NE of the results of the World-War which has just ended, is the great improvement of the status of women in the West. What they could not achieve by agitation and by imprudent and ill-advised propaganda has been attained swiftly and quietly by the self-sacrifice and devotion to the national interests displayed by them during the progress of the War. All honour to the wise leaders of militant women-reformers who, as soon as their country was imperilled, abandoned their aggressive methods for those more in keeping with their naturally self-effacing disposition, justifying the words of the poet : "O Woman! in our hearts of ease By the light quivering aspen made; The War gave woman her great opportunity and she saw it, seized it, and worked out her emancipation. It is not only in spheres supposed to be peculiarly her own, but also in occupations in which her capacity was doubted or denied, and would never have been tried but that the lack of men compelled her employment, that she so distinguished herself, that all her indiscretions were forgotten, all criticisms were silenced and grateful and repentant man acknowledged her proper place by his side. Saint Augustine anticipated this when he said:"If God had designed women as man's master, He would have taken her from his head; if as His slave, He would have taken her from his feet; but as He designed her for her companion and equal, He took her from his side." Are we women of the East content to watch the events of the West with the stoicism supposed to be characteristic of Orientals, making no endeavour to ameliorate our own condition and shake off the fetters which cramp our activities, diminish our usefulness and make us over-dependent on the other sex? Some there are who take pride in those very fetters and would consider they had lost proud privileges, if they lived a freer and fuller life. No doubt, to some extent, there are compensations in their present thraldom, which they are loth to give up. To such, my remarks are not addressed; they are welcome to hug their fetters and live a life of "dreamful ease" saying, "There is no joy but calm! Why should we toil, the roof and crown of things?" My words are addressed to those of a more energetic temperament who wish to rise to the full stature of their womanhood and to be of some service to their country. Men have for centuries dinned into our ears: "Man for the field and woman for the hearth, Even Ruskin, one of the most original thinkers of modern times, repeats: "A happy nation may be defined as one in which the husband's hand is on the plough and the housewife's on the needle." Better justice to women has been done in the following lines of the poet whose sympathy and imagination enabled him to see with a clearer vision: 66 'They talk about a woman's sphere, That has a feather's weight of worth, Women in the West have long protested against the sharp division of functions and the War has now given the death-blow to the old ideals of womanhood. Even in the discharge of functions which have been hitherto considered as falling within the legitimate sphere of a woman's activities, Orientals are much behind the times. Advance of civilisation on Western lines, growth of material pros. perity and the consequent modification and rise of the standards of living have created various household wants to grapple with, which women in the East have not been fitted by upbringing and education. Hence the complaint of the Nawab of Dacca to the author of the "New Spirit in India: "Our Indian women are very backward; now there is my retired groom, my livery man : what a woman his English wife is! How finished! What pleasantness! How much nicer a home she makes for him than I can now get !" In olden days, even the so-called menial work in the house was invested with dignity. Cooking was a sacred rite. But in these days of transition from Eastern to Western ideals, the educated woman of the East has come to despise manual work. Not having, however, learnt as yet the domestic arts of the West, she is unable to take complete charge of her household duties and to make the home beautiful and well-ordered. And where the home reaches the western standard, the result is often achieved at a cost which is out of proportion to the income. The first step which women of this country have to take is to remedy their deficiencies in these respects and to acquire those domestic arts and accomplishments which would make them efficient and economical housewives under modern conditions. There are fields of activity which are open to women here, even if the old ideals are held unchanged, such as gardening, and the keeping of cattle, poultry and bees, which, while offering a change of occupation for the mind, involve a health-giving open-air life. These avocations will serve the further purpose of furnishing topics of conversation, the lack of which is the provocation for vain gossip and scandal mongering. "Gardening," according to Bacon, "is the purest of human pleasures, the greatest refreshment to the spirit of man." We read in Kalidasa's great play how Sakuntala, the heroine who was the daughter of a Rishi and later married a King, watered plants and how her chief delight was to see them in full bloom. There can be no doubt that the portrait of Sakuntala was drawn from life and that gardening was not despised by the women of those days. There is no loss of dignity in following the example set by Sakuntala. No home should be without a flower garden, and if possible, a small patch of vegetable garden. Each home should have a cow or two if space permits; milk always held in high esteem as an article of diet, is daily getting better appreciated. In the words of Doctor W. L. Mackenzie, "The day may come when, as a distinguished student of reform suggests, pure milk may be laid on' like water, gas or electricity." One of the most pressing problems in the East is that of the supply of pure rich milk, and woman will be performing a national duty by taking up the hobby of cattlekeeping; and it is a fitting hobby for her, for ' daughter' (Sanskrit, duhitru) signifies milker. There is the allied occupation of poultry-farming with its endless delights for the elect who have a natural aptitude for it; a few fowls can always be kept even when space is limited, ensuring for the household the luxury of fresh laid eggs and good meat for the table. Bee-keeping requires hardly any capital and will be the means of supplying the household with that most digestible of starchy foods, honey, which is rarely procurable in its pure state. It requires but a simple calculation to ascertain what an increase there will be to the wealth of this country if each housewife who has the little capital and the little space that is required has a small vegetable garden and keeps a couple of cows, a dozen fowls, and a few beehives. What a contribution women will make to the solution of the food problem which is bound to become more and more difficult year by year! Women have it in their power to make this country a land that in very deed floweth with milk and honey." There are again such indoor occupations as the manufacture of preserves, lacemaking, knitting with an autoknitter, which even to those who are above want are delightful pastimes. Women should not despise these occupations as involving physical labour but bear in mind the words of Ruskin, "For the continual education of the whole people and for their future happiness they must have such consistent employment as shall develop all the powers of the fingers, and the limbs and the brain; and that development is only to be obtained by hand labour." In Multifarious and interesting though all these occupations are, we women cannot do full justice to ourselves unless our ideals are not circumscribed by the limits of the home and unless we participate in the emanicipation which our Western sisters have wrought for themselves. Though it is idle to deny that the position of women in the East has been of great subjection, we may take comfort in the thought that in ancient times their position was comparatively an honoured one. ancient Egypt, the throne of the Queen was of the same height as that of the King; and in the Courts of Law of that country, women were allowed to practise as advocates. In the Vedic times in India, women were highly cultured some attaining Rishihood. The authorship of some of the Rig Veda Hymns is ascribed to them, and their equality to men is recognised in the verse "A woman who finds out the weak, the thirsty, needy, and is mindful of the Gods is worth as the much as a man." Women were not kept in seclusion but moved freely in society. Even in later times, Princesses of high degree chose their husbands themselves at a svayamvara. The stage was not considered improper for respectable women who were to be found in dramatic companies in the ancient city of Ayodhya. This indicates the extent of freedom of action enjoyed by women in those days. In the time of Manu, the position of women in India had deteriorated, but even then 243 they occupied an honoured place in society as will Be by loving husband paid, And where women grieve and languish, But in homes where they are honoured, Given the opportunity, woman has not been Perhaps the most famous woman in ancient India was Gargi who wrote a philosophical treatise and defeated the celebrated Yagnavalkya in controversy. It is a noteworthy fact that the first Indian to write poetry of merit in the English language was a woman, Toru Dutt, who, but that she died at the early age of twenty one, might have made more solid contributions to the English literature. With these inspiring examples we need feel no Ring out false pride in place and blood, BY MR. TARINI CHARAN RATH, B.A. HE past glories of ancient Orissa achieved by ber later independent Hindu Kings are still fresh in the memory of her countrymen and the honest historians of India. Orissa alone asserted boldly her independence for full four centuries long after the rest of India succumbed at last to the sturdy Muhammadan invaders. The last independent Hindu Prince of Bengal escaped through the back door of his palace at the approach of the Muhammadan hordes and took shelter in Orissa till his death. The Telingana King on a similar occasion suppliantly approached the Orissan Monarch to lerd him a helping hand and had it. Even the brave general of Emperor Akbar so late as 1580 A.D., repulsed by the Orissan forces had to turn his back towards her. Purushottama Deva Gajapathi, one of the most conspicuous Kings of Orissa, ruled the vast country left to him by his father Kapilendra Deva, during the last quarter of the fifteenth century. He was present by the side of his brave father when the latter died at Kondapalli on the banks of the river Krishna, where he was incessantly engaged in several wars and was crowned as the King of Orissa by the Orissan armies at the very place. Among his numerous sons Kapilendra Deva had decided beforehand that his mantle should fall on Purushottama Deva, the youngest, to whom he was much attached, owing to his very superior qualities of both head and heart. Purushottama Deva had at the outset to encounter with numberless difficulties from his brothers who did their best to put an end to his life by hook or by crook, but in the end he was able to expel them all by dint of his prowess. The most remarkable event in the reign of Purushottama Deva Gajapathi is his expedition to the south known in Orissa as the "KanchiKaveri" expedition. The eventual success achieved by the King therein together with his marriage with Padmavathi or Rupambika, the lovely daughter of the King of Karnata, has left a landmark in the history of ancient Orissa. The event is so popular that it is talked of in almost every household with no small pride. It would be highly interesting to give a brief account of the same. The daughter of the King of Karnata or Vizianagar named above had been betrothed to King Purushottama Deva Gajapathi. The King of Karnata subsequently learning that it is customary for the Orissan King to sweep the car of Shri Jagannath at Puri during the car festival days held in the month of Ashadha with a golden as an act broomstick, which he regarded derogatory to the position of a Kshatriya, refused to give his daughter in marriage to such a 'chandala' as characterised by him. At this Purushottama Deva deemed himself highly insulted and resolved to punish the King of Karnata by fighting against him, taking his daughter a/ prisoner and marrying her actually to a real 'chandala.' In the first attempt he failed, but the second time by the grace of his Lord Shri Jagannath he fully succeeded. He then sacked Kanchi, the modern Conjeevaram, laid waste the country as far as the river Kaveri, took Padmavathi a prisoner and returned to his capital victorious. He then entrusted her to his minister for being married to a 'chandala'. The wise minister took pity on the lovely girl of royal birth, brought her up carefully and at the next car festival which immediately followed, while the King was actually sweeping the car of the famous deity of Shri Jagannath, offered him the beautiful daughter of the Karnata King to marry. Purushottama Deva who was by this time already pacified got quite smitten with her beauty and had no other alternative but to accept Padmavathi or Rupambika in marriage. If any evidence is needed in proof of this, it can be abundantly furnished as follows: (1) The old book entitled Kanchi-Kaveri ' written four hundred years back in Orissa graphi cally describes the event though it might be with some exaggeration. (2) The temple archives known as 'Madala Panji' preserved in the temple of Shri Jagannath in palm leaf long since make clear mention of these facts. (3) The South Indian images of Sakhi Gopal and Ganesa brought by the King during the expedition from Kanchi are to be seen to this day consecrated at Satyavadi and Puri respectively. (4) Sarasvathi Vilasa,' the huge legal compilation of the Orissan King Prataparudra Deva, son of Purushottama Deva and Padmavathi, makes in the introduction, in unmistakeable terms, mention of the expedition of his father and his marriage alliance. (5) In the contemporary Tamil inscriptions of South India this is referred to as the 'Oddiyan Kalapam.' (6) The contemporary records of the Muhammadan Kings of Gulbarga also make mention of the expedition. (7) Two inscriptions at Udayagiri (Nellore District) in the fort on the hill state that Krishna Deva Raya made certain grants after having defeated Prataparudra Deva Gajapathi of Orissa and taken prisoner the latter's uncle Tirumalappa Raya in Salivahana Saka 1436 or 1514 A. D. This Tirumalappa Raya was obviously a maternal uncle of the Orissan King and a descendant of the first ruling dynasty of Vizianagar, left in charge of the fort at Udayagiri. (8) King Purushottam Deva during his victorious march on return from Kanchi rewarded most of his generals who had helped him in the War by making them petty chiefs with small tracts of land and their descendants are to be found even to this day in the Uriya-speaking tracts of the District of Ganjam. It is rather difficult at present to fix with precision the date of this Kanchi-Kaveri expedition of King Purushottama Deva of Orissa and find out the name of his contemporary King of Karnata with whom he waged war and whose daughter Padmavathi he married. Purushottama Deva ruled over Orissa from 1479 A.D. to 1504 A.D., or according to some others from 1469 to 1496 A.D. Virupaksha Deva Raya, the last king of the first ruling dynasty of Vizianagar, is said to have ruled from 1466 A.D. to 1486 A.D. He was weak and licentious. During his time, Saluva Narasimharaja, his chief general and minister, was all-powerful. This general in fact usurped the throne of Vizianagar for himself and founded a new dynasty. Saluva Narasimha succeeded in repelling the Orissan King from Vizianagar in his first attempt but failed to offer any effective resistance when the latter advanced a second time and met him at Kanchi. Kanchi or the modern Conjeevaram was an important stronghold of the Vizianagar Kings in the South. Purushottama Deva during his second campaign against the Karnata Kingdom obviously did not meet with any opposition till he advanced as far south as Kanchi, which fell although bravely defended by Saluva Narasimha Raya, Purushottama Deva appears to have extended his conquests this time as far south as the Kaveri river before he turned back to his capital. There is reason to believe that he invaded Karnata soon after his accession. So the year of the KanchiKaveri expedition may be fixed as 1470 or 1480 A.D. The King of Karnata with whom he fought is Verupaksha Deva Raya. Some are inclined to ask why the King of Orissa who had extended his conquests so far south failed to leave behind him any inscriptions. In the first place, it has to be observed that the Kings of Orissa were not fond of making themselves permanent in stone inscriptions. Secondly, their conquests beyond the Nellore District were but merely military occupations. Lastly, Uriya inscriptions, if any in the south, I think, have not yet been picked up and deciphered, the language being quite foreign there. |