CHAPTER VIII
HINDU WOMEN AND THE SACRED BOOKS
The position of women in all countries is largely determined by the teaching of the prevailing faith. In the monogamous Christian nations, the social and marital status of women is due chiefly to the precepts of St. Paul and the ascetic Fathers. Hindu women owe their position principally to the elaborate counsels and rules laid down by Vishnu and Manu. Indian sacred writings abound with the most explicit commands upon the relations of the sexes.
Manu fears woman as all men fear an overwhelming fascination. He desires that she should be justly and kindly treated. The necessity for her protection is constantly urged upon men. "Dependence" is a word that arouses revolt in the breasts of those earnest European claimants for women's rights, who write, and lecture, and agitate. But the Hindu woman likes to be protected.
Thus speaks Manu:—
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