BETWEEN THE TWILIGHTS: BEING STUDIES OF INDIAN WOMEN-- By One of Themselves

by Cornelia Sorabji

Between the Being studies of India women by one of themselves by Cornelia Sorabji first published in 1908.

IN the language of the Zenana there are two twilights, “when the Sun drops into the sea,” and “ when he splashes up stars for spray,” . . . the Union, that is, of Earth and Sun, and, again, of Light and Darkness.

Hardcover

First published January 3, 2010

About the author

Cornelia Sorabji (15 November 1866 – 6 July 1954) was the first female advocate from India when admitted to Allahabad High Court. She was the first female graduate from Bombay University, and in 1889 became the first woman to read law at Oxford University, and also the first Indian national to study at any British university. Later she became the first woman to practise law in India and Britain. In 2012, her bust was unveiled at Lincoln's Inn, London. Her nephew, Sir Richard Sorabji, is Professor of Philosophy at Kings College, London.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Perry Whitford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captivating glimpses inside the Zenana from India's first female barrister.

Cornelia Sorabji studied law at Oxford, spent much of her life acting as advocate for hundreds of purdahnishans (secluded women), mixed with various figures from the West and yet believed in the maintenance of Hindu Orthodoxy.

She describes herself as being interested in the "big-little questions," which her friend the Wisest of the Wise attempts to answer for her through telling stories which uncover the forgotten truths of her religion, i.e. the legend of Kali is related in a manor designed to save the goddess from the 'grossness' which has subverted her true nature.

Alongside these fascinating and, to me anyway, intrinsically puzzling stories Sorabji tells of her experiences amongst those secluded women of the Zenana, little more than girls married before the age of ten, unrecognised in law and conditioned from birth to love their husband as a god.

Despite her Western education Sorabji saw wisdom and truth in this arrangement. Individual abuses would bring her to intervene, but she had desire to reject the old ways. I fully admit that the precise meaning of her thoughts and opinions were often illusive to me, an impression enhanced by her idiosyncratic use of a secondary language.

This illusive quality was also the book's strength. Not everything was culturally understandable to me, but it sure left a mark on me.

I will certainly be reading this little gem of a book again at some point.