Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/497

Rh passed beyond the possibility of hearing them? Her ear is not pure enough to hear what the vilest male thief or sensualist in the Bazaar may listen to freely! Woman's religious knowledge must not rise higher than the Shasters, The “holy” Vedas are reserved for men, and for them alone.

These old laws were in existence when the New Testament was written; and in the provisions of that Christianity which threw its blessed protection over woman's nature and rights, did not the Holy Spirit glance at these wrongs, and provide the principle of their final overthrow when he said: “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus?”—one in the freedom, equality and privilege to which Heaven's impartial mercy was to raise the Pariah, the woman, and the slave, from the degradation to which heathenism, in its pride of power, had reduced those over whom it could thus safely tyrannize.

The Shaster renders her duty very definitely, as follows: “When in the presence of her husband, a woman must keep her eyes upon her master and be ready to receive his commands. When he speaks she must be quiet, and listen to nothing else besides. When he calls she must leave every thing else and attend upon him alone. A woman has no other god on earth but her husband. The most excellent of all good works that she can perform is to gratify him with the strictest obedience. This should be her only devotion. Though he be aged, infirm, dissipated, a drunkard, or a debauchee, she must still regard him as her god. She must serve him with all her might, obeying him in all things, spying no defects in his character, and giving him no cause for disquiet. If he laughs, she must also laugh; if he weeps, she must also weep; if he sings, she must be in an ecstasy.”

Menu declares, “Though inobservant of approved usages, [the services of their religion,] or enamored of another woman, or devoid of good qualities, yet a husband must constantly be revered as a god by a virtuous wife.”—Institutes, sec. 154. Such is the law, and the popular sentiment is not better than the law even