A PIONEER OF PERSIAN WOMEN.

(" The Queen.") | Perhaps the most backward of all civilised or semi-civilised countries so far as the status of women is concerned is Persia. This is in a great measure due to Mahonunedanism, which relegates women to a very subordinate •position indeed, and also to the jealo_gy and mistrust with which all new ideas are received. Turkey has long since felt the stirring influence of a larger freedom; Western ideas have ,'- (permeated all grades of society, and I, women of the upper classes are now highly educated. In Persia, however, a very different state prevails. In matters of education, moral, ' mental •and physical, the inmates are very 'much as they were -in the days when I Hadji Baba was written, the state in which they have been since Persia's ancient faith fell before victorious Islam. Tfcere is a difference, however, small indeed, but gradually and silently increasing, which shows that the women of the Shiah sect aire beginning to feel the need of a better position and a Jrider scope for their energies. 1 The pioneer of what ; may be called 1 flihe ; progressive movement (small and 'apparently insignificant as that move■Bient is) was a young Persian girl, who some fifty years ago threw off the yoke of the Moslem law and preached a * purer faith and a larger sphere of in- * fluence for her sex, declaiming against the degrading conditions of polygamy and seclusion, and the many injustices ajid disabilities under which her sisters laboured. In Western Europe, where , freedom and independence of action have been for centuries the birthright t of women, heroines are plentiful; but the conditions of Moslem rule make freedom of thought and action all but impossible. In spite of apparently in--surmountable difficulties and the crushing opposition of creed and custom, the girl shook off their trammels and set herself to improve the conditions of her w*- - . ■. ' " She would have been a wonder in any age or olimate," writes one of her historians, " but in a country like Persia'she. is little short of marvellous." Somewhere in the late twenties— the exact date has not been recorded, v for little attention is paid to .the birth of q, female, which is something of a misfortune-- girl was born to Hadji Maliommed Saleh, a member of a learned grieetly family, himself a lawyer, living in Kazwyii. She. was named Zenyn Taj, but was more commonly known ais Karrattu'i Ayn, or " Consolation of the eyes," on account of her extreme beauty. Living in an* atmosphere of Jearning, 6he received a gooc( education from her father,, and the remarkable Japtitude she showed for knowledge her a quick pupil j " She became an expert Arabic scholar, , besides being well learned in philosophy, science and rhetoric, and an adept/ in interpreting the Koran. She also wrote poetry. In a country which denied nearly every kind of learning to its t women* she passed, with good reason, a_ a prodigy- Her wit and brilliant ideas made her competent to take part '' in th© literary and theological discus'Bions between her father, uncles and Her husband; for, like the majority of Persian women, _»he had been married without her consent at an early age to S» cousin. . • This was a time of great spiritual awakening, for a reformer, popularly khown ad the Bab, or Gate, had arisen, and, like an Oriental Martin Luther, attacked' the gros_ser features of Mahommedanism and preached a reformed creed. In her family circle Karratt first heard the doctrines of the reformer (discussed, and was attracted to the flew faith, which condemned feminine seclusion and a plurality of wives, and actually went so far as to deolare that women *were the equals of men. One of her relatives, Mullah Houseyn, was (■- also much struck by these doctrines, and, after some consideration, deter- ; mined to start for Shinaz and obtain a/ fuller knowledge from the Bab himself. Karratt sent letters by him to be placed in the hands of the prophet, and a correspondence ensued between them, which resulted ultimately in her conversion. So great an impression was made upon the Bab by the girl's en- . thusiasm and ability that he made her -"'"''' one of the hierarchy called the eigh- - foeh "Letters of the Living," which composed the first unity of .the Babis, and gave her a mission to preach the new faith. Such an unheard-of innovation as a woman teaching in publio daggered even those who had embraced the new tenets, and- they remonstrated with their chief. But he confirmed his orders, and bestowed upon Karratt the tattle of Hezret-e-Takerels (Her Highness the Pure). By making a publio confession of her faith she scandalised orthodox Mussulmans, who had never before witnessed the novel spectacle of . : a woman daring to assert her views ;"• .i*-ipon important matters, and her male wlatives tried to keep her in seclusion i, *nd prevent her making converts. But Karratt had received her, "call." The ~ 'ork of her life was to 'deliver her countrymen from the blighting influences and injustice of Mahommedanism, and the laws by which her countrywomen .were deprived of their natural rights. Wearied at last by the petty tyrannies and suppressions of her •,.:. male relatives, who did their best to fce'ep her a prisoner, she left her home and threw in her lot with the. reformers,' consecrating her life to the cause. /'Henceforth her future lay far from the ' luxuries of the anderun, with its round ef self-indulgences, sloth, and petty ' {jealousies and intrigues, and she shared ;tj|ie hardships of the new sect, which Bad now aroused the violent opposition Of the priesthood, and were driven from place to place, frequently being .compelled to shelter jn forests and caves of tie earth. The- Bab now appointed her one of ■ jbis lieutenants, and ordered her to go west to propagate the new doctrine, while her colleague, the Mullah Houseyn, went south, and a third disciple, named Balforoushy, went north. Daily she preached in public, expounding the new faith, answering questions end __ debating with opponents, her ■ learning and eloquence converting hundreds daily, and increasing the army of ;. partisans, among whom were numerous Jews. It is said that during her discourses she even cast aside her veil, tat this is now denied by a man who .knew her well; if by chance it slipped /r down during her preaching, she always carefully replaced it. It is noteworthy that, in spite of her action, unprecedented in the annals of Islam, and taken in a country where woman's re- ' potation is held at its lowest value, no breath of scandal was ever breathed egainst Eer fair fame, even by her bit^ Merest enemies. It was her greatest .ambition to go to Teheran and convert $fra Shah, and after hearing her preach -Oaany who still remained antagonistic to this cause wore fain to admit that Ihe new tenets had a beneficial and civilising influence upon the people. Liberty of conscience being as unfcnewn in Persia to-day as it was in Europe during the Middle Ages, the orthodox were exhorted to crush the bew faith, and bitter persecutions, with actions or cruelty and violence, followed, so that the Babis were driven to take anns to defend their lives. .Karratt, like an Eastern Joan of Aro, led a contingent of soldiers to battle tgeinst the persecutors, sharing in every way their dangers and hardships. , Her men were all devoted to her. and ■* : r she teercised the most complete autho'V. '.ttfcy'over them. For a time the Babis * " gfer? Ticforidufi, and the death of 'the

IM---_M--_--BP----«W----M«-«-»B"---" Shah Mahmud. their bitter enemy, proved a blessing. For a short time there was peace, and Karratt taught the new doctrines to the people of Mazenderan, where she and her little army were then enoamped. But this peaceful state of affairs was of short duration : the Bab died, and was succeeded by Mirza Jahya, second of the hierarchy of eighteen, Karratt herself being the third. . Mahommedan fanaticism broke into an excess of brutality against the more inoffensive portion of the Babis. The new Shah, Nasirud'-Din, proved as antagonistic to the Babis as his predecessor, and their little armies were defeated and scattered to the winds. Many of their leaders were cruelly put , to death, while others escaped and remained hidden for a long time. Karratt being among the latter. Goaded to desperation by the cruelties of their fersecutors, some Babis in the year 852 made an attempt on the life of the Shah. Then ensued suoh a reign of terror as was never before witnessed. Dr Jakob-Polak, the German physician to the Shah, and professor at. the Medical College at Teheran, states that the scenes of bloodshed were revolting in the extreme, the luckless Babis being nearly extirpated. Amongst others of her. co-religionists, Karratt was taken prisoner and brought before the Shah m order that she might be condemned to death; but Nasirud'-Din, struck by her beauty and eloquence, acquitted her with the words, "I like her looks j let her go." She was given into the charge of Mahmud Khan, the Kalantai; or Governor, who was to be her gaoler, for, although her life was spared, she was to be kept a close prisoner. Her beauty and cheerful spirit made the same impression upon the Kalantar as it had done upon his master, and he did all in his power to mitigate her confinement and make her life a pleasant one. She lived as an honoured guest in his andenin, and was allowed free communication with her co-religionists, who were S emitted to. see her, and she taught er doctrines to all inquirers. Brutalities towards the Babis were, however, by no means abated, and th© ruthless slaughter went on. Karratt was again brought before a tribunal, and ordered to cease teaching her. faith. Not only life, but perfect freedom was offered her if she would consent to deny the Bab and his works, and undertake to refrain from preaching. In an eloquent speech \ she defended, her religion, and refused to abandon it, and was condemned to. a painful and lingering death. Her friend and gaoler, Mahmud Khan, made a last effort to save her, and appealed to the Shah, over whom he had gr^a* influence, to save the girl's life. The .greatest favour he could obtain— which at a \ time when every Babi discovered was 1 slain on the spot was certainly a great one — was that Karratt might keep her life if she would return t to seclusion and undertake to make 'no converts. This she refused to do. Dr PolaJc was present at her death; but,, although he -says it was lingering and cruel, he omits jbo state the rexaet manner in which it took place. "I was witness of the martyrdom of. Karrattu-1 Ayh, who was murdered by the Minister of War and his adjutants. The beautiful woman endured a lingering death with superhuman fortitude." Accounts'* of her death vary. Some say that she was burnt alive and her ashes scattered^ to the winds; others that she was cast alive into a dry well in the palace gardens, which was then filled up with stones. But all accounts agree that it was brutal, and heroically endured. Her heroism and refusal to purchase her life by denying her faith , and deserting her friends inspired the Babis, who bless her name, with new vitality, while orthodox Mussulmans, although disagreeing with her views, admire her high principles and heroic character, .and speak of her with respect, and those still alive who were acquainted with her give enthusiastic accounts of her charming personality and her powers of eloquence and reason. Her fame and much of the doctrine she so successfully taught have left their mark : upon the ignorance and indifference that surround the, lives of Persian then, and the faint stirringsi of a desire for higher ideals may -b- attributed direotlyor indirectly to her influence.