Reminiscences Part 15

Darjieling, Oct. 17, 1882.--Here dwells a tribe of mountaineers who are polyandrists, the reverse of polygamists. Each woman has several husbands, who are generally brothers or near relatives. This practice has locally decreased the population, while in all other Hindoo sects it is rapidly increasing.

The English aristocracy is strongly represented here. The summer residence of the Bengal government, which is located here, as well as the excellent sanitarium, attract thousands of travelers. Excursions, dinners, b.a.l.l.s and other festivities follow each other in rapid succession. This afternoon I was present at one of these gatherings, and met the Greek merchant Patochi, and made other interesting acquaintances. This evening shall attend a ball given by the governor of Bengal. At all these parties "simkim," or champagne, flows in streams. Life is gay and luxurious among the aristocracy in India.

Nov. 23, 1882.--Was present at a quiet and select entertainment with the king of Kutch Behar, in his palace in Calcutta. His wife is a daughter of the great Hindoo reformer Keshub-Chunder-Sen; she is a well educated, beautiful woman, who, together with her husband, the young and elegant king, defies the Hindoo caste restrictions, and appears publicly in company with other ladies and gentlemen.

Dec. 28, 1882.--Attended the decennial missionary conference; five hundred missionaries from all parts of Asia, Africa and Australia were present, and made it a most interesting religious convention. It was a gathering of highly cultivated, intelligent, courageous men and women, from the gray haired veteran to the young novice fresh from college.

The American missionaries took a most prominent part, notable among whom was Dr. Thoburn, since made a bishop in the Methodist church.

There were also three Swedes, with whom I formed an acquaintance,--Ungert, Edman and Erikson.

Jan. 18, 1883.--Attended the great state ball in the palace of the viceroy. Fifteen hundred guests were present, and the throng formed a brilliant picture of beauty, fashion and royal splendor. There were many native n.o.bles, princes and rulers, the most prominent ones being the gawkwar (king) of Baroda, and the Kahn of Khelat. Wherever the gawkwar went he was closely followed by half a dozen turbaned attendants and four body guards armed with daggers and cimeters, or Damascus blades. His garment consisted of blue and green plush and satin, and the many-colored turban was almost covered with diamonds.

It was claimed that the jewels he wore that evening on his breast and turban had a value of two million dollars.

Feb. 10, 1883.--In spite of all efforts to live quietly I am incessantly drawn into the whirl of social life; yesterday I attended one of the most pleasant festivities of the season. It was a magnificent fete given by the Mohammedan prince Raja Rajendra Naryan Bahadur in his gorgeous palace and parks in Shova Bazar in honor of the British victory in Egypt. Three thousand guests were present.

All kinds of amus.e.m.e.nts were arranged, such as dancing, concerts, a circus with uninterrupted performances, nautches or dances performed by native dancing girls, etc. In different parts of the palace refreshments were served, all in the same grand style as the rest of the entertainment. The parks and gardens were illuminated by thousands of Chinese lanterns and many electric lights.

The following is also taken from my journal:

* * * Received visits from the Reverend Phillips Brooks and Joseph Cook, and from a young Swedish count, Wachtmeister by name, who was on his way through Asia, and also from a young prince from Madagascar, a son of the queen of that country, who, under the guidance of Ludvig Larson, a Norwegian sea captain, made a voyage through the seas of Asia for the purpose of learning practical navigation. The young prince spoke English fluently, and was a very intelligent man.

Attended a great festival at a masonic lodge where about one hundred and fifty members of the order were present, among whom were men of nearly every nationality and religion. The Master's degree was conferred on three brothers who knelt before the same altar. One was a Christian, and took his obligation with the hand on the Bible; one was a Mohammedan, who took it with the hand on the Koran; the third, a Hindoo, with his hand on the Shastra. The obligation was dictated by an English lord, judge of the supreme court, a.s.sisted by the secretary of the Grand Lodge, my friend Rustomji, a Pa.r.s.ee and fire-worshiper.

With the religious intolerance in India, where all unite in hating the Christians, it is only among the Free Masons, who know of no nationality, race or other barrier, that such things are possible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE G.o.dDESS KALI.]

Visited the temple of the G.o.ddess Kali in a suburb of Calcutta. Kali is the G.o.ddess of hate and vengence, and this temple is one of the most celebrated in India. One hundred and fifty Brahmin priests officiate in the same. The chief priest, Roonish-Chunder-Mokerje, was a young man with liberal education. He had spent several years in American mission schools. His office is held by inheritance. He was a most agreeable companion, well versed in western as well as Sanskrit literature. Once upon telling him that I had an intimate friend in Sweden who was a Christian priest, he gave me some pictures of the G.o.ddess Kali and other idols to send him with his compliments. In return, I had the pleasure a few months later to present him with a Swedish Bible, with his name in golden letters on the cover, from my friend, the Swedish minister, which present he cherished very highly.

This Bible is now kept in the temple of Kali.

At my request Mokerje prepared a brief extract of the religious doctrine of the Hindoos, which reads as follows:

"We believe in heaven and h.e.l.l as temporary abodes of reward and punishment. When a man dies his good and evil deeds are weighed on the scales. First he goes to heaven to receive his reward, then to h.e.l.l to suffer in proportion to his sins. When everything is squared up he again returns to the world in the form of another being, the same process is repeated again and again, and he can attain perfect bliss only after he has reached such a stage of development that he can do neither good nor evil deeds, but must lose himself in the contemplation of G.o.d until he finally ceases to exist as an individual being, and is reunited with G.o.d of whom he really const.i.tutes a part."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ABDUL, MY MOHAMMEDAN SERVANT.]

Was invited to the home of Col. Gordon to see some proofs of occultation, which is very wide-spread in India, and witnessed phenomena, which were so strange, that I hesitate to write them down.

I saw heavy objects moving in the air through the room above our heads, and a man with the chair on which he sat rising several feet from the floor without the aid of any visible force whatever. I heard a slate pencil, moved by an invisible power, writing on a slate, and read in plain English what was written. I also saw in the same manner a pen writing on paper with ink, and felt with my hand the moisture of the ink. I know not wherein the invisible power consisted which caused these phenomena, but that such a power does exist I know for certain, for in this case, at least, there was no chance for deception.

At the home of the prince Tagore I met the renowned Madame Blavatsky, and many Hindoo theosophists. She is a large, corpulent woman, with intelligent, though rather coa.r.s.e, features. She believes that she is attended by Kut-Humis-Lal-Sing, a Buddhistic hermit who is claimed to be two thousand years old, and have the power of moving his "astral body" as swiftly as thought to the most distant places. For my part I saw nothing remarkable among the theosophists, but it is a common belief among the Hindoos that certain pundits, or learned men, who for years have lived in the mountains as hermits, abstaining from food and all sensual pleasures, thereby attain such a power of mind over matter as to be able to separate the former from the body and let it, untrammeled by the laws of matter, move from place to place, still retaining the same form and ability to speak and act. Whether this is so or not I cannot say, but this I know, that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy."

[Ill.u.s.tration: TYPES OF MOHAMMEDAN SERVANTS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOBULLA, AN IDIOT.]

What luxuries one may enjoy here in the most pleasant company,--a glorious nature, palatial residences, choice fruits, dishes and wines, pleasures of all kinds, surrounded by a host of servants, who, in snow-white garments and with bare feet, noiselessly and swiftly move about in order to gratify one's desires upon the slightest sign,--and still how I long for the home in the North, with the cool winds and frost and snow which quicken the blood, give appet.i.te, and fill one with a feeling of surging vitality and energy, unknown in the enervating climates of the South.

From my veranda I see a crowd of people on the street who seem to pay homage to some one. It proves to be an idiotic beggar, Sobulla. The Hindoos believe that when a person has lost his reason he is filled with the spirit of G.o.d, and hence they always treat the insane with respect and tender care.

This April heat makes it easy to realize the Hindoo proverb, which says: "Never run when you may walk, never walk when you may stand still, never stand when you may sit, never sit when you may lie down."

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Women of India--The Widows--The American Zenana--Prizes Awarded in a Girl's School--Annandabai Joshee--Her Visit to America--Reports to the Government--Departure from India--Burmah--Ceylon--Arabia--Cairo.

From our point of view the social condition of women in India is highly deplorable. The women are not regarded as the equals of men, but rather as an appendix to them. Their religion teaches that they have no acknowledged rights as individuals, and that the only happiness they can attain in this world and in the world to come is to become wives and mothers of men, and that the more a woman sacrifices herself for man the greater will be her reward in the future. If the man to whom she is married dies, the remainder of her life is full of sorrow and suffering, and it is only in the life hereafter that she can expect any happiness, and that by being reunited with him.

This belief gave rise to the so-called "sati," or the custom to burn the wife on her deceased husband's pyre in order that she might _at once_ be reunited with him and enjoy salvation through him. "Sati" is now prohibited by the English government, but every widow in India is still doomed to a life of misery and degradation.

When we consider that polygamy is practiced to a very large extent among the rich so that a man is allowed to have any number of wives, and may keep on taking new wives as long as he lives, it may easily be understood what a great number of widows there must be. There is an old man, for example, who dies and leaves many widows of different ages, some of them only ten or twelve years old, none of whom are allowed to marry a second time. They are deprived of all ornaments, and compelled to wear a very coa.r.s.e, plain dress, to live on the plainest food, and work hard for the man who inherits the property of the deceased husband, and who is generally his brother or his son. This is the reason that rich families have a large number of women in all ranks and conditions, from the mistress of the house, which position is held by the husband's mother, to the humblest servant woman. The education of women is prohibited; hence they are very much like children, playing with their dolls, jewels and other toys, and having no higher idea of life in general than what they have been taught in the nursery. It is rather fortunate, therefore, that these lamentable victims of prejudice live in ignorance, as long as the present condition exists, for otherwise their life would be still more miserable.

In the course of the last few years missionaries from Europe and America have opened schools for the education of girls. The most prominent of these is located in Calcutta, and has many branches in other parts of India. It is called "the American Zenana," or ladies' mission, and during my stay in India it was managed by a Miss Hook, a very estimable lady of Danish descent, the fruits of whose n.o.ble work will be of incalculable value to future millions of Hindoo women.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MISSION HOME AND SCHOOL.]

At an examination in this school I had the honor of distributing the prizes, consisting of five hundred American dolls sent by Cyrus Field of New York. The recipients were the most dainty and pretty little girls one could see. I wish I could describe this festivity. I sat on the platform in the great hall with Miss Hook to the right, a pundit or learned Brahmin to the left, and surrounded by the American and native teachers and some American tourists. The immense hall might be compared with a beautiful flower terrace alive with different colors, every little girl shining like a pretty flower in her red, green, white, blue or purple dress, her pretty black hair sparkling with gold and silver ornaments or jewels. They were all listening with close attention until their names were called, when they modestly, their faces beaming with joy, stepped up to receive the pretty dolls sent by the generous American.

At first these schools met with bitter opposition on the part of the better cla.s.ses of natives, but these prejudices gradually died away, and at present the mission schools are not subject to either persecution or ill-will.

One day in February, 1883, I received a visit at my home by a Brahmin of the highest cla.s.s, accompanied by his young wife and her little sister.

Her name was Annandabai Joshee. Her husband was postmaster in the old Danish city Serampoor. He was a highly educated man, about forty years of age, with fine, affable manners. His wife was nineteen years old, and they had been married nine years. With the exception of the queen of Kutch Behar and a few in the Zenana mission, she was the first educated Hindoo woman that I had met. Her husband had given her an excellent education.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANNANDABAI JOSHEE.]

Their errand was to consult me and, if possible, obtain my a.s.sistance in a matter of the greatest importance to the women of India. The young woman had reflected somewhat in this manner: "Since I have acquired education, and the same amount of knowledge as a man, why may not other women in India do the same? In America many women are renowned for their great learning, and many of them are doctors of medicine. The women of India are not allowed to be visited by any man except their husband, and as all our physicians are men, who cannot see and carefully examine their female patients, they cannot, of course, prescribe proper treatment for them; hence many women in India must suffer and die without a remedy, which often could be avoided if women studied medicine. If American women can become physicians, then I can, and I have decided to go to America and enter the female medical college in Philadelphia and study for the degree of doctor of medicine, and then return to India and do good among my countrywomen, and disprove the false doctrine which keeps Hindoo women in ignorance and degradation."

Her husband was very enthusiastic for her plan, and, being rich, was also able to a.s.sist her in carrying it out if I would favor it and contribute toward its realization by reason of the influence my official position gave.

A few weeks later, the n.o.ble minded little Brahmin woman was on her way across the great ocean to that country where not only man but also woman enjoys a free existence. She carried official letters from me to all American authorities with which she might come in contact, also to the mayor of Philadelphia, and to the state department at Washington. Before leaving Calcutta she delivered an extempore address before a large audience at the University of Serampoor, of which address I have made the following extracts:

"I am asked hundreds of questions about my going to America. I take this opportunity to answer some of them.

"I go to America because I wish to study medicine. I now address the ladies present here, who will be the better judges of the importance of female medical a.s.sistance in India. I never consider this subject without being impressed that none of those societies so laudably established in India for the promotion of science and female education have ever thought of sending one of their female members into the more civilized parts of the world to procure thorough medical knowledge, in order to open here a college for the instruction of women in medicine.

The want of female physicians in India is keenly felt in every quarter.

Ladies, both European and native, are naturally averse to expose themselves in cases of emergency to treatment by doctors of the other s.e.x. There are some female doctors in India from Europe and America, who, being foreigners, and different in manners, customs and language, have not been of such use to our women as they might. As it is very natural that Hindoo ladies who love their own country and people should not feel at home with the natives of the other countries, we Indian women absolutely derive no benefit from these foreign ladies. They indeed have the appearance of supplying our need, but the appearance is delusive. In my humble opinion there is a growing need for Hindoo lady doctors in India, and I volunteer to qualify myself for one.

"Are there no means to study in India? I do not mean to say there are _no_ means, but the difficulties are many and great. There is one college at Madras, and midwifery cla.s.ses are open in all the presidencies; but the education imparted is defective and insufficient, as the instructors are conservative, and to some extent jealous. I do not find fault with them. That is the character of the male s.e.x. We must put up with this inconvenience until we have a cla.s.s of educated ladies to relieve these men. I am neither a Christian nor a Brahmin. To continue to live as a Hindoo, and go to school in any part of India, is very difficult. A convert who wears an English dress is not so much stared at. Native Christian ladies are free from the opposition or public scandal which Hindoo ladies like myself have to meet within and without the Zenana. If I go alone by train or in the street some people come near to stare and ask impertinent questions to annoy me. Example is better than precept. Some few years ago, when I was in Bombay, I used to go to school. When people saw me going with my books in my hand they had the goodness to put their heads out of the window just to have a look at me. Some stopped their carriages for the purpose. Others walking in the streets stood laughing, and crying out so that I could hear: 'What is this? Who is this lady who is going to school with boots and stockings on?' Does not this show that the Kali Ugla has stamped its character on the minds of the people? Ladies and gentlemen, you can easily imagine what effect questions like this would have on your minds if you had been in my place!

"Once it happened that I was obliged to stay in school for some time, and go twice a day for my meals to the house of a relative. Pa.s.sers-by, whenever they saw me going, gathered round me. Some of them made fun and were convulsed with laughter. Others, sitting respectably on their verandas, made ridiculous remarks, and did not feel ashamed to throw pebbles at me. The shop-keepers and venders spit at the sight of me, and made gestures too indecent to describe. I leave it to you to imagine what was my condition at such time, and how I could gladly have burst through the crowd to make my home nearer.

"Yet the boldness of my Bengali brethren cannot be exceded, and is still more serious to contemplate than the instances I have given from Bombay.

Surely it deserves pity. If I go to take a walk on the strand, Englishmen are not so bold as to look at me. Even the soldiers are never troublesome, but the Baboo boys[6] have their levity by making fun of everything. 'Who are you?' 'What caste do you belong to?' 'Whence do you come?' 'Where do you go?'--are in my opinion, questions that should not be asked by strangers. There are some educated native Christians here in Serampoor who are suspicious; they are still wondering whether I am married or a widow; a woman of bad character or excommunicated. Dear audience, does it become my native and Christian brethren to be so uncharitable? Certainly not. I place these unpleasant things before you that those whom they concern most may rectify them, and that those who have never thought of the difficulties may see that I am not going to America through any whim or caprice.

[Footnote 6: Educated Hindoo of the middle cla.s.s.]

"Shall I not be excommunicated when I return to India? Do you think I should be filled with consternation at this threat? I do not fear it in the least. Why should I be cast out, when I have determined to live there exactly as I do here? I propose to myself to make no change in my customs and manners, food or dress. I will go as a Hindoo and come back here to live as a Hindoo. I will not increase my wants, but be as plain and simple as my forefathers, and as I am now. If my countrymen wish to excommunicate me, why do they not do it now? They are at liberty to do so."

After my return to America I visited her twice at the medical college in Philadelphia, where she became everybody's favorite, being one of the best students that ever crossed the threshhold of the inst.i.tution. She did not renounce her religion or her habits of life, but observed all of these strictly. After three years of hard study she pa.s.sed her examination with high standing, and practiced a few months in American hospitals, but she gradually succ.u.mbed to the dread disease, pulmonary consumption, and returned to India after an absence of four years, only to die in Poonah, the city where her ancestors had lived as highly respectable people for two thousand years past. She left India with the curse of the Brahmins on her head, but returned as the idol of her people. Thousands upon thousands crowded around her home, almost worshiping the frail, n.o.ble being whose youthful life was slowly ebbing away.