as a modest garment and as a charming full-dress equipment
would be a revelation to the much dressed votary of the West. In the
arranging of this cloth there is considerable scope for ingenuity and for
aesthetic taste; although, in this matter, the rules of each caste furnish
an iron etiquette which must be followed by the women. Indeed, the tyranny
of Worth in the West is nothing as compared with caste tyranny as the
Fashioner of the East. This is accounted for by the fact that a woman's
dress must be arranged in such a way as to publish abroad her caste
affiliations.

Woman has a vast influence upon the life of the people of India. In no
other country has she relatively exercised more power. All this,
notwithstanding the fact that, for more than twenty centuries, she has had
no recognized position in religion or in society. Her spiritual destiny
has been entirely in the hands of man. By the highest authorities her
salvation has been made entirely dependent upon her connection with him.
She has absolutely no right of worship of her own. From the cradle to the
grave she is in man's keeping. Until she is married, supreme obedience to
her father is her only safety; while her husband lives, heaven's blessings
can come to her only through his favour and prayer; and, after his death,
her sons become her lords and the sole guardians and protectors of her
spiritual interests. All this is everywhere recognized by Hindu society,
and by none more than by the woman herself.

And yet, it is equally true, and a fact of remarkable significance, that,
in India today, the religious influence of woman is paramount. She is the
stronghold of Hinduism at the beginning of this twentieth century. Man,
under the growing influence of western thought, civilization, and faith,
has largely lost his moorings and is growing increasingly insincere and a
trifler with religious beliefs and institutions. The woman, on the other
hand, is a conservative of the conservatives. In her superstition she is
deeply sincere; her faith has no questionings, and her piety shapes her
every activity. Were it not for the women of India, Hinduism, with all its
vaunted philosophy, its wonderful ritual and its mighty caste tyranny,
would, within a decade, fall into "innocuous desuetude."

It is a significant fact that in the religion of no other people on earth
does the worship of the female find so prominent a place. In many parts of
the land _Sakti_ worship, or the w