Mother India (1927) is a polemical book by American journalist Katherine Mayo on the status of women and girls in Indian society as well as her perception of Hindu culture.
[1] Written in opposition to the movement for Indian independence, the book criticized India's treatment of women, the untouchables, animals, the countryside, and the character of its nationalistic politicians.
This was considered to be one of the main causes that led to an uproar across India after many Indian newspapers declared the book "scurrilous libel" against Hindus and Hinduism.
"[5] Gandhi reminded Western readers of the shortcomings of their own societies, as did Sunderland who stated, “India knows nothing so bad as our American lynching and burning of Negroes.”[4] Sunderland drew on how at one time Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw had used the example of lynching as justification for why America was not civilized enough for self-governance and commented that “the United States is not fit to rule itself and ought forthwith to be taken in hand and civilized by some foreign nation say England or France or Japan.”[4] The book prompted over fifty critical books and pamphlets to be published, which highlighted Mayo's incorrect assertions and distorted perception of Indian society, which had become a powerful influence on the American public's view of India.
[9] The book was cited as an example of imperial feminism by American historian Liz Wilson, who wrote that Mayo employed feminist rhetoric to support her criticisms of the Indian independence movement.
Saund used statistics from the Census Report of 1921[14] that showed that sixty percent of Indian girls remained unmarried at the beginning of their sixteenth year, as evidence for the situation in India regarding marriage developing.
How the situation may be remedied is a serious problem, which is not the task of any foreigner, however honest and friendly, to solve.”[14] Another response to Mayo's book was written by Dhan Gopal Mukerji in 1928, in his A Son of Mother India Answers.
Having never visited the United States, Gauba relied on sources ranging from the Chicago Commission on Race Relations to True Story to critique his perception of American women and sexuality.