also served as an indictment against Indian society
and Hinduism in general.
Mayo claimed that Hindu customs were dan-
gerous not only to India but to the entire world.
She believed the customs weakened the human
“stock” with poverty, disease, and physical and
mental frailties. Historians have interpreted the
book as a racist tract that emerged from the age
of British and American imperialism. The book
negatively influenced popular Western percep-
tions of India for decades and hindered support
and sympathy for Indian independence around
the world.
The main thesis of Mother India was an asser-
tion that Hindu practices made Indians weak,
incapable of self-rule, and unable to become eco-
nomically self-sufficient. A primary indictment
concerned the roles of women. Mayo charged
that the Hindu religion enslaved women, forced
them to be sexually subservient to men, and
demanded that they follow social patterns that
produced impoverishment and ignorance. Mayo
cites factors such as child marriage, lack of edu-
cation, the burdens of having many children,
child widowhood, prostitution, and epidemics
of venereal disease as significant problems for
women in India.
Some American feminists during the 1970s
revered Mayo as a pioneer who created awareness
of the plight of Indian woman. Indian critics,
by contrast, dispute Mother India’s representa-
tion of all Indian women as weak, passive, and
incapable of resistance. Mayo made no mention
of the Indian women’s movement or of efforts by
the Indian National Congress to support women’s
rights. While depicting Indian women as helpless
victims, the book lauds the British imperialists as
a civilizing force, saving India from the customs of
a decadent religion.
The book prompted outrage and criticism
from Indian nationalists. Mohandas Karamchand
GANDHI referred to it as a “gutter inspector’s
report,” and it received further condemnation
from Indian women’s organizations. In Britain,
however, Mother India received enthusiastic
reviews. Indignant Hindus in America rebutted
the publication with many books and pamphlets;
they tried to turn the tables by condemning
American society as rampant with crime, political
scandal, and marital infidelity.
The book did succeed in raising awareness of
some issues and fostering British reforms in India,
such as the Child Marriage Act of 1929. Ironi-
cally, Mother India also contributed to an alliance
between Indian nationalists and women’s move-
ments, which organized to refute and neutralize
Mayo’s indictments. The alliance helped to pass
the Sarada Act, a law enforcing a minimal age for
marriage.
Mother India continues to influence Western
perceptions of Hinduism and India. Its whole-
sale rejection of Hindu beliefs and practices and
its depiction of a sexually deviant culture have
influenced popular media to represent India as
exotic, forbidden, and dangerous. Yet, Mother
India remains inspirational to others who use
its thesis to promote heightened awareness for
reform in India.Further reading: Elizabeth Bumiller, May You Be the
Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey among the Women of
India (New York: Random House, 1991); W. Estep, An
American Answers Mother India (Excelsior Springs, Mo.:
Super Mind Science, 1929); Katherine Mayo, Mother
India (New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1927); ———, The
Isles of Fear; The Truth about the Philippines (New York:
Harcourt, Brace, 1925); Mrinalini Sinha, Colonial Mas-
culinity: The “Manly Englishman” and the “Effeminate
Bengali” in the Late Nineteenth Century (New York: Man-
chester University Press, 1995).Mount Abu See ABU, MOUNT.
Mount Kailasa See KAILASA, MOUNT.
Mount Meru See MERU, MOUNT.
K 294 Mount Abu