336
CHAPTER XVI
Brahmin Wives.— The Education of Women.— Ceremonies which take place when they arrive at a Marriageable Age, and during Pregnancy.— The Low Estimation in which Women are held in Private
Life.— The Respect that is paid to them in Public.— Their Clothing and Ornaments.
The social condition of the Brahmanis, or wives of Brahmins, differs very little from that of the women of other castes, and I shall have little to say about it. This
interesting half of the human race, which exercises such enormous power in other parts of the world, and often decides the fate of empires, occupies in India a position hardly better than that of slaves. Their only vocation in life being to minister to man ' s physical pleasures and wants, they are considered incapable of developing any of those higher mental qualities which would make them more worthy of consideration and also more capable of playing a useful part in life. Their intellect is thought to be of such a very low order, that when a man has done anything particularly foolish or thoughtless his friends say he has no more sense than a woman. And the women
themselves, when they are reproved for any serious fault and find it difficult to make a good excuse, always end by
saying, After ' ' all, I am only a woman! This is always their last word, and one to which there is no possible retort. One of the principal precepts taught in Hindu books, and one that is everywhere recognized as true, is that women should be kept in a state of dependence and subjection all their lives, and under no circumstances should they be allowed to become their own mistresses. A woman must obey her parents as long as she is unmarried, and her husband and mother-in-law afterwards. Even when she
becomes a widow she is not free, for her own sons become her masters and have the right to order her about!
As a natural consequence of these views, female education is altogether neglected. A young girl ' s mind remains totally uncultivated, though many of them have good abilities. In fact, of what use would learning or accomplishments be to women who are still in such a state of