AFTER  MOTHER   INDIA
to read 'his explanation/ and 'conviction' to read
'assumption/ in the text of Mother India, the author
further acknowledged her mistake.
A personal associate of Mr. Tagore, Mr. C. F,
Andrews, later advanced the information that in cer-
tain books, which, however, Mr. Andrews was unable
to name, and which, he said, have never been trans-
lated from Bengali into English, Tagore has vehemently
denounced the practice of child marriage. Furthermore,
Mr. Andrews stated that the poet still favours ridding
his country of the child marriage blight.^1
However, my readers are' left to decide for them-
selves whether or not the author of Mother India 'de-
liberately concocted' the 'incriminating allegation,' as
Mr. Tagore asserts.
And perhaps it is pertinent to note here the gei^ral
absence of Tagore's name from the roster of to-day's
active fighters on behalf of Hindu child brides. That
his championship for this cause, so deeply in need of
the support of every prominent Indian, should Ue
buried in Bengali, hidden from the non-Bengali-speak-
ing Hindu majority, or should be shrouded in an
ambiguous phrase, or should be conspicuous *>nly to
those familiar with his personal life, is difficulTta
reconcile with the idea of championship worthy of the
name.
Tagore's letter to the Nation makes one additional
charge:
Let me in conclusion draw the attention of your
readers to another amazing piece of false state-
^1 Statement made in the presence of the author.
194