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THE IDEAL OF INDIAN WOMANHOOD
reactionary. That is not a matter of opinion or a question of choice; it is a historical necessity. If the people of India are to work out their destiny, the bonds of traditional ideas and idcals must be broken. A people cannot be frec, while clenying liberty and equality, indeed, the barcst of justice, to the women. The glorification of the ideal of 1:1:lian womanhood clearly represents such a denial.
Yet, the deplorable fact is het a grcat many rif our political leaders have no patience for the modern woman who demands (conomic rights, social emancipation and a single standard of sexrelation. While some combat these new-fangled Western ideas by holding high before the misguided the mystic ideal of Indian womanhood, there are others who do not make any bones about the true nature of that ideal, and presume to show the woman her place. Of course, they also rely on the authority of the wise men of the past, and hold up the light of ancient wisdom as the infallible guide for those who wish to avoid the pitfalls of the temptations of modern lifc. Only, in doing so, they burst the bubble of the ideal of Indian womanhood, because they tell frankly what, according to venerable traditions, really is the place of woman in Hindu society.
Having been sermonised by a modern Rishi, the mecting of the Delhi Women's League had the privilege of being lectured also by a modern
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