suck they eat no more. The poi
sOning or them with opium was COM
mon In the past. and 1t "a mentioned by
old writer's. About 20 or 30 years ago
the government passed an lnfantcide
act. and at that time Investigated con-
dltions. IL was found that In certain
localities hundreds Of children were
annually carried on by wolves and,
strange to say, the wolves took only
girls. In the year 1870 300 girl babies
were stolen by wolves from the city
OF Amritsar Before that the wells Of
some parts OF India We're polluted by
the drowning OF infants and typhoid
was common thereby.
one Of the worst things that can
happen to these baby brides is to be
married to old men. This Is not un-
common a Family often being glad to
make union with higher caste. even
II the husband be gray. In such cases
widowhood Is almost sure TO come
early and In India 10 be widowed Is
hell
midas BABY WIDOWS
or all the women on earth there Is
none whose misery Is so great as that
of the widow OF India. The moment
her husba nd dies she becomes an out
cast, her touch Is pollution. and she Is
the slave OF the family. She must
take of her good clothing and dress in
coarse cottons. Her head must be
shaved and she cannot battle as the
rest of the family do. She must not
sleep on "A bed. but on the bare floor
with nothing but piece of mating be-
tween her and the bricks. She cannot
eat with the family and must have but
one meal day and that of the coarsest
food. She must fast every two weeks
with special fasts now and then, the
idea being that the more she is tor
mented the greater Will be the happi-
ness of her husband in heaven. She
must not allow her shadow 10 fall upon
the food or drink OF the rest Of the fam
ily and all told she Is worse than
leper. She Will bring bad luck TO any
one who meets her. and no man will
continue a Journey II he passes a widow
on starting.
such is her condition at home and
she cannot get away. She is ostracised
everywhere She cannot hire out as
servant for no one VIII take her. IL
she is good looking she may be en-
ployed at the temples: but as a rule her
life is the most horrid slavery. This Is
added TO by the belief Of her husbands
mother and sisters that In prosecuting
her they are helping the dead. They
do not dare to pity her, for the super
stition Is that those who pity a widow
are likely soon TO be widows them
selves. At the same time she Is de-
pendent upon the rest OF the family.
Women cannot inherit property among
the Hindoos. and all that is left by the
husband goes 10 the children.
What n fate is this for the woman
full grown or the old woman who as
widow has but a few years to live II
is more terrible still for the babies and
children who become widows before
they know what marriage means. Their
whole lives are continuous torture. and.
unsinning, they are punished until
death.
And how many human beings do you
think are now undergoing such tor
ments? / can give you the figures from
the census OF British India, as they
were gathered last year. They put the
number of widows at % 900. 900. a num-
Der equal 20 almost one-half Of our
whole female population. india has
one widow for her every six women and
girls, and millions OF these widows
have many years yet 10 live AS TO the
baby widows. there are 1900 OF Ave
years and under. and more than 100, 900
Of between Ave and 10 years. There are
275, 900 young girls. who range between
10 and Is years OF age, undergoing the
slavery OF widowhood, worse slavery
than has ever been imposed upon any
nation. white or black. in any other
part OF the world.
You have heard how in the past the
widows threw themselves on the fun
eral pyres OF their husbands and burned
themselves TO death. In 1904 the Brit
ish government kept count. and its rec
ords showed that 300 women had so i'm
molated themselves within 80 miles Of
Calcutta in the space of six months. In
the next 25 years more than 20. 900 were
so burned. and IL was not until long
thereafter that the custom was stopped.
This burning was called suffice and II
is Questionable whether II was not pre-
ferable 20 continued widowhood. which
is now known as cold suffice. The wi
dow is condemned TO "a living death.
She burns daily with want, disgrace
and shame: her predecessor was happy
in that she died but once.
THE TEMPLE BRIDES.
attended a wedding the other night
at which about 500 Hindoos we're pres
ent. The groom was about six years
old. He was a bright little fellow in
a red velvet coat, tight velvet trousers
and cap OF cloth OF gold The bride
was not present, and whether she was
baby or not I do not know. The
chief feature OF the ceremony was the
dancing Of some Nautch girls to thu
music OF two drums and an Indian
fiddle The girls went through the
most surprising contortions. They
twisted themselves this way and that
they bent back and forth as though
they were india rubber, the most Of
their dancing being without lifting
their feet from the ground. Some Of
their motions were beyond description
Indecent. I am told that the Nautch
girls are professional dancers and that
their profession is about the only one
open 20 the young women of India .
They are by no means as good as they
should be. but being bad Is part Of
their business. and the people respect
them.
Allied 10 them Is a class Of girls who
are bad for religions sake. They are
the temple brides who are bred to
dance at the shrines, 20 pander 20 the
priests and sing obscene songs TO the
gods They are obtained while yet
children by the temples through pur-
chase or as gifts from the parents. and
are educated for the purpose. Some
times a man who has recovered from
illness buys girl and presents her
thus as a gift TO the gods. or N one
has a stroke OF good luck he may make