White Women might be Batter Off in the Harem.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17973, 19 March 1930, Page 15

White Women might be Batter Off in the Harem.

The WORLD'S RICHEST PRINCE Declares Some

Interview with

PRINCE TIKA RAJA PARAMJIT SINGH. Son of H. H. the Maharajah of Kaporthala and Heir to the Throne

IS Highness Jagatjit Singh Bahadur, of Kapurthala is probably the wealthiest ruler in all the world. Kapurthala includes the Punjab province in India, and liis son, the

Then a coterie of fair serving maidens, come with mixed music; or others, in little brown feet, are ready to dance for thc.ir mistress; while two maids bring jewelled brushes and combs of old yellow gold to dress her long, silken tresses. When the time comes for her to rise, she inspects long trailing Indian robes of precious silk and chooses which she will wear. It is set aside, while the procession passes to the perfumed and sunwashed pool where they enjoy elaborate baths before dressing. The afternoon is taken np with, perhaps, the choosing of new jewels sent in by the bazaar keepers, and with the reading of French books, for often the rich Indian woman knows at least one languago besides her own.

Crown Prince, at 37, has visited all the gre<at cities of the world. He knows England as well as Kapurthala; Paris he calls the “city fit for kings to live in”; New York, he says is amazing. For the prince has an English education, added to his Indian education. He speaks seven or eight languages. And, what is most important for his future subjects, he has studied the ways of all the world and compared national customs, as a philosopher. So, naturally enough, what the pnDce has to say about two of the most discussed questions of to-day has weight and dignity. Those questions are the new freedom of women and the changing status of marriage everywhere, says “Tit Bits” in a special interview. A Bold Comparison.

Then, too, there are tho dressing and the perfuming for the visit of her lord. When the husband comes, he enters with all reverence. He is greeted with a fine affection none but an Indian woman has for her husband; And so, with gentle pursuits, with embroidery, reading, lovemaking, the sheltered days pass. No wonder the Indian woman shrinks from rude contact with the world. Modern Girls —But Shy. ‘Tint,” urges tho Prince of Kapurthala, “contrast this with the life of one of your busy European women. If she has means, she rides before breakfast. She returns to give her servants —perhaps also her husband—their orders for the day. She writes cheques—without overdrawing her bank balance. She may buy and sell on the stock market. She drives her own car through traffic. She has freedom, but—is she really much happier than her grandmother, who lived a secluded life of almost absolute femininity ?” The prince paused. “I do not say I am against this freedom,” he explained, “for I am not. Many of our Indian women play golf, go out alone, travel about the world, mix with men as equal and companion, just as your women do. Tlie idea occurs to me—when we at least settle the woman question (if we ever do!)- —may we not arrive at some such conclusion as this : “That women in their natures are as widely apart as the poles. That a most sheltered home with absolute protection and music and jewels and tho feminine furbelows of life were meant for some women; that these gentlest creatures suffer without such attentions. That other women languish and go to waste when their bubbling energies are confined merely to a house and a husband and love-making. Por them the excitement of hard sports, business bustle, women’s clubs, competition, the unromantic comradeship of men. I think we may find that this is true. And that freedom for women or utmost cherishing are good or bad according to the woman’s nature.”

Perhaps, as the prince talked of women and their “comparative happiness, dignity, and freedom,” ne had in mind some of the charges Margaret Mayo made in “Mother India.” At any rate, that hook has had little effect in convincing him that tho new freedom of women is a thing of unmitigated good. Nor yet of unmitigated evil. “It depends,” said the prince. “It is hard to say anytning is good or bad, particularly women. It is all in the mind.” Then, before making conclusions, ho outlined a comparative picture of the happy woman and the—perhaps—happy .Western girl. “Our women” (he explained to the interviewer) “are excessively modest, retiring, sweet, and gentle. They are like the most delicate white violet, gentle, gracious creatures, to be spared every rude breath, to be courfed and cherished and —yes — thought for. Yet many of our highest caste women to-day, when freedom of women has reached even our India, still keep to their quarters, shrinking .to go about like men transacting their shopping at the bazaars, where cold business fails to do .the homage to these gentle folk that they feel is their due.” Sheltered Security.

French family where the family tradition was all for the new freedom. Father and mother wished their daughter t<j become a school teacher, a woman physician, to ‘‘go in for politics,” or join some relative in business. And the daughter shrank. “ There are Western women who suffer in your Western world'; they might thrive in an Indian zenana (harem),” he said. Then he speaks of ‘‘comparative marriage.” The advantages of the British way of bringing up girls is, chiefly, an economic advantage. The girls are taught something useful by which they may support themselves, if the need comes. This custom makes them freer in their choice of a husband, the prince believes. If a woman can earn her own living she does not need to marry for support. Again, if she becomes a widow, she can care for herself and her children. Further, from having had a man’s education, she will probably be able to share his business life with him, to m '.erstand what problems he meets beyond the home, to sympathise and make allowances. ‘‘But,” asked the prince, ‘‘does not this system also have its drawbacks!” The Amazon Wife.

He believes that the wife who is absolutely independent of her husband’s support will take, perhaps, less pains to make their marriage a success than the wife who knows she must make it a success because it is her one career in life. Again, when a husband knows his wife would be helpless without his care, financially and otherwise, he must feel a degree more chivalrous and tender to her in her helplessness than he would were she a tall, strong, emphatic-voiced Amazon.

Then the prince explained just how an Indian woman spends her day. This is significant. Where the European woman, even of wealth and position, rises at a fairly early hour and dresses and goes out shopping or to committee meetings, or to a Club conference, the highly placed Indian woman is awakened, at mid-morning, by soft music from the liquid lute. Into her sweet chamber, with its Oriental carpets and its tufted cushions, come on sandalled feet her maidens. One lights the incense, that her first waking breath may be of spiced aroma. Another brings chilled and honeyed fruits. A third brings Oriental coffee.

Then the prince showed that in his travels he has used his eyes. He states that he has seen, here and there, a young daughter of some English or

There is nothing whieh brings out a man’s best qualities more than the need of some woman who relies upon him. And the idea that the woman who has m'astered the world is better suited to understand her husband’s problems may work two ways. ‘‘A husband will not be able to put off such a wife with the old one, about being detained at the office late; nor that other about sitting up with a sick friend! Where the little stay-at-home wife would be so sorry for the sick friend, the business wife would greet that with a laugh,” stated the prince. ‘‘May wc not decide that European freedom is the salvation of some Indian women, and that cherishing and poesy and retirement in a harem are what might best satisfy some Western girls who shrink from a world of bustle and business

‘‘ln other words, freedom, new ways, old ways, voting women, women of the harem —they are all a part of life. It depends upon the individual whether they are good or bad.”