Written in opposition to the Indian demands for self-rule and independence from British rule, the book pointed to the treatment of India's women, the untouchables, animals, dirt, and the character of its nationalistic politicians. A large part of the book dealt with the problems resulting from the marriage of young girls. This was considered to be one of the main causes that led to an uproar across India after many newspapers declaring it scurrilous libel against Hindus and Hinduism. Mayo singled out the allegedly rampant and fatally weakening sexuality of its males to be at the core of all problems, leading to masturbation, rape, homosexuality, prostitution, and venereal diseases.
Reception
Mayo's book created outrage across India, and it was burned along with her effigy. Mayo's book Mother India was criticized by Mahatma Gandhi as a "report of a drain inspector sent out with the one purpose of opening and examining the drains of the country to be reported upon". The book prompted over fifty angry books and pamphlets to be published to highlight Mayo's errors and false perception of Indian society, which had become a powerful influence on the American people's view of India. Critics of Mayo accuse her works of being racist, pro-imperialist and Indophobic tracts that "expressed all the dominant prejudices of colonial society.". Annie Besant called Mother India "a remarkably wicked book slandering the whole Indian people". The book has also been cited as an example of feminist rhetoric being appropriated for advancing western imperialism and racism. In 1929, Harry H. Field, whom she had thanked in the foreword of her book wrote a book called After Mother India in which he responded to the criticisms made of the book, added more commentaries and wrote a brief biography of Katherine Mayo. A chapter was dedicated to the most important critique, that of Gandhi. After its publication Dalip Singh Saund wrote My Mother India to counter Mayo's assertions. Another response to Mayo's book was Dhan Gopal Mukerji's A Son of Mother India Answers. The title of Mehboob Khan's 1957 Hindi epic filmMother India is a deliberate rebuke to Mayo's book.
