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8. The Condition of Women
- Indiana University Press
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8 The Condition of Women As a child, I took great delight, like all other children, in listening to marvelous tales. Who does not enjoy legends like the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana, the Ramayana, the Adbhuta Ramayana, the Jaimini, the Ashvamedha, and other such ancient literary works popular in our country?1 And who does not ¤nd them inspiring and yearn for the strength to perform similar great deeds? But few are they, children or adults, who do not come to realize, to their disappointment , that such great deeds are beyond their capacity, in view of their lack of strength, general ignorance, and powerlessness; and, besides, that the tales themselves are but imaginary. If we are so delighted and eager to read imaginary tales and marvels, why should we not be eager to read accounts of real events? Seven years ago I had not the slightest inkling that I would really be able to witness strength such as that of Haihayarjuna, who could block the force of great rivers; and to witness goddesses like Sita, who possess similar strength and slay unconquerable demons like Ravana with a hundred or a thousand heads.2 But,happily, in the course of time I was able to witness such wonderful things and now have the opportunity to present at least a brief account of them to my countrymen and -women. Some months ago I chanced to see the book Society in America, written by the famous and scholarly Englishwoman Harriet Martineau. After visiting America in 1840 and observing the society here, she wrote the book upon her return home.3 While describing the condition of the native women,she said: “They (the women in this country) receive no higher education at all, moreover, all avenues of acquiring it are blocked for them. The highest reach of their education consists of singing, playing musical instruments, a little reading and writing, and needlework. They enjoy no social or political freedom. Should they suffer the misfortune of widowhood or poverty, they have no recourse but to undertake work like sewing, cooking, domestic service, or similar lowly work; or to marry or remarry against their will. The laws of this country take no cognizance of women’s existence at all. Women are mere prisoners of men, like slaves. There is no exception to this in political matters and in the eyes of the law, only in social life might there be an exception, though a very rare one.”4 Harriet Martineau has recorded many such observations in her book; but although very important, they cannot be cited here for lack of time and space. The one sentence, that “women are mere prisoners of men, like slaves,” clearly reveals the pitiable and dreadful plight of native women about ¤fty years ago. The courage, powers of endurance, and unceasing effort which enabled these women to lift themselves out of this condition can be adequately described only by Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning, descended upon our earth; a mortal like me, with her limited intellect , cannot do them justice. Thus far, kind and philanthropic people have accomplished great deeds (like the abolition of slavery,and promotion of the temperance movement) in the face of terrible adversity; but the emancipation of women was a task far more dif-¤cult than them all. Because it is obvious that to purchase slaves like livestock, make them work without wages, and block their worldly and spiritual progress is very reprehensible and cruel. It is also evident that vices like drinking cause physical and mental ruin. The harm done by these things is immediately visible to all; but the harm done by the slavery of women is generally not noticed. Like a mysterious heart disease, it remains invisible even as it continues to destroy the heart of human society. Most people think that women are living not in slavery, but in a state natural to them. The belief that women are not oppressed, and that their condition need not be any different from the present one, is so deeply entrenched in everybody’s mind that it is impossible for anybody to even imagine how wretched their condition really is. What is worse, even women themselves believe that their condition is as it should be. In the past, when African Negroes were slaves in America, many of them held similar beliefs: “We may be enslaved, but this alone is our source of happiness; we are low and abject compared to everybody else, and we are utterly...