Note 12 — KASBI

The association of all feminine charms and intellectual attainments with public women led to the belief that they were incompatible with feminine modesty; and this was even extended to certain ornamental articles of clothing such as shoes. The Abbé Dubois remarks:12 “The courtesans are the only women in India who enjoy the privilege of learning to read, to dance and to sing. A well-bred respectable woman would for this reason blush to acquire any one of these accomplishments.” Buchanan says:13 “The higher classes of Hindu women consider every approach to wearing shoes as quite indecent; so that their use is confined to Muhammadans, camp trulls and Europeans, and most of the Muhammadans have adopted the Hindu notion on this subject; women of low rank wear sandals.” And again:14 “A woman who appears clean in public on ordinary occasions may pretty confidently be taken for a prostitute; such care of her person would indeed be considered by her husband as totally incompatible with modesty.” And as regards accomplishments:15 “It is considered very disgraceful for a modest woman to sing or play on any musical instrument; the only time when such a practice is permitted is among the Muhammadans at the Muharram, when women are allowed to join in the praises of Fātima and her son.” And a current saying is: “A woman who sings in the house as she goes about her work and one who is fond of music can never be a Sati”; a term which is here used as an equivalent for a virtuous woman. Buchanan wrote a hundred years ago, and things have no doubt improved since his time, but this feeling appears to be principally responsible for much of the prejudice against female education, which has hitherto been so strong even among the literate classes of Hindus; and is only now beginning to break down as the highly cultivated young men of the present day have learned to appreciate and demand a greater measure of intelligence from their wives.