Widows in India | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 15, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 15.

Widows in India.

Too much cannot be said to arouse Christians in every land to an appreciation of the sad condition of widows in India. The sympathies and prayers of all lovers of their race should be given to this unfortunate class of our fellow-beings. Official statistics show that in all India there are not less than twenty-one millions of widows, a number which is more than five times the population of the New England States. We can have little conception in this Christian land of the sufferings endured by these poor creatures, especially by the child-widows. There are hundreds of thousands of these child-widows, who have never left their father's homes, but who are esteemed cursed, and are saluted with opprobrious epithets, simply because some old man or boy to whom they were betrothed, and whom possibly they never saw, has died. The Hindu belief is that the gods hate these widows, and hence any act of kindness shown to them will be an offense to the malignant deities, who may vent their wrath on the person who does the kindness. Men are expected to hate "the vile things," as the gods have done. They are to be exiles from society, to sit on the ground, to fast twenty-four hours twice a month, never singing, nor laughing, nor joining in any social festivity. Their life is so bitter that it is not to be wondered at that many of them regret that the English have abolished their old custom of suttee, in accordance with which they might be burned on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands. But the Hindus themselves are beginning to appreciate the cruelty of their treatment of widows, and organizations have been formed to favor their remarriage. Some Brahmins and persons of high caste have encouraged the practice by personal example, and have married widows of lower caste than themselves. This change of sentiment will bring relief to myriads of our fellow-beings.—Missionary Herald.