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5u
Times change even here in conservative India. You see one indication of it in that odd combination of leather shoes and ankle-bracelets; a still more significant thing is the fact that these women are not afraid to let themselves be seen as if they were Europeans. The old rules of conservative Hindu society still demand that the daughter of any high-caste family after reaching the age of eight or thereabouts shall be kept "in purdah," i.e., in absolute seclusion from all masculine society save that of certain of her nearest relatives. the rule has no doubt been of great assistance in maintaining social order in this country, where young people come to physical maturity long before they are old enough to develop much innate personal dignity and strength of character, and where in women in particular are taught usually nothing but the arts of the toilet and details of housekeeping. Seclusion is still the rule for most of the well-bred women, but the rule is relaxing under the influence of western ideas about feminine dignity, and to day a great many perfectly reputable women of the upper middle classes do go about like this, relying safely on the increase of right feeling on the part of the public. 
The marriages of women here are always arranged for them by their elders or by marriage brokers, and wives, as a rule are exceedingly modest, industrious and devoted to their appointed lords. "Suttee," or the burning of widows on a husband's funeral pyre, is a thing of the past, and a widow's life is somewhat less hard than formerly. 
That cool white garment with the colored border is a single piece of cloth draped with the grace that comes of long practice in an established mode of arrangement. 
From Notes of Travel, No. 11, copyright, 1904, by Underwood & Underwood. 

Morning ride of a lady of Calcutta in her palanquin. India. 
Promenade du matin d"une dame de Calcutta dans son palanquin, Inde. 
Morgenipazierfahrt einer Dame in ihrem Palantin, Indien. 
Paseo e por la mañana de una señora de Calcutta en su palenquin, India. 
En Calcutta dam gör sin morgonpromenad i in palanquin, Indien. 
Утренняя поегудка лaмы въ ея паланкинб, Индия.