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The Web of Indian Life
The Web of Indian Life is a book written by Nivedita, also known as Sister Nivedita, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda. The book explores the intricacies of Indian society, culture, and spirituality through a series of essays. Nivedita delves into various aspects of Indian life, including the caste system, the role of women, the importance of education, and the impact of British colonization. She also discusses the teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and how they have influenced Indian thought and behavior.The author's unique perspective as a Westerner who adopted India as her home adds a fresh and insightful dimension to the book. Nivedita's writing is both informative and thought-provoking, and she presents a nuanced understanding of the complexities of Indian life.Overall, The Web of Indian Life is an insightful and informative book that provides a comprehensive exploration of Indian society and culture. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the rich and diverse tapestry of Indian life.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
- GenresNonfictionIndia
Paperback
First published May 1, 1904
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About the author
Sister Nivedita
153 books23 followersSister Nivedita, born as Margaret Elizabeth Noble, was a Scots-Irish social worker, author, teacher, and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. She met Vivekananda in 1895 in London and traveled to Calcutta, India (present-day Kolkata), in 1898. Swami Vivekananda gave her the name Nivedita (meaning "Dedicated to God") when he initiated her into the vow of Brahmacharya on March 25, 1898. She had close associations with the newly established Ramakrishna Mission. However, because of her active contribution in the field of Indian Nationalism, she had to publicly dissociate herself from the activities of the Ramakrishna Mission under the then president Swami Brahmananda. She was very intimate with Sarada Devi, the spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna and one of the major influences behind Ramakrishna Mission and also with all brother disciples of Swami Vivekananda. Her epitaph aptly reads, "Here reposes Sister Nivedita who gave her all to India."
Nivedita wrote in 1904 to a friend about her decision to follow Swami Vivekananada as a result of her meeting him in England in November 1895:
"The mother's heart, the hero's will The sweetness of the southern breeze, The sacred charm and strength that dwell On Aryan altars, flaming, free; All these be yours and many more No ancient soul could dream before- Be thou to India's future son The mistress, servant, friend in one." —A benediction to Sister Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda
Nivedita wrote in 1904 to a friend about her decision to follow Swami Vivekananada as a result of her meeting him in England in November 1895:
"Suppose he had not come to London that time! Life would have been like a headless dream, for I always knew that I was waiting for something. I always said that a call would come. And it did. But if I had known more of life, I doubt whether, when the time came, I should certainly have recognized it.
"Fortunately, I knew little and was spared that torture. . . . Always I had this burning voice within, but nothing to utter. How often and often I sat down, pen in hand, to speak, and there was no speech! And now there is no end to it! As surely I am fitted to my world, so surely is my world in need of me, waiting — ready. The arrow has found its place in the bow. But if he had not come! If he had meditated, on the Himalayan peaks! . . . I, for one, had never been here."
"The mother's heart, the hero's will The sweetness of the southern breeze, The sacred charm and strength that dwell On Aryan altars, flaming, free; All these be yours and many more No ancient soul could dream before- Be thou to India's future son The mistress, servant, friend in one." —A benediction to Sister Nivedita by Swami Vivekananda
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 12, 2017
I started marking passages in this book to quote later in my review but I realize that I might as well mark the whole book.
“The Web of Indian Life” was published in 1904 by a Scots-Irish woman, Margaret Elizabeth Noble, who ran a girls' school in a backstreet of Calcutta and was given the name “Sister Nivedita” by her guru, Swami Vivekananda.
Her idealization of everything Hindu is hard to swallow and the perfect world she paints in her overblown and flowery prose bears very little resemblance to what one reads in India’s daily newspapers and contemporary novels. Obviously Indian life has changed dramatically in innumerable ways in the approx. one hundred years since she wrote her essays but human nature being what it is, can it really have been that noble at any time ?
Sister Nivedita can find nothing but praise for the Indian way of life which she adores in all its aspects and she goes out of her way to make palatable to her readers even those practices that most Westerners find strange, unacceptable or downright cruel (and some of which today are banned under India’s constitution).
She makes the Indian marriage and extended family sound like a haven of bliss, sweetness and goodwill where everyone is solely concerned with everyone else’s comfort and happiness.
Daughters-in-law and child brides (even baby brides at the time) are welcomed with love and open arms and dowry murders (those frequent accidents daughters-in-law in India seem to have with their kitchen stoves) do not exist.
The bond between the Madonna and Jesus is as nothing compared with that shared between an Indian mother and her son which no mere wife may come between. In any case, the saintly and selfless Indian wife wants nothing more out of life than to serve and coddle her husband (and in-laws) during his lifetime and accompany him in death because “a widow remarried is no better than a woman of no character” (even when the widow is a child). The author admits that “it is not equality, but who talks of a vulgar equality, when she may have instead the unspeakable blessedness of offering worship to her man?” Who indeed ? It might be interesting to note that Sister Nivedita was never married and seemed to have done largely as she pleased.
And the husbands ? “Courtesy to their wives is quite unfailing amongst Hindus who would never strike a woman, even with a flower.” In fact, women could not be safer. At the beginning of the book the author states that no man, not even her own brother, will look further up than her ankles on the rare occasions when the Indian woman has to undertake the ordeal of walking down a street. And anyway, those “men in loin-cloths, seated on door-sills in dusty lanes, were saying things about Shakespeare and Shelley that some of us would go far to hear”.
And so, while the Hindu man goes about his business, has high-flown conversations in dusty lanes and lives a stimulating life outside the home, the wife rejoices in purdah which “is not a vulgar prison” (as one might think) “but a blessing, a shrine for the Indian woman who is held to be so much a sacred mystery …. The life inside the home, the silence, the shadows are her ideals ….” .
At this point I had to stop reading and delete this book from my Kindle before Sister Nivedita started gushing about the benefits of the caste system.
“The Web of Indian Life” was published in 1904 by a Scots-Irish woman, Margaret Elizabeth Noble, who ran a girls' school in a backstreet of Calcutta and was given the name “Sister Nivedita” by her guru, Swami Vivekananda.
Her idealization of everything Hindu is hard to swallow and the perfect world she paints in her overblown and flowery prose bears very little resemblance to what one reads in India’s daily newspapers and contemporary novels. Obviously Indian life has changed dramatically in innumerable ways in the approx. one hundred years since she wrote her essays but human nature being what it is, can it really have been that noble at any time ?
Sister Nivedita can find nothing but praise for the Indian way of life which she adores in all its aspects and she goes out of her way to make palatable to her readers even those practices that most Westerners find strange, unacceptable or downright cruel (and some of which today are banned under India’s constitution).
She makes the Indian marriage and extended family sound like a haven of bliss, sweetness and goodwill where everyone is solely concerned with everyone else’s comfort and happiness.
Daughters-in-law and child brides (even baby brides at the time) are welcomed with love and open arms and dowry murders (those frequent accidents daughters-in-law in India seem to have with their kitchen stoves) do not exist.
The bond between the Madonna and Jesus is as nothing compared with that shared between an Indian mother and her son which no mere wife may come between. In any case, the saintly and selfless Indian wife wants nothing more out of life than to serve and coddle her husband (and in-laws) during his lifetime and accompany him in death because “a widow remarried is no better than a woman of no character” (even when the widow is a child). The author admits that “it is not equality, but who talks of a vulgar equality, when she may have instead the unspeakable blessedness of offering worship to her man?” Who indeed ? It might be interesting to note that Sister Nivedita was never married and seemed to have done largely as she pleased.
And the husbands ? “Courtesy to their wives is quite unfailing amongst Hindus who would never strike a woman, even with a flower.” In fact, women could not be safer. At the beginning of the book the author states that no man, not even her own brother, will look further up than her ankles on the rare occasions when the Indian woman has to undertake the ordeal of walking down a street. And anyway, those “men in loin-cloths, seated on door-sills in dusty lanes, were saying things about Shakespeare and Shelley that some of us would go far to hear”.
And so, while the Hindu man goes about his business, has high-flown conversations in dusty lanes and lives a stimulating life outside the home, the wife rejoices in purdah which “is not a vulgar prison” (as one might think) “but a blessing, a shrine for the Indian woman who is held to be so much a sacred mystery …. The life inside the home, the silence, the shadows are her ideals ….” .
At this point I had to stop reading and delete this book from my Kindle before Sister Nivedita started gushing about the benefits of the caste system.
January 10, 2026
Sister Nivedita is a great ethnographer of Hindu society, sympathetic and perceptive. She really manages to bring out the beauty of some of Indian culture. However, what I disliked is her romanticising of regressive things like chaste widows not remarrying, submissive wives, caste being a matter of honour and dignity in work etc. She writes a lot about the women of India in this book.
However, her writing is really beautiful. What I find deeply troublesome is her romanticising of the backwardness of India in terms of gender and caste.
However, her writing is really beautiful. What I find deeply troublesome is her romanticising of the backwardness of India in terms of gender and caste.
March 28, 2017
This book is written by Sister Nivedita, a disciple of Swami Vivekananda on accounts of the Hindu society. She has given us the insight of roles and status of Bharatiya women as mother, daughter, housewife and as a nurturer and sustainer of Indian life as a whole. She has brilliantly discussed some very important aspects of Indian life like the Varna system, the position of women, concept of birth and death in India, Indian pilgrimages, Invasion of Islam and its impact on society and the most important of all was 'Bharatiya Jeevan' and daily routine and how remarkably different it is from the rest of the countries of the world.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews