Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 6.djvu/191

 A SINDEE WOMAN. (319)

HE Photograph gives a good idea of the women of the lower class in Sind, who are not confined to the zenana, but go about unveiled. The girl has very pleasing features, of the ordinary Sindee, or as it may be called, aboriginal class, and has a tolerably fair complexion, with a fine full figure. She is dressed in the usual chola, or shift, with loose trousers gathered at the ancle, and wears over her head and shoulders a plain white nmslin scarf. Her hair is simply braided, and tied in a knot behind. The constraint in her attitude is, no doubt, owing to the arrangement of the photographer, combined with natural timidity.

Throughout India the women of Sind—that is, the Sindees, not the Belochees—are held in almost proverbial and very low esteem for morality; and Captain Burton, a close observer of manners, says of them in his history:—"We find that in all their vernacular books the fair sex is represented as more worthless in Sind than in any part of the world. It is amusing to observe the virulence of the abuse with which the ladies are assailed, especially when the cause is considered. . . . . . In intrigue the Sindee woman is for more daring than her Indian sister, though much inferior, When there is real danger, to the Persian or Afghan. Women in Sind are devotedly fond of flattery, and find no description of it too gross or ridiculous; and, curious to say (among Moslems), it is no small honour for a woman to boast of her intimacy with some great man.

"In point of personal appearance the Sindee-women are of fairer complexion, and finer features and form, than those of Western India; the latter, however, are superior in grace and delicacy of make. . . . . . The education of Sindee women is much neglected. Few can read, and still fewer can write their language; to peruse the Koran, without understanding a word, is considered a feat; and in a large town not more than four or five women would be able to spell through a Persian letter. Still there are female teachers who, when required, can educate a girl. The usual Moslem prejudice against female education is strong in Sind. All are agreed upon one point, viz: that their women are quite bad and cunning