Carrie Chapman Catt - Diaries, India, January - February? 1912 (Box 1, Folder 5)

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Diaries of Carrie Chapman Catt, a noted leader in the woman suffrage movement, written during a trip around the world.

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p. 16
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p. 16

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...was getting it she said, meanwhile at least a dozen natives surrounded us, all talking at once and I think each in a different language. It ended by the woman walking out and we walked in. It was 7 o'clock pm and after dinner we went to bed rising early the next morning for a start while it was cool. This was Sunday Feb 4th. We took our old man and a carriage and went first Sri Rangan, a temple of great holiness, and the largest in point of territory covered in India. The style is the same as that of Madura with carved [illegible], but 21,000 people live within its walls for the streets inside are provided with houses, markets, etc. One passes through...

Last edit about 3 years ago by lutholtz
p. 17
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p. 17

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...seven successive gates to reach the holy of holies which is not shown. The inner court has eight columns in a row carved from solid pieces of granite. There are some seven figures very large, chiefly a raring horse mounted by a rider. The base has many small carvings the whole being wonderfully well done, but these small things were in the main the kind of things which Anthony Comstock would not approve. They were coitus between men and women, bulls and cows etc. I think it is really not so bad as it looks. It is merely phallic worship. When man discovered that he was a father, or could become one, he concluded that life was within him and located in a certain...

Last edit about 3 years ago by lutholtz
p. 18
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...place, so he began to worship models of this supposed site of immortality. Evidences are all over the East. In Jerusalem, they were seen in the form of gravestones in Jewish cemeteries, in Egypt we saw them in every old temple and here again they are everywhere. Man thought himself the creator as usual giving to the mother no important function. From here we wen a little way to the Temple of [Jambukeshwar?]. They are both on the same island. The first one was dedicated to Vishnu, this to Siva. There are three main Hindoo gods. Brahma who came first, is the creator. Vishnu the preserver. Siva the destroyer and reproducer. They form a trinity.

Last edit about 3 years ago by lutholtz
p. 19
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This temple is considerably out of repair and we only went into it a little way to get the general idea. As soon as we were sighted the keepers ran after a sacred elephant and it came alongside after we were in the carriage. They do small tricks and then take money which they present to their keepers. We were [illegible] by this time and not interested in elephants. We next visited the rock, a most picturesque thing. One should climb it and visit the temple on the top but it was too hot and we contented ourselves with a look at it from below. The old man got anxious to return to his 21 grandchildren so we dropped him and returned...

Last edit about 3 years ago by lutholtz
p. 20
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...to the hotel in peace. We had some hours to wait and our room was now wanted by the next batch, so we moved to the station waiting room provided with an electric fan and very comfortable. We were alone most of the afternoon. Then there came three Brahmin ladies with a baby which the Dr. thought might be eight months old. It had three bracelets on each wrist, two anklets on each ankle and around its waist a gold cord carrying a fig leaf the size of a nickel, and which was a failure as a cover. These people were rich - they wore wonderful jewels, the were barefooted but their garments were fine. They all sat on the floor - tiled and clean and the bare baby proceeded to creep all...

Last edit about 3 years ago by lutholtz
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