INDIAN WOMEN AND ROMANCE

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 794, 18 April 1910, Page 3

INDIAN WOMEN AND ROMANCE

Sarath Kumar Ghosh recently gave a most interesting lecture in London on tlio position ot women in tho drama and tho romance of India. In tho former it is noteworthy that the possession of power, beauty, and virtue is invariably attributed to women; the fool of tho piece, tho villain, and tho dupe aro always represented as a man, and only all that is desirablo is evidenced in a woman. Incidentally it is interesting to' note that Hindu dramas invariably havo a happy ending, in which is seen, as ever m Hindu life, the influence of religious faith, lor drama is always intended as a true picture of life, and the Hindu firmly believes that happiness is tho ultimate state of oyery, life, reached through countless .incarnations. Much of tiie dnpna has been hopelessly lost, for all plays were, of course, presented privately in the palaces ot princes, and when these were captured oy the Moslems all manuscripts were destroyed, thus suffering the same fate as much of the literature ot the West under Mos-. lem rule.

The Mosloms were, however, soon infected with tho Hindu reverence for women, as many customs introduced under their rule showed.. Striking example of this is seen in the bracelet, bond, a true evidence oi' the romanie of India. According to this custom, most rigidly kept throughout the Middle Ages and till to-day, a woman finding herself in a position of danger or distress had only to send her bracelet to any man, known or unknown to her, and ho was bound to como to her rescue, yielding up all he had, and even his life if necessary, in her protection. And further, so thai no possibility of self-interest could enter, a man so called'upon was absolutely forbidden to marry tho woman he thus served. A Hindu princess took advantage of this rule, and sent hor.bracelet to the Mogul Emperor, father of tho great Akbar, who accepted the gauge without deuiur. ' The love story of the Mogul Emperor, son of Akbar, will always reckon amongst tho noted romances of the world, for wheresoever the beauty and power of woman has - been sung tho Light of the World is known. Tho Emperor was, for political - reasons, married to a Hindu. princess; but he had already fallen in lovo with the beauteous daughter of- the Prime Minister, and named her the Light of tho World, and the story of his faithful loVe, resulting in union after many years, is well knowji. Then, too ; perhaps the most beautiful building m tho world, the Taj Mahal, is a monument to the abiding love'of a Mogul Emperor for his wife. Grandson of Akbar, ho held unbounded sway over countless lives and. endles3 only to be the adoring servant of his wife, Crown' of the Palace, ind when < she died ho", broken-hearted, determined that''' her, monument should stand through the ages 'as tfio most beautiful in" tho world, as she was the most beautiful and perfect of women. To this end he spent fabulous sums, and the Taj Mahal, which lias been described as a poem in marble, "Begun by Titans, 'finished by fairies," .stands to-day. as an answer to'the chargo" that the Indian held ever woman-lightly or in contempt. '