Page:The Land of the Veda.djvu/502

492 yak, or snow-cow of Thibet, white and bushy, inserted into an ornamental shaft, is ready at hand, and with it the lady whisks around him and saves him from the slightest inconvenience.

The duty is patiently performed, and when he has fully satisfied himself, she removes what remains to another apartment—for her religion not only forbids her eating with him, but also prohibits her from eating, even what he may leave, “in the same room where he dines”—and then, and not till then, can she and her children eat their food.—Code, sec. 43.

Woman is absolutely, and without redress, in the power of her husband, and no one can interfere when it stops short of actual murder. In the western provinces of India the reckless treatment of woman was carried to its greatest extreme. Before British rule interfered there was positively no limit to the cruelty of native husbands. Twenty years have not passed since similar tyranny might have been witnessed in the kingdom of Oude, (before the introduction of British rule there threw the protection of the law of Christ over woman's life, so far as it can reach her secluded existence.) An extract from a reliable work, “The Private Life of an Eastern King,” will illustrate this. The writer says, speaking of Nussir-i-Deen, the late King of Oude: “Being irritated, the King retired into the female apartment, and we returned to our tents. Heaven help the poor woman who has the misfortune at such a moment to displease or disgust an irritated despot! An accidental sneeze, a louder cough than usual, nay, even an ungraceful movement, may bring down punishment terrible to think of—torture, perhaps, at the bare mention of which the English wife, or mother, or daughter would shudder. Such things take place but too often in the Hindoo zenanas of India. Magistrates know that such things often take place, but they are helpless to punish or prevent. But the zenana and the harem are sacred; and the female slave that revealed their horrid mysteries would suffer a lingering and excruciating death at the hands of the very woman whom her revelations might be intended to protect. The chief and the wealthy man who is disposed to be cruel can act despotically, tyrannically