Clip of the Day 1/29/2025

From the San Antonio Light, April 23, 1911:

“CAN I ESCAPE THE VENGEANCE OF VISHNU?

The Horror That Haunts an Indian Princess Who Escaped Shame as a Nautch Dancer Only to Live in Constant Dread of Death

I HAVE a little black mark on my forehead. I cannot hide it. I cannot rub it off. It was tattooed there with strange rites the day when I, a baby almost, was taken to the Temple of Vishnu and was dedicated to the god, turned over to his priests to make me, when I had become a ripe maiden, into a Nautch girl, to dance in his honor and bring his house much gold. I am a Rajah’s daughter. I will not tell you the name of the Rajah who is my father, nor will I tell the name of the temple to which I was taken. The little black mark on my forehead tells enough. It is the mark of Vishnu and it speaks loudly to every Hindu, calling to him that I have escaped from his god’s temple and that I am a thing to be slain; a woman who has betrayed her religion and spat upon her caste. Seven times have his servants tried to kill me. Once in India a servant tried to smother me in my sleep. Once another tried to poison me. Three times they tried to kill me in France, twice in England. And all because of the little mark on my forehead. I was given to the god Vishnu and trained to be one of his dancers. I am telling to-day my history for the first time. If by the telling I can create in your mind a clear image of the horrors of the life into which thousands of helpless child-women are exposed in the magnificent temples I will be glad…”