the long line of kings in the several dynasties which successively ruled
in India. In fact, it would not be possible to do so, even though there
might be material important for our present purpose. It was probably in
the days of the Mogul dynasty that emerged the most influential female
characters in historic times. The brilliancy of the court of the Mogul
kings and the prominence of some of the queens and princesses give to
this period, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of our era, an
especial fascination. Akbar, known as the Great, was a religious
reformer, as well as a great sovereign. His favorite wife was a princess
of a Rajput family, and to her was due no little of Akbar's success. It
was through his influence that the earliest attempt was made to prohibit
the _suttee_, or self-immolation of widows, a religious custom which had
already begun to dot the hallowed places of the land with little white
pillars that commemorated such sacrifices. One of Akbar's wives is said
to have been a Christian woman. Akbar's son, Emperor Jahangir, was also
wedded to a woman of great force, one who is said indeed to have been
the power behind his throne. He called her Nur Mahal, or "Light of the
Harem," for she was his favorite wife. It was during Jahangir's reign
that the English first established themselves at Surat. Nur Mahal was a
woman who knew how, like Jezebel and Lady Macbeth, to take into her own
hands the reins of administration when a strong grasp became necessary.
Many of the intrigues that characterized the emperor's reign are
attributed to her. Coins of the realm were stamped in her name, and at
last she was buried by the side of her husband at Lahore. During the
period of the Mogul dynasty the queen lived in the midst of the greatest
splendor, which, indeed, is generally more or less true of the wives of
Indian kings. Jewels were theirs in extravagant abundance. Fountains
played for their enjoyment. Marble baths were provided for their
comfort, and numberless slaves waited on their bidding. The magnificence
of the royal houses greatly impressed the Persians when they conquered
the land, or they would not have said, as is illustrated by their
inscription upon one of the palaces they had taken: "If there be a
paradise on earth, it is this, it is this!" Among the best specimens of
architectural magnificence was that erected by Shah Jehan, son of
Jahangir. It was he who built the famous Taj Mahal at Agra, his favorite
residence. He also erected the costly peacock throne at Delhi. The Taj
Mahal was built as a mausoleum for the Empress Mumtazi Mahal, who died
while giving birth to the Princess Jehanava. Isa Mohammed designed the
building, and its erection was begun in the year 1630. After seventeen
years, the employment of twenty thousand workmen, and the expenditure of
millions of dollars, the Taj Mahal was finished. It is one of the most
magnificent public buildings in India, and one of the most famous in the
world. With its dome of two hundred and ten feet in height, its tropical
garden, its mosaics and inscriptions, its marble of white, black, and
yellow, its crystals, jaspers, garnets, amethysts, sapphires, and even
diamonds, it is the richest and most notable tribute of marital love
that has ever been erected.
Another monument built in honor of a woman is the famous tower Kootab
Minar, the highest pillar in the world, being of red sandstone and two
hundred and thirty-eight feet high. It is said to have been built that
the king's daughter, from the vantage ground of its high turret, might
look out upon the mosque which could be discerned in the distance.
Let us revert for a moment to the ancient Hindoo writings and their
influence upon the history of Hindoo women. To the religious books of
India woman has to-day no personal access. Her religious sacrifices and
ceremonies before marriage are with reference to the procuring of a
husband. After marriage she may approach the deity, but only in the name
of her husband. Him she must revere almost as if he himself were a god.
She hopes that in time she herself may be born a man. Anciently there
were in India virgins dedicated to the service of the temple and pledged
to a life of purity, like the vestal virgins of ancient Rome. In the
course of the centuries the custom was degraded; and young women in
large numbers became the dancing girls at the temples, and others openly
dedicated themselves to a life of shame at the shrines. They are
euphemistically termed "God's slaves," but might more properly be spoken
of as slaves to the bestial passions of the profligate Brahmans of the
temple to which they belong. Dedication of virginity to a popular deity,
through his priest, became common. The young woman was said to have been
married to the god, and was given over to a life of shame.
Brahmanism, which has been defined as "the religion which exalts the
cow and degrades the woman," has been one of the most potent factors in
shaping the life of woman in India. Among the Hindoos, woman has no
independent spiritual life. Her hope is in being married to a man.
Through him must her fortune be secured, and only in obedience to him
can she hope for any ultimate happiness. Woman has been regarded by the
sages of India as a snare to man's rectitude and an obstacle to his best
interests. Buddha is said to have been seated one day in a grove near
the banks of the Ganges, with many about him who had come to do him
reverence. As he saw a woman, the lady Amra, circumspect and pious,
approaching in the distance, Buddha said to those about him: "This woman
is indeed exceedingly beautiful, able to fascinate the minds of the
religious: now, then, keep your recollection straight. Let wisdom keep
your mind in subjection. Better fall into the fierce tiger's mouth, or
under the sharp knife of the executioner, than to dwell with a woman and
excite in yourselves lustful thoughts. A woman is anxious to exhibit her
form and shape, whether walking, standing, sitting, or sleeping. Even
when represented as a picture, she desires most of all to set off the
blandishments of her beauty, and thus to rob men of their steadfast
heart. How, then, ought you to guard yourselves? By regarding her tears
and her smiles as enemies, her stooping form, her hanging arms, and all
her disentangled hair, as toils designed to trap man's heart."
Caste, in India, dominates everything from the cradle to the grave, and
has greatly affected the life of woman. The lines of demarcation are
deep-drawn and inexorable. The social gulfs are impassable. As one has
remarked, the only tie between the castes is the cow, which is revered
by all. There are four castes. To quote Manu, "The Brahmana, the
Kshatriya, and the Vaishya castes are the twice born ones, but the
fourth, the Shudra, has one birth only; there is no fifth caste." But
there are the outcasts who, because of some violation of caste rule,
have lost their social status and are despised by all, even the lowest.
The highest caste, according to popular belief, descended from Brahma's
mouth, this is the priestly class. The second came from Brahma's arms,
this is the warrior class. The third from his thighs, this is the
merchant class; least of all are the Shudras people, born of Brahma's
feet. The highest caste influences, in a measure, the customs of the
lower castes. The women of the low caste are burdened with many outside
duties, caring for their children in the intervals. They therefore enjoy
no little freedom. The women of the high caste, however, are shut up in
the zenanas, and so know little of the outside world.
[Illustration 3: _INTERIOR COURT OF A ZENANA From an Indo-Persian
painting The zenanas are the apartments of the women, and are quite
secluded, the windows invariably looking upon the inner quadrangle of
the house. The wives are closely confined to the house. In order to
enjoy a social visit, permission must be given by the husband, who is
rarely willing to grant the coveted freedom. There is not much gayety
about the zenanas, though sometimes there may be music, dancing, and
mirth. Petty duties, trivial acts, and idleness make up "the life behind
the curtain." The girls and boys are permitted to play together until
the girl is about ten years old, then she must begin to keep purdah;
that is, she must go behind the curtain._]
The zenanas are the apartments of the women, and are quite secluded,
the windows invariably looking upon the inner quadrangle of the house.
The wives are closely confined to the house. In order to enjoy a social
visit, permission must be given by the husband, who is rarely willing to
grant the coveted freedom. There is not much gayety about the zenanas,
though sometimes there may be music, dancing, and mirth. Petty duties,
trivial acts, and idleness make up "the life behind the curtain." The
girls and boys are permitted to play together until the girl is about
ten years old, then she must begin to keep purdah; that is, she must go
behind the curtain. She must dwell in the seclusion of the women, not
allowing a man, not even her own brothers, to look upon her. The Hindoos
cannot believe that a woman may be good and free at the same time; she
may be good, she may be free, but both, never. The Mohammedan Hindoo
women are of course influenced by the teachings of the Koran, which
regards the best women as those who never see any man but their husbands
and sons, the next best those that have laid eyes only upon their
relatives. Very meagre is a girl's educational training. Besides the
domestic duties, in which she is instructed that she may be fitted for
her married life, the girl is taught a few prayers which may be of
service to her in winning the favor of the deities concerned with
marital relations, and some popular songs by means of which she may
while away the hours. The deference which members of the female sex are
always expected to show to those of the male manifests itself somewhat
differently in different sections of India. In the northern parts, where
the women uniformly wear veils, they can more readily cover their faces
at the unexpected appearance of a man, or they may run into another
apartment. In southern India, where veils are not common, the women are
not compelled to hide from the presence of men, but must always rise and
remain standing out of deference to them. The Hindoo woman will not call
her husband by name; she uses such terms as "Master, Chosen," and
"Husband," and the husband, on the other hand, never alludes to his
wife, nor does anyone inquire of him concerning her. The absorption of
the wife's identity into that of the husband is complete. After marriage
they become one and he is the one. There is little wonder at this when
Manu says: "By a girl, by a woman, or even by an aged one nothing must
be done." "In childhood, a female must be subject to the father, in
youth to her husband, and when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman
must never be independent." And the Vedas declare that he only is a
perfect man who consists of three persons united, his wife, himself, and
his offspring."
The expense of a marriage ceremony is very heavy in India. It is the
most expensive of all the festivities of the Hindoos. Among the higher
caste the outlay is usually above two hundred dollars. This, for a
country where the people are so poor, is a large outlay. Since religion
makes it necessary for the girls to marry, two daughters may bankrupt a
family. When it is remembered that the father must not only support his
wives and children, but also his aged parents, his indigent or idle
brothers and their families, the nearest widowed relations, and numerous
other dependants, it may be seen that a breadwinner's life in this land
of recurring famines is not always a happy one. It is not an uncommon
thing in India for four generations of family life to be crowded into
one house. The occasion of a marriage is, of course, one of prime
interest. It is the only incident in which a woman may become the centre
of an event of great religious significance. Then Vedic prayers are
offered up and festivities run high. Men dancers or Nautch girls may be
seen singing the amours, the quarrels and reconciliations of Krishna and
his wives or his mistresses. These are not a whit elevating. The truth
is India is not lacking in obscenity, not even in the frescoes of its
temples. Though little be given to the Hindoo girl, much is expected of
her when she becomes a wife. For, says the laws of Manu, "She must
always be cheerful, clever in the management of household affairs,
careful in cleaning her utensils and economical in expenditure."
The necessity of bringing forth sons and being a good loyal wife
generally may be discerned in the law of Manu, which says: "A barren
wife may be superseded in the eighth year; she whose children all die,
in the tenth; she who brings only daughters into the world, in the
eleventh; but she who is quarrelsome, without delay."
Faithfulness of a wife to her husband and her husband's interests must
be unquestioned. Thus alone may a woman find her higher blessedness. "A
faithful wife," says Manu, "who desires to dwell after death with her
husband must never do anything that might displease him who took her
hand whether he be alive or dead. By violating her duty to her husband a
wife is disgraced in this world, after death she enters the womb of a
jackal and is tormented by diseases, the punishment of her sin."
One of the most remarkable customs of a remarkable people is that of
child marriage. Since a woman attains her blessedness, if not her
spiritual entity by union with a man, marriage should be early. It is
regarded as a disgrace for a father to have an unmarried daughter upon
his hands. In Oriental lands generally the marriageable age of girls is
about twelve years, the period at which, in those countries, a young
girl usually attains to physical womanhood. But in India even infant
girls are married by their parents to other infants, or to older boys,
or to men. A woman is not esteemed at all till she is married and
becomes the mother of a son. Then she becomes at least worthy of a
certain respect.
The history of the life of a Hindoo girl of high caste may be thus
drawn. Word comes from the zenana that it is a girl. Instead of
congratulations and joy at the little one's advent, the mother is
reviled by an angry husband because she brings him a daughter instead of
a son. In his reproaches all the household join. For has she not
disgraced her husband? And is she not accursed rather than blessed of
the gods? The little one is hid from the eyes of the father when he
enters the zenana, lest his anger burst forth anew. Two years roll
around, and the little girl hears sounds of rejoicing and of feasting in
the house. A boy is born, and the father's attitude is changed toward
the mother, and somewhat toward the daughter; but even yet she is a
negligible quantity. The mother loves and sometimes caresses the girl.
Occasionally the father, too, will notice her; and when the brother has
become old enough, the two little ones may play together. In a short
time, it may be between the ages of five and six, the little daughter is
arrayed in silk and costly gems. The day of her wedding has come, though
she herself knows little of what it all means, and timidly assents to
what her father in his unquestioned authority has done. She is brought
to the man whom the parent has chosen from his own caste. They look upon
each other for the first time, and the little girl scarcely sees him now
for her timidity. The ceremony is over, and the husband returns to his
own home. For the child wife must be taught the duties of housewifery.
Her mother is diligent in imparting the required knowledge. It consists
of proficiency in the arts of cooking, spinning, weaving, and waiting
upon her husband, more particularly when he is eating. The fundamental
duty of marital obedience is instilled with supreme care. At about
eleven years the girl wife is deemed ready to assume the serious duties
of wedded life. The husband comes and takes her to his own home. If his
circumstances permit he is royally seated, it may be, upon a gaudily
bedecked elephant, and she is conveyed in a closely covered palanquin.
The girl wife is now among strangers, she must make her way as best she
can. Life is not always easy for her. The Hindoo mother-in-law at once
becomes master of the new situation, and the daughter must be a willing
slave. Her apartments are not over cheerful, and the other women of the
zenana receive her with chilling indifference or with positive cruelty.
At twelve years of age the young wife is in all probability a mother. If
the child be a son, she is emancipated from her thraldom to the
husband's mother. She is now worthy in the sight of her husband, and if
all goes well, her life is lifted to a higher plane.
Since a woman is bound to her husband as long as she lives,--even
though the husband himself be dead,--remarriage for her is out of the
question. Social ostracism would surely follow the woman who would dare
marry again. The man, however, may marry as often as he pleases and as
many wives as may be to his liking and convenience. The English
government attempted the impossible by the passage of a law--enacted in
1856--legalizing the remarriage of widows. Few, however, were able to
face the social hardships and loss of property which remarriage
involved. The widow who refuses to marry may often hold her property,
even though she live a life of shame.
Financial conditions have much to do with the number of wives which each
husband acquires. The Brahmanic caste may marry almost without limit.
Indeed, it is permitted to them to make a business of marriage.
Sometimes an illustrious Brahman may go up and down the land, marrying
girls, always of course within his own caste, receiving presents from
the parents of the bride,--who esteem it an honor for their daughter to
be wed, especially to one so distinguished,--but passing on and never
returning to claim his wife. But the father is satisfied with the
bargain, for his daughter is at last free from the disgrace and ridicule
of being unmarried; and being the wife of a Brahman of a high caste, the
girl will be happy in the world to come.
Since the members of the _kshatriyas_, or warrior class, are not
permitted to accept gifts as are the Brahmans, or priestly class, the
former cannot enjoy the privilege of enrichment by the process of
multi-marriage. They therefore have fewer wives, the number being
regulated by their power to support them. The same is also true of the
number of the daughters whom they are willing should survive,
infanticide being commonest among the people of this caste.
It must not be thought that every utterance of the sacred books is on
the side of the woman's inferiority. A single passage from Manu
proclaims that "A daughter is the equal of a son," but the law proceeds
to let it be known that it is only through the husband or the son that
this equality is realized. This doctrine is true not of women only, for
even a man is made perfect only through his possession of a son or sons.
"Through a son he conquers the world, through a son's son he obtains
immortality, but through his son's grandson he gains the world of the
sun." Indeed, "there is no place in Heaven for a man," says Vasishtha,
"who is destitute of offspring."
With the exception of child marriage, there is probably no fact
concerning the Hindoo woman's life that has received so much attention
as the customs which bear so hard upon widowhood. Beginning with the
assumption that the death of the husband was sent as a punishment for
the wickedness of the wife, in some previous state of existence it may
be, it is easy to conclude that the widow's life should be made as
miserable as possible. She is therefore maltreated, neglected, and at
times almost starved. When death takes away him in whom alone she had
any reason for being respected, her head must be shaved, all jewels and
wearing apparel are taken away, and instead the coarse weeds of the
widow are put on. One meal a day is permitted, and no more. Even the
women themselves are most harsh in the treatment of their bereft
sisters. For as soon as it is known that the husband is dead, the women
rush immediately upon the bewildered, grief-stricken wife, tear her
ornaments from her body, shave her hair from her head, and pronounce the
severest curses upon her whose sins in a bygone state had killed her
husband. They advise her to appease the wrath of the deity by throwing
herself with the husband upon the funeral pyre and thus as far as
possible wipe out the awful disgrace. Formerly, many yielded to
self-immolation, and immediately put an end to a life that otherwise
would be a prolonged misery, or at length, driven to frenzy by their
thousand deaths of torture, in some way cut short their terrible agony.
There are about one hundred and forty million women in India. At the age
of fifteen, more often several years earlier, they are either wives or
widows. Since child marriage is so common in India, there are many
widows of very tender years. There are said to be twenty-three million
widows in India; at least two million of these became widows in early
childhood. Of these, eighty thousand are still under nine years of age,
and six hundred thousand have not yet reached the age of twenty. The
sorrows produced by religious belief concerning widowhood and by social
customs cause many very young girls to end their lives by
self-destruction. Pundita Ramabai, in her _High-Caste Hindu Woman_, says
of the widow: "She must never take part in the family feasts; is known
by the name of harlot; if she escapes from her home, no respectable
person will take her in; suicide, or a life of infamy is inevitable."
Happily, the self-immolation of widows in India has now well-nigh passed
away. The English government has done much to break this awful custom,
which was thought to be the only means of destroying the force of a
widow's eternal misery and of bringing to her any future blessedness.
This horrible death, known as _suttee_, was made unlawful in 1830. But
"cold _suttee_," as some have called the living death which widows
suffer from social customs, is still maintained.
From all that has been said, it is not strange that fathers may
sometimes be found who will be willing, for so many rupees, to sell
their daughters to a course of infamy, or that men may sometimes lend
their wives for a money consideration, or that the suicides of females
have been so numerous in India.
There are above five million fewer women in India than men. This marked
discrepancy may be accounted for by the infanticide which prevails in
some parts and among some classes of the Hindoos, notwithstanding all
that the government can do to prevent it. Female infants are sometimes
strangled, sometimes exposed to wild beasts, or generally neglected. The
dark, unsanitary conditions of the women's quarters, and the
extraordinarily harsh and unintelligent treatment of women at the time
of childbirth, also play their part in the death rate of females.
All this is in marked contrast to the position of women in Siam. Here
the seclusion of the Turkish harem and the Hindoo zenana does not exist,
and the women are probably the freest, most independent of the women of
the East. They openly attend to their duties, bringing their food to
market, buying, selling, aiding in the management of the house and
field. A man does not spend his money without consultation with the
wife, should he prize the family peace: the woman usually carries the
purse. Inheritance of house and lands is through the mother rather than
through the father--a survival of the ancient mother-right. Women even
in this comparatively favored land, however, are seldom educated, except
it be in schools established by Christian foreigners. If a woman wishes
to learn at all, it must be through her husband or brother at home.
Woman in Burmah also is comparatively free, neither the zenana nor the
veil prevailing there. She too holds the purse strings; but in all other
respects she is distinctly inferior to her husband and must constantly
acknowledge it. A good wife will never say "I" in talking to her husband
concerning herself, but must speak of herself as "Your servant." In the
eyes of the man, the woman here is not only inferior, but vile, even to
the touch. Her garments are polluting to the passer-by; hence, she
always draws them more closely about herself as she passes a man upon
the streets.
In Assam also woman holds a far higher place than in other parts of
India or in Burmah, even among the rude and warlike people. To the Nagas
of the hill country of Assam a girl is most welcome at birth and by many
preferred to a boy, for she is more docile, helpful, and obedient; she
is less expensive to rear and more filial in her attitude to her aged
parents. This last consideration is one that counts for very much in all
Oriental lands. Instead of the early child marriages of India, here we
find marriage at about thirteen, the bride not leaving the parental roof
till three or four years after. The wife is respected and consulted, the
husband often deferring to his wife. "I will come from the house and
tell you," means "I will ask my wife."