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THE IDEAL OF INDIAN WOMANHOOD
and children. Under the ill-fated Republic, the German women turned their back on these traditional “Aryan" ideals. The lamentablc forces of degeneration have been arrested by the Nazis, who have resurrected the Indo-German ideal of womanhood by their characteristic methods. Women have becn sent back to the kitchen by the orilinance of the authoritarian State which recognises no individual right. That is also a striking cxample of Indian social philosophy, practised by the avowed enemies of democratic freedom. “Marry and multiply "—that is the order for women, not only in Hitler's Germany, but also in Mussolini's Italy. And those are the countries in which the vulgar materialistic features of modern Western civilisation have entirely eclipsed its human values. The war lords require a plentiful supply of cannon-fodder. For that purpose, women have been driven out of all other occupations. they must stay at home and breed children.
The ideal of Indian womanhood, instead of being spiritually inspired, is of such a materialistic nature that it can fit into the scheme of a social philosophy which incorporates the worst features of Western culture.
To do justice to women, it should be noted with the strongest emphasis that the ideal was not conceived by themselves ; it was set before them by men--by those "wise men of ancient
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