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India--Wild Tribes And Temple Girls, a non-fiction book by Henry Theophilus Finck |
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The Old Story Of Selfishness |
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_ It might be maintained that the symptoms of true affection--altruistic devotion to the verge of self-sacrifice--are revealed, at any rate, in the _conjugal_ love of Savitri and of Damayanti. Savitri follows the god of death as he carries away her husband's spirit, and by her devotion and entreaties persuades Yama to restore him to life; while Damayanti (whose story we did not finish) follows her husband, after he has gambled away all his kingdom, into the forest to suffer with him. One night, while she sleeps, he steals half of her only garment and deserts her. Left alone in the terrible forest with tigers and snakes, she sobs aloud and repeatedly faints away from fear. "Yet I do not weep for myself," she exclaims; "my only thought is, how will you fare, my royal master, being left thus all alone?" She is seized by a huge snake, which coils its body around her; yet "even in this situation she thinks not so much of herself as she bewails the fate of the king." A hunter saves her and proceeds to make improper advances, but she, faithful to her lord, curses the hunter and he falls dead before her. Then she resumes her solitary roaming in the gloomy forest, "_distressed by grief for her husband's fate_," unmindful of his cruelty, or of her own sad plight. It is needless to continue the tale; the reader cannot be so obtuse as not to notice the _moral_ of it. The stories of Savitri and of Damayanti, far from exemplifying Hindoo conjugal devotion, simply afford fresh proof of the hoggish selfishness of the male Hindoo. They are intended to be _object-lessons_ to wives, teaching them--like the laws of Manu and the custom of widow burning--that they do not exist for their own sakes, but for their husbands. Reading the stories in the light of this remark, we cannot fail to note everywhere the subtle craft of the sly men who invented them. If further evidence were needed to sustain my view it would be found in the fact related by F. Reuleaux, that to this day the priests arrange an annual "prayer-festival" of Hindoo women at which the wife must in every way show her subjection to her husband and master. She must wash his feet, dry them, put a wreath around his neck, and bring offerings to the gods, praying that _he_ may prosper and live long. Then follows a meal for which she has prepared all _his_ favorite dishes. And as a climax, _the story of Savitri is read_, a story in which the wife lives only for the husband, while he, as he rudely tells her--after all her devotion--_lives only for his parents_! If these stories were anything else than slyly planned object-lessons calculated to impress and subjugate the women, why is it that the _husband_ is never chosen to act the self-sacrificing part? He does, indeed, sometimes indulge in frantic outbursts of grief and maudlin sentimentality, but that is because he has lost the young woman who pleased his senses. There is no sign of soul-love here; the husband never dreams of devoting his life to her, of sacrificing it for her sake, as she is constantly exhorted to do for his sake. In a word, masculine selfishness is the keynote of Hindoo life. "When in danger, never hesitate to sacrifice your goods and your wife to save your life," we read in the _Hitopadesa_ (25); and No. 4112 of Boehtlingk's _Hindu Maxims_ declares bluntly that a wife exists for the purpose of bearing sons, and a son for the purpose of offering sacrifices after his father's death. There we have masculine selfishness in a nutshell. Another maxim declares that a wife can atone for her lack or loss of beauty by faithful subjection to her husband. And in return for all the devotion expected of her she is utterly despised--considered unworthy of an education, unfit even to profess virginity--in a word, looked on "as scarcely forming a part of the human species." In the most important event in her life--marriage--her choice is never consulted. The matter is, as we have seen, left to the family barber, or to the parents, to whom questions of caste and wealth are of infinitely more importance than personal preferences. When those matters are arranged the man satisfies himself concerning the inclinations of the chosen girl's _kindred_, and when assured that he will not "suffer the affront of a refusal" from _them_ he proceeds with the offer and the bargaining. "To marry or to buy a girl are synonymous terms in this country," says Dubois (I., 198); and he proceeds, to give an account of the bargaining and the disgraceful quarrels this leads to. _ |
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