Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-25
Continued From First Pase)

70 tampering with the traditional posi-
ton of women in Indian society. For
this reason he did not seek 70 WIN
women followers nor to create rem
sntst movement as an integral part OF
his campaign. But whether he wiIleo
# or not, this last attempt TO tree
India from British imperialism mas
furnished the stimulus that history Will
record as the turning point in the eVo-
a,tion of q twentieth century woman OF
India.
During the campaign of civil dis
obedience leading Nationalist discnv-
cred this new power and asSertlVeneSS
in their women and, at first surprised,
then pleased. they utilized them fully.
They we're given positions OF respon-
Eibility in that wonderfully complex
and subtle organization of rebellion, the
Indian National Congress. They were
put In charge of groups Of volunteers
and in executive Jobs as heads OF
branch Congress Committees. In the
schools and in other public institutions
women sometimes replaced or suosti-
tuted for the male mentors who had
been taken to jail Many educated
women, previously repressed by male
prejudice against female participation
in any activity outside the home, now
found openings in varied professions.
Contest Outcome Unknown.
The outcome of midas epochal con-
test with Britain is stin unknown.
Whether the Indian National Congress
must lead another and yet another
fight for -government-W1l
not be decided until the conclusion OF
the Round Table Conference sessions
at London But the new sense of free
dom and importance that Indian
women have won during the last few
years has come to stay and to expand.
The husband-gods are beginning to
totter on their pedestals and the viz
tual enthrallment that wives OF India
have endured for ages appears to be
nearing an end.
Educated Indian women are still
comparatively few, but those who have
benefited thus are determined to raise
the status of the rest. Through the
womens organizations which have
terminated so rapidly all over the ma
ton, women's opinion Is now poSen I1
and readily welded instrument. They
stand, as one Of their Bengal leaders,
Mrs. A. N. Chaudhuri, recently put 1t,
for independence OF women In the
home as well as for India in the fam
lily Of nations" They are united in
their demand for full social and politi-
cal emancipation. With Self-govern-
ment possibly imminent, they are de-
termined to introduce into the consti-
tuition certain clauses that will modify
the old tragic social system responsible
for the degradation of Indian women.
Through Katherine Mayo's somewhat
perverse and pathological lenses many
Westerners have observed the revolving
results Of that system when operating
at its worst. But, in order to under
stand the difficult combat which faces
the protagoniStS Of midas new fem
ininity, 1t is perhaps well to recall here
what the conventional male attitude
toward Indian women has been.
A good wife, according to accepted be-
liefS, Is one who Is literally the servant,
at times the slave, Of her husband.
From conversations with many Indians,
Islams as we'll as HinduS, gather that
this Is still considered TO be the ideal
marital relationship. 1t is believed that
a virtuous wife must be completely self
effacing, Subservient, ACCOMPANYING,
meek and in every respect as docile as
a well domesticated animal. Consider
the code of conduct that Is supposed
to govern the life of high-caste Hindu
woman. In these excerpts from the
sacred Padmapurana 1t is clearly de-
fined:
"There is no other god on earth for
o woman but her husband The most
excellent Of all the good works that
she can do is to seek to please him by
manifesting perfect obedience. There
in. should lie her sole rule Of life. Be
her husband aged, deformed, infirm,
offensive in manners; let him also be
choIeric, debauched, immoral. a drunk
ard, gambler; let him frequent places
of iil-repute, live in open sin with
other women, have no affection what
soever for his home; let him rave like
a lunatic; let him live without honor;
let him be blind deaf, dumb or
crippled; in q word, let his defects be
what they may, a wife should always
look upon him as her god. should lavish
on him all affection and care, paying
no heed whatsoever to his character
and giving him no cause for dis
pleasure
stage of her existence. AS daughter,
1t Is to her father and mother that
she owes submission; as wife, to her
husband, to her father-in-law and to
her mother-in-law; as widow, to her
sons At no period of her life can she
consider herself her own mistress.
How to Be Faithful.
'If her husband laughs, she must
laugh; If he be sad, she must be sad |;
II he weep, she must weep. She
must take heed not to remark that an
other man is young, handsome or well
proporttoned and by the gods let her
not speak to him. such modest de-
meanor will secure for her the repu-
tation Of faithful spouse"
And well it might! No wonder In
dian women are in revoltl Although
thousands now scott at this creed, they
know that thousands of others are
still enSlaved by it and similar super
stitionS. WomenS associations in all
the provinces have agreed on an ag-
gressive program to destroy such be-
liefS. At the recent All-India Women s
Congress. attended by more than 500
delegates selected from every major dis
trict of India, platform Of reform
was unanimously adopted. 1t includes
these resolutions:
That the custom Of sanctioning
polygamy must be prohibited by legiS-
lation: that all interference with the
remarriage Of widows must be vigor-
ously prosecuted by law; that public
opinion must be modified against the
continuation Of the purdah, the dowry
and other obnoxious customs, that the
recent Sarda act, which prohibits mar
; riage of girls under the age Of IA,
should be strictly enforced; that legis-
lation should be enacted granting
!, daughters the right of equal inheri-
{ lance with sons, and that women
should be allowed to compete with men
in the spheres of science. art, COM
merce, politics, etc, on basis of full
equality
Mild and just as these demands APP
pear. their effect on the reactionary
maSculinity Of India is electric. Pro-
tests come from many religious socie-
ties and from various organizations
both cultural and commercial. Ger
tain prominent Indian politicians pub
licly express doubt over the policy OF
England's Finance