Sketches of some distinguished Indian women/Chapter 1
I.
INTRODUCTION.
So much has been written and spoken, during the last twenty years, on the sad condition of the women of India that people in England may be supposed to be fairly well acquainted with the general facts, and there is perhaps some danger of their becoming wearied by a too frequent repetition of the story.
Missionaries, philanthropists, educational and social reformers, have all made the condition of Indian women their theme, and have painted in dark and forcible colours the picture of their degradation, their helplessness, their ignorance, the cruel treatment and dreadful sufferings to which millions of them are exposed, and the dull, empty, colourless lives of even the happiest among them. Happily there is now a brighter side to the picture. The appeal to English sympathy and interest has not been in vain, and thanks to the energy, the courage, and the perseverance of many noble-minded men and women, this sympathy and interest have found expression in many well-directed efforts to extend to the women of India the blessings of civilization and of education, and to secure for them at least a share of that liberty and honourable respect, which we are accustomed to consider as among the most valuable and incontestable "rights of women."
As the evils from which Indian women suffer are very various in character, so are and must be the efforts to meet and remedy them, and it may be well to glance briefly at the principal of them.
The first great blow struck in the cause of woman's welfare was the famous edict issued by Lord William Bentinck in 1829, after long and bitter opposition on the part of many members of his Government, though loyally supported by two or three, whereby the practice of "suttee" was prohibited throughout the British provinces, and the aiding or abetting of it was branded as a crime to be punished by death.
The practice of suttee, that is, the burning alive of widows on their husbands' funeral pile, was of great antiquity in India, although when and how it was introduced seems to be doubtful. It is certain that it is not sanctioned either by the Vedas, which are the most ancient of the Hindu Scriptures, nor by the Code of Manu, which contains the most precise and elaborate rules of conduct for all classes of people, and particularly lays down how a woman is to live after the death of her husband.
It seems, however, to have been introduced by the Brahmans for some reason not easy to discover, and by lapse of time and the force of public opinion, it gathered the strength which always attaches to an immemorial custom.
M. Thevenot, a French traveller who visited India in 1669, found this practice of suttee very prevalent, and writes thus of it:—"The Indian widows have a far different fate from that of their husbands; they dare not marry again, but are obliged, if they will not burn themselves, to live in perpetual widowhood; but then they live wretchedly, for they incur the contempt of their family and caste as being afraid of death." After describing the ceremonies usually observed at the burning of widows, the same traveller goes on to say:—"The women are happy that the Mahometans are become the masters in the Indies, to deliver them from the tyranny of the Brahmins, who always desire their death, because these ladies being never burnt without all their ornaments of gold and silver about them, and none but they having power to touch their ashes, they fail not to pick up all that is precious among them. However, the Great Mogul and other Mahometan Princes having ordered their governors to employ all their care in suppressing that abuse as much as lies in their power, it requires at present great solicitations and considerable presents for obtaining the permission of being burnt."
Lord W. Bentinck therefore, in prohibiting suttee, was only carrying out a reform which had previously been attempted by the Moghul Emperors. Yet, strange as it may appear, there were many people at the time (and some good and wise men among them) who held that, inasmuch as it was a religious rite, maintained and inculcated by the Brahmans, even although not sanctioned by their Scriptures, that the Government had no right to put a stop to it, the practice being on the same footing as others, less revolting though scarcely less mischievous, which were by common consent regarded as beyond the scope of Government interference. They even predicted that the new law would be resisted by force, and that it would lead to mutiny and rebellion. Happily, however, these timid counsels were over-ruled, and though it was long before the rite of suttee absolutely disappeared, still its downfall dates from that time, and no one would now dare openly to vindicate the practice, or even to maintain that it was inculcated by the Hindu religion.
Whether the lot of the Indian widow has been much improved by the reform, may at first sight seem doubtful, for the merciful Government which has rescued her from a fiery death cannot save her from a life of oppression and misery. To be a widow, and more especially a childless or rather sonless widow, is to be the object not of sympathy and pity but of universal hatred and aversion. In the words of one, a Hindu widow herself, " Widowhood is throughout India regarded as the punishment for a horrible crime or crimes committed by the woman in some former existence upon earth. It is the child widow, or the childless young widow, upon whom in an especial manner falls the abuse and hatred of the community, as the greatest criminal upon whom Heaven's judgment has been pronounced." Again, "A widow is called an ' inauspicious thing'; if she appear on any occasion of rejoicing, she will bring ill-luck. If a man starting on a journey sees a widow on the road, he will postpone his departure rather than run the risk of neglecting so evil an omen." The relatives and neighbours of a young widow's husband are always ready to call her bad names, and to address her in abusive language at every opportunity. There is scarcely a day on which she is not cursed as the cause of their beloved friend's death. In short, the young widow's life is rendered intolerable in every way.
A widow cannot re-marry except at the risk of becoming an outcast; she may not leave the home of her husband's people, she may not eat with them, she must have her hair cut off and wear wretched clothes, and she may only be employed in the lowest and most menial tasks; and when it is remembered that there were in India in 1881 no less than 669,100 widows under the age of nineteen, all of them doomed by the cruel and senseless customs of their country to lifelong seclusion and misery, the extent of the evil becomes appalling.
To meet it, many noble efforts are being made in various parts of India by the more enlightened of the natives themselves. The nobles of Rajputana have formed themselves into a league to put a stop to child marriages, and in other places strenuous efforts are being made to induce men of good character and position to come forward and marry child widows, and to encourage their remarriage by every possible means.
Only quite lately a movement was made by the barbers in Bombay, who refused any longer to shave the heads of widows, because, as they said, they believed it was contrary to the real teaching of their religion.
Other efforts are being made to give them instruction, so that they may have some occupation to beguile their weary hours of seclusion, or even that they may be able to earn their own living, and thus be made independent of their relations, from whose unkindness they suffer so much. At present, however, the result produced in this direction has been very small, and it is only by looking back and seeing how much has been accomplished for Indian women on other lines during the last few years that we can have courage to persevere in the face of the enormous difficulties still to be overcome. Of the scheme for helping young high-caste widows, which has been started by the Pundita Eamabai, we shall speak hereafter.
The movement for the education of Indian women was initiated by the missionaries, and to the Rev. H. Ward, a Baptist missionary, is due the honour of having first enlisted the sympathy of English-women in the degraded and neglected state of their Indian sisters. It was an appeal made by Mr. Ward in 1821 to the ladies of Liverpool which led to the embarkation of Miss Cooke, afterwards Mrs. Wilson, the first lady teacher, and to the formation of the Society for Promoting Native Female Education in the East.
In 1832 eight little schools for girls were established in Calcutta, the forerunners of hundreds now scattered over all parts of the country, where religious and secular knowledge is imparted to the children by lady teachers. In course of time other schools were established by private enterprise on a non-proselytizing basis, of which the Bethune School in Calcutta was one of the earliest and the Victoria High School at Poona one of the most advanced and successful. So rapid, indeed, has been the development of female education in India, that the Indian universities actually threw open their' degrees to women before any English university did so. The University of Madras threw open its degrees to women in 1876, Calcutta followed in 1878, and it was not till 1879 that the University of London accorded them the same privilege.
But although schools for girls are among the most successful means yet tried for elevating the characters of Indian women, it must be remembered that they touch but a very small proportion of the vast number who require teaching. Among respectable families no married woman is allowed by custom in most parts of India to attend school, and as girls are generally married at eight or nine years of age their school days are cut short just as they are beginning to profit by them.
It is for this reason that the employment of lady visitors to the zenanas forms such an important part of all schemes for women's education, and especially of missionary work; and to these zenana teachers have been due the first rays of light and hope brought into many a dark home.
In 1866 Miss Mary Carpenter, after a visit to India, undertaken chiefly for the purpose of finding out for herself what was the real condition of the women, and in what way they could best be helped, came to the conclusion that nothing was so much needed as a supply of properly trained women teachers to visit the zenanas; and it was chiefly as the result of her endeavours that the Government Normal Schools were established, and they have undoubtedly done much to spread elementary knowledge and civilizing influences.
It was also, we believe, through the visits of ladies to the zenanas that English people became aware of the terrible sufferings to which women were exposed, and the immense number of lives that were sacrificed owing to the impossibility of their obtaining proper medical attendance. The rigid seclusion to which the higher classes of women are kept, precludes them from calling in the assistance of medical men, and it became evident that only through medical women could their suffering condition be ameliorated.
Here again the missionary societies took the lead, and prepared the way for other workers, both English and American. Before long, however, it became evident that the work of a few individual ladies, or of one or two missionary societies, valuable as it was, could not hope to cope successfully with the tremendous need that existed.
In 1885 was established " The National Association for supplying Female Medical Aid to the Women of India," which may be said to owe its existence to the direct initiative of Her Majesty the Queen-Empress, who personally commended the matter to the care of the Countess of Dufferin when she, before her departure for India, took leave of Her Majesty.
Lady Dufferin, after her arrival in India, lost no opportunity of studying the direction in which action could most readily be taken for ameliorating the condition of native women, and she came to the conclusion that the full requirements of the case could only be met by a bold attempt to arouse the conscience and the imagination of the public at large, and so to bind together in one common effort all parts of the empire and all classes of the community. To this end the National Association was started, with the object of the teaching and training in India of women as doctors, hospital assistants and nurses ; of establishing dispensaries and cottage hospitals for women and children; of instituting female wards in hospitals; and, where possible, of founding hospitals for women, and for supplying lady doctors and nurses to visit women in their own homes.
It has now been working for five years, and has obtained a large measure of success, not the least important work that it has achieved, being that it has enlisted the interest and sympathy of all races, classes, and creeds throughout India in a common object, and obtained once and for all a public and national recognition of the right of women to help and cure.
The great difficulty in the way of all those who are anxious to raise the condition of women in India, is the rigid seclusion in which they live.
In ancient India women seem to have occupied a far more honourable position in society than that accorded them in modern times, and they enjoyed a very considerable degree of liberty. The practice of immuring them in one particular portion of the house, and of not allowing them to see any men except their nearest relations, seems to have been introduced at the period of the Mahometan invasion, and was no doubt adopted partly as the means of shielding them from the conquerors, partly in imitation of the custom of those conquerors themselves. At the present time, however, it is the universal custom, at least among the upper classes, in nearly all parts of India, and is regarded as the absolute condition of respectability among married women of all ages.
Centuries of seclusion and of oppression have taken from them, for the most part, the very desire for liberty or of independence of any sort. They have been taught from their earliest days that a woman's hope of happiness in this world, or the next, lies in her implicit obedience to the will of her husband or other male relatives. They have been brought up to consider a life of seclusion as not only the safest but also the only respectable one, and to look upon a breach of any of their national customs as a crime. Even when the men of the family, having imbibed something of European ideas on the subject, are willing to allow a measure of freedom to the women, these latter themselves will not unfrequently refuse the proffered boon, the older ones among them over-riding the inclinations of the younger, and denouncing in unmeasured terms the proposed innovation.
We all know, even in England, how great is the force of old-fashioned prejudice and of received notions of propriety, and how difficult it is for anyone, especially for women, to set themselves in opposition to them. Of late years, indeed, the authority of Mrs. Grundy has been frequently and successfully defied, and women can now do and say many things with impunity which fifty years ago would have brought upon them social ostracism. Bearing these facts in mind, we shall be better able to understand the difficulties that lie in the way of Indian ladies, who wish to lay aside the restraints with which a thousand years of unbroken custom has bound their sex, and to accept the education and the social freedom and independence which we are so anxious to offer them, and we shall be better able to appreciate the courage and the force of character possessed by those who have succeeded in carrying such a design into execution. In the pages that follow will be found some particulars regarding a few of these pioneer women, women who are indeed worthy of all true honour and respect, both from their own countrywomen and from us who have for so long enjoyed the advantages they are only just beginning to taste.
It will no doubt be noticed that most of these ladies are Christians, and as a consequence far less trammelled than if they still belonged to the Hindu religion ; but we should remember that the Pundita Ramabai had made her stand for freedom before she accepted Christianity, and that Miss Sorabji had to contend, if not with domestic opposition, yet with the full current of popular objection to female education.
There is one other point to which we wish to direct the reader's attention, and that is, all these remarkable women have owed very much to their parents. In every case, in a greater or less degree, the work of education and enlightenment has been begun in the previous generation, and Ramabai, Toru Dutt, and Cornelia Sorabji have all borne witness to the debt they owe to their mothers.
May we not find in this fact a real source of encouragement and ground of hope ? If the result of all the efforts hitherto made to further the cause of woman's welfare in India appears very small, and leads some people to question its value, let us not despair, but remember that patience is needed. If those who sow are not rewarded by seeing the fruit of their labours, they must comfort themselves with the reflection that fruit there will be sooner or later, and without doubt a plenteous harvest will be gathered in, in due time.
The Indian ladies whose lives are briefly sketched in the following pages, have been selected as being more or less typical instances of the results of civilizing and educational influences on different races and classes in society. They do not, however, by any means exhaust the list of those whose influence may be reckoned upon as a valuable factor in the cause of the enlightenment and regeneration of Indian society. It may, perhaps, be well to mention briefly a few more names, so as to make it evident how various and widespread are the influences which are at work; and the ultimate result of which, though it may seem slow, cannot be really doubted by any thoughtful observer.
Almost all English people who have visited Simla during the last ten years are more or less acquainted with the Kunwar Rani Harnam Singh, though as she and her husband lead a very quiet, retired life only a few really enjoy the privilege of her friendship. This lady was born of Christian parents, her father, the Rev. Golak Nath, being a pastor of the American Presbyterian Missionary Society. She had, therefore, the advantage of a Christian bringing up, and she was for some years at a large English boarding-school for girls at the hill station of Musoorie. It is probably in part owing to this that the Kunwar Rani is both in speech, in mind, and in manner so thoroughly English ; partly, too, it is no doubt due to her birth, for the natives of the Punjab are both physically and morally of a stronger and more robust type than the inhabitants of more enervating districts, and seem to have more in common with men of Anglo-Saxon race.
This lady married the Kunwar Rajah Harnain Singh, a member of the ruling family of Kapur-thalla, a small principality lying between Lahore and Umballa. The name or title of "Singh" means a lion and denotes Sikh origin, the Sikhs being a warlike race in the Punjab who, about 200 years ago, under the leadership of a religious fanatic, Guru Govind, threw off the yoke of the degenerate Mahomedan rulers and formed themselves into a nation distinguished for their courage, their martial prowess, and their fierce fanaticism. Since their final conquest by the English, fifty years ago, the Sikhs have proved themselves as loyal subjects as they were previously redoubtable foes. They are almost all very fine-looking men, and are distinguished for their manly bearing and courteous demeanour.
When the Rajah of Kapurthalla died some years ago without children, his brother Harnam Singh was his nearest relative, and it seemed as though it were possible that a Christian prince should be acknowledged as ruler of a native State. It turned out, however, that the Rajah had availed himself of a family custom, and had adopted an heir, and as this child was immediately acknowledged as Rajah by the Indian Government, the Kunwar Rajah took his place as his subject, and as the manager of his landed estates in Oude.
It is on this property, not far from Lucknow, that Harnam Singh and his wife usually reside during the cold weather, but in the summer they live at Simla, where they have a charming house built and furnished in European style, where they live in thoroughly English fashion. They have paid several visits to England, the last one during the Jubilee year, when they left their two eldest boys in London under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Gray, of the Church Missionary Society, intending that they shall go later to Eton. They did this with the full conviction that a good English education would be the greatest advantage they could give their sons, and the Kunwar Rani spoke with tears in her eyes of the parting with her children, and of her anxiety about their health, making one realise that a mother's self-sacrificing love is the same all the world over.
The Kunwar Rani is a remarkably well read woman, and quite as able to hold her own in intellectual society as the majority of English women, while the respect and esteem in which she is held by all who know her, testify to her high moral qualities and her charm of mind and manner. Almost all her relations are Christians, her brother being a missionary of the American Presbyterian Society, and one of her sisters is married to a Bengali missionary, Mr. Chaterji.
In Calcutta there are several native ladies who, having been well educated themselves, are now devoting their time and their abilities to helping their fellow countrywomen.
Mrs. Wheeler is the widow of an English clergyman and the daughter of the Kev. Dr. Bannerji, formerly a well-known and esteemed missionary; she holds an appointment under Government as an Inspectress of girls' schools, and her work as such is very valuable.
Mrs. Chandramukhi Bose, having taken the M.A. degree in 1884 at the Calcutta University, is now the Lady Principal of the Bethune Girls' College, where she herself received her education. This school, founded about forty years ago by Mr. Drinkwater Bethune for the education of high-caste Bengali girls, has done very much for the cause of female progress, and its pupils have of late distinguished themselves in many ways.
Mrs. Kadambini Ganguli has taken both the B.A. and M.B. degrees in Calcutta, and is now in full and very successful medical practice in that city.
The sad story of Rakhmabai is well known, and has excited general sympathy and interest in England. She was married when she was eleven years old to a man nine years older than herself, but remained in her father's house till she was sixteen, being well and carefully educated by him. On his death her husband claimed her, but as he was idle, ignorant, and vicious, she refused to live with him, on the ground that the marriage having been arranged before she was of an age to have a voice in the matter, it could not be considered as legally binding upon her. The man then brought a suit against Rakhmabai, which was tried in the High Court in Bombay, and decided in her favour. This decision caused great anger and dismay throughout India, among the party opposed to all reform of the marriage law. They collected a sum of money, and, determined to make it a test case, they lodged an appeal, on the ground that the matter was one which ought to be settled purely on the grounds of Hindu law and custom, with which the Government was bound not to interfere. After a lapse of two years the case was re-tried, and a decision obtained ordering Rakhmabai to live with her husband within a month, or go to prison for six months. Still she refused, and determined to appeal to the Privy Council in England. The opposing party had, however, got weary of litigation, and through the mediation of some friends a compromise was effected, and the man signed an agreement that he would not force her to live with him against her will. Soon after she came to England, where she still remains, hoping, after a time, to return to her native country and endeavour to help other women.
The work of emancipating and educating the women of India, of breaking down the barriers of prejudice and social custom by which they are surrounded is, indeed, a vast one; and time, patience, and perseverance are needful for its accomplishment. There are, and must be, many failures and many disappointments, but on the other hand there are many encouragements and many proofs that those for whose benefit these efforts are being made are not ungrateful.
Were it possible to entertain a doubt on this subject, it would be dispelled by such a sight as that which was witnessed in Calcutta in December 1888, when nearly eight hundred native ladies came together at Government House, to present to Lady Dufferin an address signed by over four thousand women in Bengal, expressing their deep regret at her departure from India, where she had proved herself such a true friend to them, and their grateful appreciation of all she had done for them.
Such a sight had never been seen before, and it was one never to be forgotten. The great throne-room in Government House was filled from one end to the other with women of all ages, most of whom had never in their lives been inside a European house, while many of them had hardly seen a European face. To all it was something strangely new and exciting to find themselves in a crowd.
Old and young were there, dark and fair; a few wearing a modified European dress, but the immense majority attired in native costume. Some in silks and satins, and cloth of gold, and rich embroideries, others in brightly coloured cottons, and a few in the plain white dress and saree that betoken widowhood. Some coquettish ly drawing their veils over faces of I rare beauty, others who might with advantage have made use of veils to hide the ravages of time. Some startling one by the almost classic simplicity of their drapery, and by the graceful poise of their small heads, others proclaiming their oriental character by the superabundance of barbaric jewellery which glittered on their fingers, arms, necks, noses, ears, forehead, and heavily-laden ankles.
Only a small number of them could speak English, yet all showed themselves ready and willing to converse by signs and smiles where words were wanting. They were all overflowing with curiosity with regard to their novel surroundings, as well as animated with real gratitude to the English lady who, during her short residence of four years among them, had initiated and carried out a scheme fraught with so much benefit to them and to their children.
Such a gathering as this must do a great deal towards the breaking down of the wall of seclusion and exclusiveness with which Indian women are surrounded, and there can be but little doubt that more frequent opportunities of social intercourse with cultivated Englishwomen would prove most helpful to them. But, apart from all question of prejudice or custom, the difference of language proves an insurmountable difficulty in the way of such intercourse.
Only a very few Indian ladies can speak English, and very few English ladies, except those actually engaged in mission work, can speak any of the native languages. For it must be remembered that although those who have been some time in the country master sufficient Hindustani to be able to manage their households, yet this patois is very different from the Hindustani spoken by educated gentlemen; and this, again, is quite distinct from Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, and other languages, a knowledge of one or other of which, varying with the district, is absolutely necessary for those who wish to converse with high-caste women in their own homes. This is so much a recognized fact that all who take up medical or mission work, are expected and obliged to learn one or more native language, according to the part of the country that is to be the scene of their labours.
An Englishwoman going to reside in France or Germany, and being anxious to cultivate friendly relations with the inhabitants of the country, would, as a matter of course, be prepared to speak the language, otherwise the projected intercourse must be of a very restricted nature. There are many Englishwomen in India who would gladly make friends with Indian ladies, but when they go to visit them they find themselves utterly at a loss as to what to say. Even if they are able to exchange with them the few preliminary civil sentences which may be learnt by heart, they are soon obliged to fall back on smiles and signs for the remainder of the interview.
This is surely a wrong state of things, and one which might easily be remedied. It is considered necessary that a well-educated girl should be able to speak French, German, and Italian, even though the probability of her ever residing in those countries for more than a few weeks is a very remote one. Yet it never seems to strike parents whose daughters are fated to spend the best years of their life in India, that it would be to their advantage to know something of the languages of the country. The time and trouble necessary to master thoroughly any one common Indian dialect would be richly repaid by the possibilities of friendly social intercourse it would open out, and even those who may be inclined to doubt this assertion may, perhaps, be influenced by the consideration of the larger sphere of usefulness which would assuredly be theirs, if they were thus able to converse in the vernacular.
In the following pages will be found a short account of two Marathi ladies, two Bengali ladies, and one Parsi. It is to be regretted that no Mahometan lady can be included in the list. There are, indeed, in some parts of India, notably at Hyderabad, some Mahometan ladies who are desirous of sharing in the educational advantages now being offered to them, but the Mahometan community as a whole have been backward in availing themselves of educational advantages, and are even more conservative than the Hindus in their views respecting women.
A Mahometan gentleman holding a high official position in Calcutta, was lately asked whether any of the ladies of his family had learned English. He replied that they had not, and added that it was not thought a good thing by his co-religionists to encourage them to learn English, though they were well instructed in Arabic and could read the Koran.
It is to be hoped, however, that as more liberal views respecting women gain ground generally in India, their influence may spread to the Mahometan section of the community.
It would be impossible to close this brief survey of the woman question in India without alluding to the very great sympathy and help shown to Indian women in America, and by American ladies in India. American missionaries and lady doctors are working hard in India itself, and the United States have become a second home to more than one brave Indian woman.
It was in America that Anandibai Joshee received her medical education, as well as the generous welcome and sympathy which enabled her to go through it. It was in America that the Pundita Ramabai found the help she so sorely needed to start her home for young widows, and it is to two American writers that the public in general is indebted for all they know about these two ladies. Ramabai's work on The High-caste Hindu Widow was written and published in America, and prefaced with an earnest and touching appeal by Dr. Rachel Bodley, who told the Pundita's story in a way to touch all hearts.
Mrs. Joshee's life has been written by Mrs. Dall, and is published by Trubner. It should be read by all who care to know as much as possible of the story of this brave woman.
Still more recently, the United Kingdom Branch of the National Association for Supplying Medical Aid to the Women of India, which has hardly as yet received the support it is entitled to expect in England, has received a generous gift of 100 from a gentleman in New York; only one among many proofs of the genuine interest taken by Americans in the cause of Indian female welfare.
Surely these things should stir up the hearts of English men and women to emulate the generosity shown on the other side of the Atlantic, towards those who have so much greater claims on us, and are bound to us by so many ties of duty and of common interest.