The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 7/Inspired Talks/Monday, July 15
(RECORDED BY MISS S. E. WALDO, A DISCIPLE)
MONDAY, July 15, 1895.
Where there is polyandry, as in Tibet, women are physically stronger than
the men. When the English go there, these women carry large men up the
mountains.
In Malabar, although of course polyandry does not obtain there, the women
lead in everything. Exceptional cleanliness is apparent everywhere and there
is the greatest impetus to learning. When I myself was in that country, I
met many women who spoke good Sanskrit, while in the rest of India not one
woman in a million can speak it. Mastery elevates, and servitude debases.
Malabar has never been conquered either by the Portuguese or by the
Mussulmans.
The Dravidians were a non-Aryan race of Central Asia who preceded the Aryans, and those of Southern India were the most civilised. Women with them stood higher than men. They subsequently divided, some going to Egypt, others to Babylonia, and the rest remaining in India.