50 Biography of a Yogikind, Yogis presented a very particular problem. The issue was well articulated
by a 1912 article in the Washington Post, aptly titled, “American Women Victims
of Hindu Mysticism” (fig. 1.2), which, after a long exposition of the dangers of
Indian religion and the terrible fates of women who had succumbed to its charms,
concluded thus:
The Hindu as a factor in the labor problem has so far not troubled the eastern
United States, although he has been the cause of some trouble and rioting
in the West. In New York city there are probably less than 50 Hindus, and
most of these are at Columbia University and other institutions of learning.
The Hindu problem of the east lies in the presence of the swamis, or
teachers, educated and able men, who with their swarthy faces and dreamy-
looking eyes stand in themselves symbolic of the mystery of the Orient. It
is their teachings, their appeals for their disciples to try to attain impossible
goals by unaccustomed paths that they are largely responsible for the deluded
women who give away fortunes to “the cause,” who give up home and chil-
dren, and who, breaking down under the strain become hopeless lunatics.This analysis came on the heels of a very public trial over the will of Sara
Chapman Bull (1850– 1911), a wealthy socialite whose Cambridge residence had a
rotating door for Indian teachers and the Harvard intellectuals who wished to rub
Figure 1.2 “American Women Victims of Hindu Mysticism,” Washington Post,
February 12, 1912