BOOK OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2378, 6 February 1915, Page 4

BOOK OF THE DAY.

THE HINDU WOMAN. Much has been written upon the pathetic subject of the.terrible disabilities under which Hindu girls and women are doomed to suffer through tho joint tyrannies of Teligion and casto, but no doubt tho sympathy of a new ami influential public will be gained by utilising fiction as a means of making clear the exact state of affairs "Jaya: Which Means Victory," by Beatrico M. Harband (Marshall Bros, (per N.Z. Bible and Tract and Book Society), is "the story of a Hindu girl of high degree, telling of her life's struggles aa a maiden, wife and widow." Tho author, who has already three or four Indian stories to &er credit, evidently possesses a deep and intimate knowledge of Indian religious and superstitions, manners, and custortis. The life story of tho much-tried Java Lakshmi, who at a mission school lays the foundations of what was to prove a firm belief in Christianity, is set forth by Miss Harband in a long and interesting narrative in which the suspicion and actual hatred with which the naturally conservative natives regard the British missionaries and their work is cleverly exemplified by some of tho leading characters. A specially able piece of portraiture in Jaya's father, a wealthy Hindu lawyer, who is a product of Western education and Eastern superstition. The unfortunate girl's middle-aged husband, who is actually older thajiher father, and who is at once a religious fanatic and a debauchee, is also a well-drawn if exceedingly unpleasant figure. Poor Jaya's life history is exceedingly pathetic, but the conclusion points to her finding full comfort and happiness in the faith she so courageously avows, and which she so determinedly adopts. The story is highly religious in tone, but apart from the development of its main motif, it affords much interesting and instructive information upon Hindu lifo. (Price 65.)