Evening Star Newspaper, January 10, 1937, Page 36

Is India Going Modern? (Conttnued From Third Page.) in-patients and an average of double that number of out-patients. In this part of the world the in- heritance passes in the female line, to the eldest daughter of the eldest sister, except in the case of the Maha- rajah, who must always be a man, in order to lead his army. Otherwise matriarchy prevails. Husbands are harmless, necessary ornaments of the family. They accept the role gracefully, for their responsibilities are few and their opportunities for pleasure are many in this enchanted land. Visit to Palace. T had the privilege of meeting their highnesses of Travancore, the Maha- rajah and his mother. I went to the palace, according to custom, in a dark suit, with stiff collar. They received me in white robes, barefooted, in a European drawing room. From our surroundings we might have been in London. The Maharajah talked of the recent reform act and of tennis. Her highness is one of the leaders in the emancipation of women; she had much to say of similar movements in the West, of Mrs. Sanger, of Mr. Gandhi, of all the problems of the day. While she talked her well- tended toes drummed on the parquet floor. . . . ‘Travancore state is prosperous, con- tentei, better educated than any other part of India. The public li- brary in Trivandrum contains 40,000 volumes. Everywhere there are signs of modern progress, but the Brahmin priesthood still holds sway; according to them the true ruler of the country is Padmanabhaswami, “the lotus- naveled god,” who is an aspect of Siva. ‘The Maharajah, as his earthly regent, pays him homage once a year, sweep- ing the purlieus of his temple clad in nothing but a white loin-cloth. From Travancore to Swat is 2,000 miles. When I passed through Mala- kand, 80 miles northeast of the frontier city of Peshawar, I thought that I was going into the wilds of Central Asia. But another surprise awaited me: I found, at the Vali of Swat's capital of Saidu Sharif, a beau- tiful European house, with marble bath rooms, radios, telephones . . . Just how surprising a marble bath room can be in Swat it is difficult to convey to the home-abiding reader; ‘we are so accustomed to modern con- | venierices that we take them for granted. But after traveling thou- sands of miles and meeting nothing | but tubs with a kerosene tin of hot | water by their side, it is glorious to stretch one’s limbs, turn taps, use a | shower. Except perhaps for one or two houses in Peshawar, there is no | such plumbing as that of Saidu Sharif | within a radius of a thousand miles. Meets Vali of Swat. The Vali of Swat is a keen-eyed, ruddy-cheeked man of 60, who fought his way to his throne against great difficulties. Although he can neither read nor write, he flies regularly, is & good architect, has had his king- dom thoroughly surveyed, has built hundreds of miles of roads and has installed an excellent telephone sys- tem. When I first met him he was in a powerful touring car, accom- panied by six rifiemen. | Yet another contrast awaited me | on leaving this smiling valley with its | vivid ruler, for I went straight from there to the most contemplative city in the world, Rishikesh, where the sacred River Ganges flows out of the Himalayas. A quarter of a million people pass through Rishikesh every year, on their ‘way to the sources of the Ganges and Jumna. A thousand holy men live in the city itself, or in reed huts along the banks of the river. Here are mahatmas who sit naked through the depths of a Himalayan Winter, melting the snow round them by some unknown power by which they generate warmth; here are Yogis who have been immured like corpses in & coffin for periods of a month and longer, and here are some of the most renowned philosophers in India. (Here also are some of the biggest rascals unhung, for a murderer sometimes assumes the robes of an ascetic nndi goes on a pilgrimage to escape the | vigilance of the police.) | Time Stands Still. ‘Time has stood still in Rishikesh | and the outside world is practically non-existent. Life consists of plain living and high thinking carried to extremes from a European point of view. I visited many sages in the encamp- ment by the river. One of them, the Singing Swami, wanders all over the north of India with flute and song book, then retires to a cave and medi- tates in complete solitude for six months or more. Another sage I found to be writing a treatise on the human brain, in the intervals of milk- | ing cows and ploughing fields; he be- | lieves every one, especially those en- gaged in intellectual labor, should do some hard physical work each day. Yet another ascetic had beeh bricked-up for nine days in a cave without food or water, in the trance- like state of ecstasy known as samadhi. According to well-attested reports, all | natural functions were in abeyance. At the end of this period the en- trance to his cave was unbricked, he was taken into the sunlight, massaged, and a secret invocation whispered in his ear. Presently his consciousness returned from the other world to which it had taken flight. And the purpose? It was difficult to ascertain what enlightenment this young Yogi (he was & mere boy) had received during his visit to the strange borderland between being and not being. But I am sure that this old wisdom of the East has an eminently practical basis. Its foundation is a healthy mind in a healthy body, which is no special prerogative of the ancient Romans or of any modern people. School of Hatha Yoga. There is a very famous school of Hatha Yoga at Rishikesh (no one knows how old it is, but its traditions have been handed down from father to son since long before books were thought of) which prescribes various movements and positions which have for their purpose the strengthening of the muscles of the abdominal wall and the stimulation of the thyroid gland. Of course, such ideas are not new in the West. But they are hardly more than 20 or 30 years old with us; whereas they were common knowledge to the Aryans 20 or 30 centuries ago. Hatha Yoga exercises would require much space to describe, and this is not the place to do so; but it is in- teresting to note that many of them have been adopted, almost unchanged, by beauty parlors and physical cul- ture establishments. In fact, I have seen the boxer Kid Lewis in training at Richmond, go through part of the very same discipline to which the stu- dents at Rishikesh are subjected. It is curious to think that the same methods may be employed to put ginger into a punch and to commune with the Divine! As to psychoanalysis, there are Hindu treatises on the subject dating from 800 A.D. and with a tradition ex- LAST WEEK | OF OUR ANNUAL JANUARY SALE OF EYEWEAR —This sale offers many out- standing values. Every article is guaranteed to give you the satisfaction you expect from a modern, accurate, comfortable pair of glasses. Y Specially Featured! ““BENLEY" —White or flesh- tint gold filled. “Pear- loid” noserest and ‘“rocking” pads. “’"REGAL" * RIMLESS GLASSES ‘{_ i )'7 171 £ —Choice of white or pink gold filled. “Pearloid” noserest and “rock- ing” pads. "SOCIETY" FOLDING OXFORDS $4.45 —Smart, stylish handsomely engraved, white gold-filled. “ALLSITE” BIFOCAL LENSES $9.45 LENSES ONLY —Highly polished, white lenses that solve the problem of seeing both FAR and NEAR with equal clarity. Use Your Charge Account or Our Convenient Club Plon— Optical Derpt., Street Floor Frederics Vita Tonic PERMANENT WAVE o Including Shampoo, Finger Wave and Test Curls__ —Good news for the many women who prefer Frederics Vita Tonic per- manent wave, Make your appoint- ment at once, you save ex: actly 250! Reg. $7.50 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JANUARY 10, 1937—PART TWO. tending to long before that date. Every student of Yoga in Rishikesh is analyzed by his teacher. But I confess that Rishikesh left me feeling rather lost and ill at ease. ‘There is something frightening, to the European, in its absorption in the things of the spirit and its entire disregard of what seem to us the amenities of civilization, such as sani- tation. There is nothing whatever to see or do in the little town, except to visit holy men; nor is there anything Printed Lace Voiles in all patterns! selections. Col and sheer dress weights. inches wide. ® 550 yds. Crisp Printed Organdies Printed Anti-Crease Voiles Printed Dimities—gay patterns Printed Batistes—sheer quality And Many Others —$159 to $295 coatings, suitings and Fleeces, monotones, plaids, checks, basket weaves, men’s wear woolens and ski-cloth. Black and colors. $L19 to Woolen Coatings and Suitings Kann's—Street Floor. to eat, except rice, milk and fruits. Even fruit is hard to come by. On my last night a large monkey stole last few bananas while I was medi- tating. The brute wasn't hungry; he merely took the bunch to play with, and stamped on them, amused by the mess be made. I was glad to return to Delhi. And what a change awaited me there! I was met by an aide de camp who took me into a crested limcusine (my servant and baggage following in an- other car) through the splendors of New 1937 Patterns in- Printed Crepes o Belding’s Rayon Crepes o Cheney’s Rayon Crepes o. Chulla Printed Crepes o Wearable Printed Crepes Sl yd. Mallinson’s Pure-vDye Printed Silks $1.69 and $1.95 yd. —Pure-dye silk crepes and Pussy Willow prints, with large flowers and medium spaced designs on white, blue, black, brown, maize, gray and green grounds. Kann's—Street Floor Special Purchase From a: Philadelphia Jobber! - 1,500 Yds.—69¢ to 89¢. ‘Dress FABRICS 30-in. Satin Faille Crepes 39-in, Pebble Rough Crepes 39-in. Printed Spun Rayons 39-in. Celanese Doess Taffetas 39-in. Panne Dress Satins 39-in. Plaid Rayon Taffetas 39.in. Matelasse Dress Crepes —Not of o me, ‘:’% ‘%mm .a%l::g:rauumlw charm-, ‘evening costumes. o 1y Spring cdresses. q{temopn nubs, 54 $1.59 88cyd. - “FREE WESTINGHOUSE" Electric Sewing Machines Regularly $89.50 - 339.00 the imperial capital to viceroy’s house. Twenty seivants awaited us, dressed in scarlet and gold. My suite consisted of four rooms. On my writing table was a printed program of their excellencies’ engagements, which included the otherwise obscure fact of my arrival! ® Presently, in a very creased evening dress, with miniature medals I had not worn for many a day, I appeared in the state drawing room, where again I found my name in print, on & to H. H. the Begam Aga Khan at dinner. Now I was marshaled in the line of the newly-arrived guests to bow to Lord and Lady Wallingdon . . . And it was only the evening before that a monkey had been stealing my bananas! Yes, the inquiring traveler will find color and contrast in lavish plenty throughout this old subcontinent. Philosophers in loin-cloths. Princesses in bare feet. Marveious temples. Polo tournaments. Pig-sticking. Hot winds. diagram showing that I would sit next | Holy monkeys. The most wonderful Special Sale! 25¢ to 39¢ heer Cottons 19 —A special purchase of sample and odd pieces of printed and woven sheer cottons ... The sort of fabrics you want for your southbound wardrobes, and your spring and summer dresses. Just 3,000 yards in all, and, of course, not all colors 36 and 38 inch widths. Come early for best —Beautiful, pure-dye, color-fast fabrics in light and dark colors and new Spring patterns—For daytime and evening costumes. Will not pull at the seams. $1.69 to $2.95 v, alues —Every wo alar Ty woman—_; 74 Two and Three Pc. Knit Dresses and SUITS AND LESS Than HALF Original Prices Originally $10.95 to $29.95 Now $5 to $14.97 —Boucles, zephyrs, imported yarns, chenilles, Bramble yarns, Frezera yarns—The perfect type of dresses for now and later . . . Pastel, street and bright shades . . . Sizes 12 to 20, 36 to 44, but not all sizes in all colors and styles. No Mail or Phone Orders Kmn'l—s.poru Shop—Second Floor Fine WOOLENS, Special 31.29 yd. from the dajp mountains on earth, in the Himalayas. ‘The flattest scenery in the world, in the Ganges Plain. Hermits. Mon- strosities, freaks to stagger the im- agination. Lawyers earning larger fees in Calcutta than can be made in London. Scientists with a worldwide reputation, such as Sir Jagadis Bose and 8ir C. V. Raman. Poets like Tagore. Industrialists such as the Tatas. ‘Tribes so primitive that they still drink the blood of human sacrifice when not restrained by the police. Indie in herself typifies the history ty miss to ¢, of mankind. Amid her appalling pov- erty and unparalleled splendor you may find a world in epitome. e e i) Negritoes First in Philippines. The original inhabitants of the Philippine Islands were Negritoes (Aetas), who belonged to the eastern section of the Ethiopic division of the human race. Today there are not more than 30,000 of theze people scattered throughout the largest provinces. 122 This Week Only! SIL-O-ETTE - Combinations Regularly $1.00 € —TFor real comfort wear “sil-o-ettes,” for real economy buy them this week. Pantie, band and bloomer bottom styles made seven inches longer in the back—no pull— uplift brassiere and form-fitting diaphragm. Made of Bemberg in tea- rose color, sizes 32 to 42. Kann's—Street Floor. “VANI-TREAD" ARCH SHOES *3.99 —We've had so many requests for these shoes since we offered them before, we finally succeeded in getting some more. Here they are—400 pairs—One straps and oxfords of black and brown kids with covered or built-up leather Cuban or Continental heels. All with the air pocket of live rubber to provide real walking comfort. Sizes range from 5 to 10, AAA to E. . But remember, it is just for this week! @ $2.75 “Sosna” Scalp Treatment and Finger Wave, $2 L) —Beautiful models with the Rotoscillo mechanism built - in - the - head, air- cooled motor . .. Complete speed range controlled by the Allen Bradley Rheo- stat; safety-covered toggle link that prevents unthreading of needle; auto- matic tension release; sewing lamp and attachments. 10-year guarantee. $3 DOWN rime Payments - | Small Carrying Charge 4 Floor Third Beauty Soo Kann's—Pourth Floor Avenvsalth, B0 00s © .