The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s1.15

c7.s1.15

The epic is undoubtedly right in emphasing the great necessity of marriage for girls in the above legend ; for there are more pitfalls in the path of an unmarried woman than those in the way of an unmarried man. As a consequence of the new theory which made marriage obligatory for girls, negligent parents must have become more alert in arranging the marriages of their daughters. It must, however, be admitted that this theory tended to crush the literary and spiritual ambitions of the gifted section of the fair sex. Further, it has to be pointed out that it led to grave abuses when pre-puberty marriages began to be insisted upon from about the beginning of the Christian era. Some Smṛitis like Yama began to advocate the unfortunate view that since marriage was compulsory for girls, parents should marry them even to undesirable persons, if suitable bridegrooms were not available before the time of puberty¹. This rule made the lot of a defective deformed or diseased girl very pitiable. She could not naturally get a good husband and her father had yet to marry her. He had therefore to spend heavily in marrying her to a person, who was almost certain to discard her, and contract a fresh marriage with a more suitable bride. It must, however, be added that even if a defective girl is kept unmarried, her lot is by no means happy. As years roll on and the parents die, her brothers do not care for her, and scoundrels and selfish persons in society are not few in number who delight in spreading thorns in her way.