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THE IDEAL OF INDIAN WOMANHOOD
spirit is manifest in the customs and inanners, in ihe rules and laws, of our country. It has vitiated the relationship of the two, and has been the cause of inhuman cxploitation and has retarded human progress. True peace and harmony and rcal companionship beiween 12an and woinan can exist only when the relation rests upon quality and justice. As long as there is the slightest idea of the master and the dependent, of the siderior and the inferior, in the heart of men or in their customs and their practice and laws, the consummation of human bliss and cvolution, which can Lxc found in perfect harmony and co-operation be(wecn man and woman, cannot be achieved."*
In the Hindi! family, the woman is dependent. The ideal of womanhool dlocs not change thai; it is a mere myth. Laws as well as practices are all full of the spirit of incquality and injustice, The natural equality of sexes can be re-established through the problemnatical revival of polyandry. Doginatic defenders of justice and equality should demand that right for women, if the privileges enjoyed by men under Hindu law are not to be abolished. But polyandry will surely break up The family. That was the est::blished custom once upon a time. But no modern woman demands its revival. What is demanded is a freedom of choice, the right to separate when there is no har
* Ibid.
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