THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2617, 27 September 1909, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

THE SHARADA SADAN.

FACTS CONCERNING THE HINDU’S RELIGION.

The following is an extract from a report written by the famous Indian woman, Paudita Ramahai, for an American Missionary Association: You know all about the present unrest in India. I have known some of the makers of this unrest, and have been closely watching their career for the last twenty-seven years. The makers of this unrest are ‘well-educated people, trying to do good to the country in their own way, but it is sad to see that most of them do not seem to see what is wanting in us as a people. I say, as a people, for we are not a nation, at least, not one nation. Wo are wanting:—First and foremost in unity. We are so many castes, so many clans, so many families and so many individuals. Each one interested in his or her own self. The religion, of the Hindu is to try and save himself, to take no thought lor others, not even for his wife and children. His religion is to make himself a god : incidentally he may of course do something for others, hut it is his own self that ho loves above all things. In his secular life he follows certain rules laid down for him in the religious books. These rules are very pleasing to the flesh. For instance: —

“A man should take care of riches, that help may be afforded in times of distress. He should take care of his wife more than riches. 5 This is tlio injunction of the Hindu’s religion for a man’s secular life. How different it sounds from the following:— “He that lovetli his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. “If any man serve me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant he: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.” John 12:24-27.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. The daily life, social rules, and manners of the Hindu show that ho follows the rules laid down for him by his religion. He very carefully protects himself above all. At home he is a great lord over all. while his wife does all hard work; lie very seldom, if over, condescends to put his hand to the daily drudgery. If it pleases his lordship to let his wife accompany him sometimes, cither to the idol temples, or to other places, he makes it a rule to walk ahead, while his wife follows him respectfully at some distance like a good faithful slave. His head is protected from the burning sun with a good headdress and an umbrella, arid his feet are protected from the burning sand and thorns, with well-made shoes or boots, while his wife walks bare-footed and without any protection for her head, save a sheet of thin saree., If she happens to be the happy mother of a son, the little eon has his head protected with an umbrella and his feet with shoes, while lie rides comfortably on the hip of his mother or of a servant. You never see Hindu gentlemen rising from their comfortable seats to make .room for women on railway stations, or in railway carriages, or anywhere else. Men never come forward to help women out of pure good manner and respect for the “weaker vessel.” There is a great want of thoughtfulness for others in the whole of the Hindu family life. In ordinary speech a man may be heard to say. “I and rny brother,” “I and my neighbor;” not, “My neighbor and I,” “My brother and I,” “Mv wife and I,” as is customary in Christian speech. There arc exceptions of course, but they only prove the rule.

Some educated Hindu men are trying to imitate Christian men in their good manners. It is a good sign, we are thankful to see it, but imitations are only imitations after all. They do not stand the test. The change must come from within. Nothing but complete conversion, the turning away from all idols and idolatrous practices, and reverent love toward the only true God, will bring the desired effect. Here are some of the rules laid down by the Hindu’s religion, for the man who wants to save himself: “When a householder see s bis (skin) wrinkled, and (his hair) white, and the sons of his sons, he then may resort to the forest.

“Abandoning all food raised by cultivation, and all his belongings, he may depart into the forest, either committing his wife to his sons, or accompanied by her.” “Those and other observances must a Brahmana who dwells in the forest diligently practise, and in order to attain complete (union with) the (supreme) Soul, (he must study) the various sacred texts contained in the Upanishads.” n “But having thus passed the third part of (a man’s natural term of) life in the forest, he may live as an ascetic during the fourth part of bis existence, after abandoning all attachment to worldly objects.” “Let him always wander alone, without any companion, in order to attain (final liberation) fully understanding that the solitary (man, who) neither forsakes nor is forsaken, gains his end.” Thi» is very pleasing to him, it exalts his self; but strikes at the root of love, as taught and exemplified by Christ. “Love vaunteth not itself,” “Seeketh not her own.’

SOCIETY NUISANCES. The sorrows of the London hostess are proverbial; indeed, I sometimes wonder that anyone is public-spirited onough to start entertaining, or, b-.v----ing started, to continue! At first a •budding hostess finds all the difficulty in the world in getting together enough of the right people for her initial effort ; after a short time, if she achieves success at all, her great trouble is who to leave out so that her rooms may not be crowded to suffocation. Once parties and balls are voted “good,” the giver thereof is besieged for invitations b v all her friends, not for themselves so much in many instances, hut for others in whom they are interested, or for whom they wish to do a good turn. I hear of one great lady whose list of guests is so large, and who has suffered so much from being asked to extend it each time she gives a hall, that sho has at last struck, and her invitations this year aye to be sent out in the names of her son and daughter. By this clever device she is able to elude the invitation-hunters, and can always plead that the dance is given by her young people, not by herself. But surely it is satire on the maimers of the day that a lady in society should he forced to use such subterfuges as those to avoid the importunities of iw-r ‘ ‘friends. ’ ’ —The * ‘Gentlewoman.”