“I know what suttee is,” Cassie replied. “I just can’t believe that anybody with an ounce of empathy would stand by and let it happen.”
“It’s amazing what people will tolerate when it’s sanctioned by religious tradition.” Dee’s tone was solemn. “A more recent variation is when the in-laws of a new bride set her on fire if her dowry is too low. Not surprisingly, most cases of bride-burning, infanticide, and suttee occur in the northwest part of the country. That was the Aryan stronghold when they first arrived and, to this day, the greatest number of crimes against women are committed there.”
“I believe suttee never caught on in Kerala though,” Griffin remarked.
“Yes, you’re right,” the trove keeper affirmed. “It was outlawed here from the start. With inheritance through the female line, women still held a certain value as something more than two-legged livestock. Their property rights were a bargaining chip that kept them out of the fire.”
Griffin chuckled unexpectedly.
The others stared at him in shock.
“I never would have pegged you for insensitive.” Cassie scowled at him. “Til now.”
“Forgive me, everyone,” the scrivener said. “I was just thinking of an amusing story related to the practice of suttee.”
“Hard to believe there’s anything funny about widow-murder but go ahead.” Erik waved him on.
Griffin glanced up at the ceiling, apparently trying to recollect the anecdote. “During the 1840’s, Sir Charles Napier was the Commander-In-Chief of British forces in India. A delegation of Hindu priests came to him to complain that the colonial government had outlawed the practice of suttee. The priests claimed that the British were interfering with their religious customs. Napier heard their arguments calmly and ended by telling them to prepare a funeral pyre in accordance with their customs. Then he informed them that his nation also had a custom. When men burned women alive, it was a British custom to hang them and confiscate all their property. He said his carpenters would construct gibbets on which to execute all the parties who had a hand in burning the widow. His last words were, ‘Let us all act according to national customs.’”
“I’m guessing no widows got burned that day,” Cassie observed archly.
“Amazing how fast a blood sacrifice gets shelved when it’s the priest whose neck is in the noose.” Erik grinned sardonically.
“As I am a countryman of Sir Charles, I humbly accept your thanks on his behalf.” Griffin made a small bow.
They all laughed.
Dee grew pensive. “Women in Hindu culture have always been the expendable sex. Mahatma Gandhi once wrote that the way India treats its women is an indicator of its barbarism. I find it interesting that the divergent legacies of overlord barbarism and matristic humanism are being played out side-by-side in India to this very day.”
“How do you mean?” Erik shot her a quizzical look.
“Kerala is the only state in India that maintained any semblance of female influence down through the centuries,” the trove keeper explained. “As compared to the rest of the country, this state is a beacon of progress. Let me quote you some interesting statistics. Of all the states in India, Kerala has the highest human development index, highest life expectancy, highest literacy rate, highest sex ratio because baby girls aren’t killed and highest GDP. Now for the lows. Kerala has the lowest homicide rate. The city of Kochi is the safest port on the Arabian Sea. We also have the lowest government corruption rate, lowest birth rate, and lowest population growth. Low population growth is a good thing in a country as overcrowded as ours. In addition, there’s surprisingly little religious intolerance here in spite of the state’s ethnic diversity.”
She paused to let those facts sink in, all the while intently searching the faces of her listeners—compelling their attention. “Compare that with the crime, overpopulation, political corruption and sectarian violence of the rest of the country. Those woes are the legacy of patriarchy. Kerala today is only an echo of its matriarchal past, and it still surpasses the rest of India by leaps and bounds in promoting the welfare of all its citizens.”
“That’s why we do what we do, isn’t it?” Griffin remarked quietly. “The Arkana is trying to preserve what remains of that humanistic legacy of matrism. To remind people that there is a better way to treat one another.”
Dee nodded in agreement. “Speaking of which...” She rose from her chair abruptly and rifled through a desk drawer, searching for something. Returning to her seat, she held out an object so the trio could see it. “This is why I called you here. It might help in your efforts to nudge the world back into balance.”
Chapter 21—Say It with Flowers
“Oh, my goddess!” Cassie exclaimed, peering at the object in Dee’s hand.
“It’s one of the Minoan lilies!” Griffin’s tone was equally excited.
Erik shook his head in amused disbelief. “Didn’t see that coming.”
Dee beamed at them. “I thought you’d be pleased. All the trove keepers have been alerted that you’re looking for sculpted lilies. I was contacted a few days ago by a private collector who wanted to sell me this artifact. When I received it, I remembered to compare it to the photos of your Minoan lily, and it was a perfect match.”
The flower was unmistakably identical to the carvings they’d encountered several times before in their quest. It was inscribed on a stone whose irregular shape and sharp edges indicated that it had been hacked away from a much larger piece of rock. The fragment that remained was slightly bigger than Dee’s hand.
“But where did it come from?” Griffin asked.
The trove keeper shrugged. “That’s just the problem. I don’t know. The collector mentioned that it had come from one of the
