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The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s3: The Age of Marriage

The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s3

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The Age of Marriage

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Girls were married at a fairly advanced age in the Vedic period. The precise age is not stated, but from the Avesta we learn that maidens were usually wedded at the age of 15 or 16 in ancient Persia (*Vendīdād*, 14, 15). The same was certainly the case in the Vedic period. The very term for marriage, *udvāha*, ‘carrying away (of the bride)’ presupposes a post-puberty marriage, for it shows that immediately after her marriage, the bride went to her husband's house to live as his wife. A perusal of the marriage hymn (X, 185) shows that the bride was fully mature and quite grown up at the time of the marriage; she is expressly described as blooming with youth and pining for a husband¹. A hope is expressed that the bride would forthwith take over the reigns of the household from her parents-in-law². This would have been possible only in the case of grown up brides, at least 16 or 18 years in age.

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¹ अन्यामिच्छ प्रफर्व्यां सं जायां पत्या सृज । X, 85, 22. सूर्या यत्पत्ये शंसन्तीं मनसा सवितादात् । X, 85, 9.

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² सम्राज्ञी श्वशुरे भव सम्राज्ञी श्वश्र्वां भव । X, 85, 46.

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In the Vedic literature there are several references to unmarried girls growing old in their parents' houses, and the Atharvaveda is full of charms and spells intended for compelling the love of a reluctant man or woman. At least some of these spells must have been used by maidens and bachelors not succeeding in winning the affection of the party desired. There are references to lovers following their sweethearts, giving them presents and yearning for mutual company. In one case we have the reference to a maiden pining for a husband approaching a youth anxious for a wife¹. Under such circumstances, children of maidens were not unknown to society, and we get references to their occasional exposures as well. Indra is sometimes represented as rescuing them².

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¹ यमगन्पतिक्रामा जनिकामोऽहमागमम् । अश्वः कनिक्रदद्यथा भगेनाहं सहागमम् ॥ *A. V.*, II, 30, 5. अभि त्वा योषणो दश जारं न कन्याऽनूषत । *R. V.*, IX, 56, 3.

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² उत त्यं पुत्रमग्रुवः परावृक्तं शतक्रतो । उक्थेष्विन्द्र आभजत् । *R. V.*, IV, 30, 6. See also *R. V.*, IV, 19, 9 ; *V. S.*, XXX, 6.

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Verses 27-9 and 37 of the marriage hymn describe the consummation of the marriage. The facts mentioned in the last paragraph make it clear that this event must have happened immediately after the marriage. It has been argued by some writers that the marriage hymn, which is a composite one, narrates different events that may well have taken place at widely separated intervals of time; we can therefore well assume that the consummation took place several months or years after the celebration of the marriage. There is, however, no evidence to support this conjecture; the description of the bride as blooming with youth and pining for a husband makes it altogether improbable and unacceptable.

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Some other arguments advanced to prove the existence of child marriages in the Vedic age may be briefly considered here. It is true that in two passages of the Ṛigveda (1, 51, 13 and 1, 116, 1) the word *arbha* has been used to denote the bride and the bridegroom. This expression, however, denotes tenderness rather than childhood, for Vimada, who has been described as an *arbha* bridegroom is seen to be defeating his rival in battle and winning his bride. This is possible only in the case of a full grown youth. In another place we find a wife praying for hair growing at the time of puberty¹; orthodox tradition itself, however, states that the cause for this prayer was not her childhood, but a skin disease from which she was suffering. Similarly in another hymn, we find a wife asserting to her husband that she is fully developed physically and has abundant marks of complete puberty on her person. This statement is not, however, made to remove the misapprehension of an ignorant husband; the wife makes it in the privacy of the bedroom to excite the passion of her husband, who had previously expressed his exuberant appreciation of her amorous skill². There is thus no data to rebut the force and evidence of the passages and circumstances mentioned in the last two paras, which go to prove that marriages in the Vedic age took place when the parties were fully grown up.

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¹ > इमानि त्रीणि विष्टपा तानीन्द्र विरोहय । शिरस्तस्योर्वरामादिवं मे उपोदरे ॥ अ्रसौ च या न उर्वरादिमां तन्वं मम । अ्रथो ततस्य यच्छिरः सर्वास्ता रोमशा कृधि ॥ VIII, 91, 5-6.

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² Husband :—> आगधिता परिगधिता या कषीकेव जङ्गहे । ददाति मह्यं याकुरी याशूनां भोज्या शता ॥ Wife :—> उपोप मे परामृश मा मे दभ्राणि मन्यथाः । सर्वाहमस्मि रोमशा गान्धारीणामिवाविका ॥ I, 126, 6-7.

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The case continued to be the same down to about the 5th century B. C. The Gṛihya Sūtra literature composed at about this time lays down that the consummation of the marriage should take place on the fourth succeeding day. *Chaturthīkarma*, ‘the event of the fourth day’, long continued to be the technical name for the ritual prescribed at the consummation of the marriage. Some Gṛihya Sūtras also provide for the contingency of the bride being in her monthly course during the marriage ceremony. It is true that in a few works of this class it is laid down that the bride should be a *nagnikā* at the time of her marriage. This term has been no doubt interpreted by some later commentators as denoting a girl of five or six who has no sense of bashfulness and moves about without properly covering her body¹. This, however, is not the real or original meaning of the word. The Mahābhārata describes a bride of 16 as *nagnikā*² and one Gṛihya Sūtra lays it down that the *nagnikā* bride should also be a virgin at the time of her wedding³. Such a requirement in the case of a girl of five would be superfluous. As pointed out by Matridatta, the term *nagnikā* therefore really refers to a woman who is fit to welcome her husband in privacy, immediately after her marriage⁴. When child marriages came into vogue, the meaning of the term was changed and it was maintained that it denotes a girl playing in dust without properly clothing herself⁴.

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¹ यावन्न लज्जयाङ्गानि कन्या पुरुषसन्निधौ । योन्यादीन्यवगूहॆत तावद्भवति नग्निका ॥ पुराण in *SCS.*, p. 213

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² त्रिंशद्वर्षः षोडशवर्षां भार्यां विन्देत नग्निकाम् । in *VMS.*, p. 766.

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³ नग्निका सजाता ब्रह्मचारिणी । *H. G. S.*, I, 19, 2.

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⁴ [unclear]वक्षेपणार्हा नग्निका मैथुनार्हेत्यर्थः ।[/unclear] Matridatta on the above.

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The evidence from the epics and the Buddhist literature also shows that down to about 400 B. C. brides in cultured families used to be about 16 at the time of their marriage. They are often described as eagerly pining for being united with husbands¹. Nuns like Viśākhā and Kuṇḍalakeśā, who had entered the nunnery before their marriage, are represented as being either of the age of 16 or of the age of discretion when their marriages were being contemplated. Brides in the Jātakas are also usually seen to be grown up. We often come across love affairs there; in one place we find a maiden named Paṭachārā eloping with her lover, because her parents would not sanction her contemplated marriage². Sītā, Kuntī and Draupadī were fully grown up at the time of their marriages, which were consummated immediately.

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¹ **राजगहे तु एका सेठिधीता सोलसवस्सुद्देसिका अभिरूपा अहॉसि दस्सनाय । तस्मि च वये थिता नारियो पुरुसझासाय होंति पुरिसलोला ।** *Commentary on Dhammapāda*, 102. A passage in *Sam. Ni.*, 37, 3, 1 points out that one of the evils to which women are subject is the necessity to go to the homes of their husbands', when they are young (*dahara*). The term *dahara*, however, does not refer to childhood, because *Vimānavatthu*, 31, 5, refers to a *dahara* wife as being pure and chaste as well.

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² *Therīgāthā*, No. 47 and commentary.

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There is some ambiguity in the present version of the Rāmāyaṇa about the age of Sītā at the time of her marriage. In her talk with Rāvaṇa at the time when he had come to abduct her, she informs him that she was 18 at the time of her husband's banishment, and that her marriage had taken place twelve years earlier³. This would lead to the conclusion that Sītā was a child of 6 at the time of her wedding. This passage is, however, a spurious one; that Sītā who was very anxious for her husband's safety should have discussed her history with Rāvaṇa, an absolute stranger, appears extremely improbable. The Bālakāṇāḍa, on the other hand, states that the marriages of Rāma and his brothers were consummated immediately after the return of the marriage party to Ayodhyā¹. Similarly, while narrating the story of her marriage to Anasūyā, Sītā describes to her the great anxiety of her father when she had attained an age fit for being united to a husband². It is therefore clear that Sītā was a youthful maiden when she was married, and the passage in Araṇyakāṇḍa, suggesting that she was a child of six at her marriage, is a later interpolation. It is true that Bhavabhūti also represents Sītā to have been quite a child in her marriage in several passages: herein, however, he was influenced by the practice of his age, rather than by the evidence of any earlier and genuine tradition⁴.

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³ III, 47, 4 and 10.

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¹ अभिवाद्याभिवाद्यांश्च सर्वा राजसुतास्तदा । रेमिरे मुदिताः सर्वा भतृभिः सहितं रहः ॥ I, 77, 14.

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² पतिसंयोगसुलभं वयो दृष्ट्वा तु मे पिता । चिन्तामभ्यगमद्दीनो वित्तनाशादिवाधनः ॥ II, 119, 34.

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³ आविवाहसमयाद्गृहे वने शैशवेनदनु यौवने पुनः ॥ शिशुर्वधती मुखम् । *Uttararāmacharit*, I, 37 and I, 20

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Marriages at a lower age began to be advocated from about the 4th century B. C. The writers of the Dharmasūtras, who flourished from *c.* 400 B. C. to *c.* 100 A. D., begin to advise that marriages of girls should not be delayed long after their puberty. Two of them, *viz.*, Vasiṣhṭha and Baudhāyana, are prepared to recommend that girls may be kept unmarried for a period of three years after their puberty, if there are difficulties in properly settling their marriages, and Manu and Kauṭilya (IV, 12) concur with them¹. But Gautama² and Vishṇu(24,41) insist that marriages must be celebrated within three months of the time of puberty. Opinion was obviously divided at this time. Some thinkers pointed out that life was transitory, and if marriage was intended to ensure the continuance of the family, the bride should not be too young when it is performed. Others contended that absolute chastity was to be most desired, and so we should select a bride, who should not have even dreamt of sexual love³. It is, however, necessary to point out that even those, who allowed a short period of three months after the puberty, do not shower any curses upon the guardians, if they fail to perform the marriages within the ninety days period of grace. Manu, who normally contemplates a pre-puberty marriage, goes to the extent of permitting the father to keep the daughter unmarried, even to the end of her life, if a suitable husband cannot be procured¹.

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¹ त्रीणि वर्षाण्युदीक्षेत कुमारीऋतुमती सती ॥ *B.D.S.*, IV, 1, 14. कुमारी ऋतुमती त्रीणि वर्षाण्युदीक्षेत । ऊध्वं त्रिभ्यो वर्षेभ्यः पतिं विन्देत्तुल्यम् । *V. D. S.*, XVII, 59. त्रीणि वर्षाण्युदीक्षेत कमारीऋतुमती सती । ऊर्ध्वं तु कालादेतस्माद्विन्देत सदृशं पतिम् । *Manu*, IX, 90.

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² त्रीन्कुमारी ऋतूनतीत्य स्वयं युज्येतानिन्दितेन उत्सृज्य पित्र्यानलंकारान् । *G. D. S.*, XVIII, 20.

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³ नातिबालां वहन्त्यन्ये अनित्यत्वात्प्रजार्थिनः । वहन्ति कमिणस्तस्याम्न्तःशुद्धिब्यपेक्षया ॥ अपरान्वयसंभूतां संस्वप्नादिविवर्जिताम् । कामो यस्यां निषिद्धश्च केचिदिच्छन्ति चापवि ॥ *Mbh.*, XIII, 79, 14. 15

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¹ काममामरणात्तिष्ठद्गृहे न्तर्तुमतीयापे । न चैवैनां प्रयच्छेत्तु गुणहीनाय कहिंचित् । *Manu*, IX, 89.

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We may therefore conclude that during the period 400 B. C. to 100 A. D. the marriageable age was being gradually lowered, and the tendency on the whole was to marry girls at about the time of puberty. There was, however, no uniformity in practice current in society. The *Kāmasūtra*, which belongs to the end of this period, presupposes the existence of both the post-puberty and pre-puberty marriages (III, 2-4). The stories in the *Kathāsaritsāgara*, which depict the social life of about this time, refer both to child marriages brought about by parents and to love marriages arranged by the parties themselves (Chaps. 24, 124).

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It is sometimes argued that girls used to be married not at about the age of 14 or 15 during the Mauryan period, but at the much younger age of 6 or 7. This contention is based upon Megasthenes, Fragment LI, where he states that among the Pāṇḍyas, who lived in Madura and Tinnevelly districts, girls used to be married at the age of 6. At the outset it may be pointed out that the Greek ambassador does not make this statement about the girls at Pāṭaliputra, of which he had first-hand information, but about the brides in Pāṇḍya country, which he had never visited. He had no first-hand information about South India and he makes this statement on the authority of a hearsay report, which gravely asserted that girls in that country could conceive at the age of 7, because of a favour conferred upon its women by Heracles of Greece, when he had visited it (*Arrian*, chap. ix). The marriage at the age of 6 and conception at the age of 7 are as true as Heracles' visit to south India.' The data from Greek authors do not thus invalidate the conclusion, reached above, that girls were usually married at about the age of 14 or 15 during the Mauryan period.

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We have seen above that there was a conflict of opinion in society during the period 400 B. C.-100 A. D. about the desirability of pre-puberty marriages. Soon after 100 A. D. this conflict ended and society definitely decided in favour of pre-puberty marriages. An undue premium came to be placed upon absolute chastity; in order to prevent the theoretical possibility of unchastity in any bride whatsoever, it decreed "that marriages should always be performed before puberty¹. Society was anxious that there should be no room whatsoever even for the possibility of any reports arising reflecting upon the character of its maidens². As we have already shown (*ante*, p. 19), at about this time Upanayana of girls came to an end and they had to follow no course of education worth the name. As a natural consequence girls of 15 or 16, who were not married, must have begun to find time hanging heavily upon them.

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¹ See *ante* p. 64 note No. 3.

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² तस्माद्विशल्ययितुमिच्छसि मां यदि त्वं

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वत्से तदुन्मिषति नूतनयौवनेऽस्मिन् ।
न स्वेच्छमर्हसि चिरं खलु कन्यकात्व-
मासेवितुं सुलभदुर्लभदुष्प्रवादम् ॥ *Kss*, 34, 229.

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Parents also must have felt that since girls were not preoccupied with completing any educational course, it would be desirable to get them married soon after, or at about the time of their puberty. The birth of a son to ensure the continuity of the family and offer oblations to the manes was always welcome; an early marriage meant a son soon after puberty and was thus felt to be preferable¹. That this may mean an undue physical strain on the girl-mother was unfortunately not realised.

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¹ ऋतवो बहवस्ते वै गता व्यर्थाः शुचिस्मिते । Mbh. I, 94, 65.

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From about 200 A. D. pre-puberty marriages became the order of the day. Yājñavalkya, who wrote at about this time, insists that girls should be married before the age of puberty; otherwise every month their guardians will be guilty of the destruction of an embryo². Yama, who came about 400 years later, states that even if a suitable match is impossible, the girl should be married before she comes of age even to an unsuitable husband³. What a difference between the views of Manu and Yama! The former was willing to allow a girl to remain unmarried even to the end of her life, if a proper husband could not be secured. The latter did not mind a girl being chained to an unsuitable and undeserving husband for her whole life, if there was the least danger of the fatal line of the age of puberty being crossed before the marriage.

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² अप्रयच्छन्त्समाप्नोति भ्रूणहत्यामृताौ ऋतौ । I, 13.

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³ दद्याद्गुणवते कन्यां नग्निकां ब्रह्मचारिणे । अपि वा गुणहीनाय नोपरुन्ध्याद्रजस्वलाम् ॥ Quoted in *SCS.*, p. 216.

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It was not always possible to celebrate a marriage in every case just on the eve of puberty. If it was postponed to the last moment, there was the danger of crossing the fateful line. Not content, therefore, with prohibiting post-puberty marriages, Smṛiti writers of the period 500-1000 A. D. began to encourage marriages *much before* the time of puberty. They held that a girl should be regarded as having attained puberty at the age of 10 and therefore her marriage should not be postponed beyond that age¹. At this time the ritual of marriage in the case of girls was regarded as corresponding to that of *upanayana* in the case of boys; if the eighth year was the proper time for the latter, it ought to be the ideal time for the former also. A girl of 8 was Gaurī and was therefore the most suitable one for marriage.

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¹ अष्टवर्षा भवेद् गौरी नववर्षा तु रोहिणी । दशवर्षा भवेत्कन्या अत ऊर्ध्वं रजस्वला ॥ प्राप्ते तु दशमे वर्षे यस्तु कन्यां न यच्छति । मासि मासि रजस्तस्याः पिता पिबति शोणितम् ॥ *Bṛihadyama*, III, 21-22.

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The Vedic marriage mythology referred to Soma, Gandharva and Agni as the earlier divine husbands of the bride; her human husband was the fourth one. Writers of this period began to advocate the view that the different divine husbands get jurisdiction over the girl when different signs of impending puberty manifest themselves at different ages. They pointed out² that one should forestall them all by marrying the girl at the age of 8 or 9.

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² रोमकाले तु संप्राप्ते सोमो भुंक्ते तु कन्यकाम् । रजःकाले तु गन्धर्वो वह्निस्तु कुचदर्शने ॥ तस्मादुद्वाहयेत्कन्यां यावन्नर्तुमती भवेत् । Saṁvarta in *SCS*, p. 213.

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The custom of pre-puberty marriages became common among the Brahmanas alone in the beginning; one writer even of the 17th century A. D. observes that the Kshatriyas are not expected to follow it¹. Life was more ephemeral in the case of the members of the fighting classes than it was with the rest of the community; they naturally refused to follow the new custom, which would have enormously increased the number of child widows in their community. We can therefore well understand how, in spite of the universal and terrible condemnation of the post-puberty marriages by Smṛiti writers from *c.* 200 A. D., child marriages did not come into vogue among the Kshatriyas for a long time. Heroines of most of the Sanskrit dramas written during the period 300-1200 A. D. are grown up brides at the time of their marriages; this is so because they mostly belong to Kshatriya circles. There are many historic examples of grown up marriages among the Rajputs during the medieval period. This will now cause no surprise to the reader.

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¹ '**यस्तु तां वरयेत्कन्यां ब्राह्मणो ज्ञानदुर्बलः ।**' **अत्र ब्राह्मणोपादानाद् ब्राह्मणस्यैवायं निषेधो न क्षत्रियादीनाम् ।** *VMS.*, p. 771.

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Post-puberty marriages continued as local customs also in some of the areas that continued to be under the influence of the old pre-Aryan culture. This, for example, is the case in Malbar to the present day. A 15th century commentator observes that among the people of this province, the attainment of puberty before the marriage is not regarded as a blemish².

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² **केरलदेशे कन्याया ऋतुमतीत्वं न दोषाय ।** *Mādhava on Par.*, III, i, p. 19.

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The influence of the matriarchate is responsible for Malbar's bold stand against child marriages.

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In the course of time the advocates of pre-puberty marriages did not remain content with the girl's marriage at 8 or 9. There was an extreme section among them that clamoured for a still lower age. It is represented in *Brahma Purāṇa*, which recommends that a girl should be married at any time after the age of four¹. Texts like those of Manu, which permitted a girl to remain unmarried even throughout her life if a suitable husband was not available, were explained away as emphasising the importance of a proper selection of the bridegroom, and not as permitting any post-puberty marriage².

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¹ चतुर्धाद्वत्सरादूर्ध्वं यावन्न दशमात्ययः । तावद्विवाहः कन्यायाः पित्रा कार्यः प्रयत्नतः । 165,8.

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² ‘काममामरणात्’ इति । तद् गुणवति सति गुणहीनाय निषेधपरम् । न तु सर्वथा गुणहीननिषेधपरम् । ऋतुमत्यापि तिष्ठेदिति वचनं उक्तरीत्या न स्वार्थे तात्पर्येवत् । Mādhava on *Par.*, I. ii, p. 78

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The analogy of *upanayana* was also utilised for lowering the marriage age to this ridiculous extent. Parents anxious to ensure a rapid progress of their sons in education were advised to perform their *upanayana* at the age of 5; marriage was the substitute for *upanayana* in the case of girls, and so it could well be performed at the same early age.

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It may be, however, pointed out that the extreme views above referred to, did not become popular for a long time. We learn from Alberuni that during the 11th century A. D. the normal age of a Brahmana bride was 12 (II, p. 131). Parents in the lower sections of society, where the pernicious custom of the brideprice prevailed to a great extent, were the first to take advantage of the permission to marry girls at the age of 5 or 6 for their own selfish ends. Their example was later on followed by other classes, and the custom of very young marriages thus began to be more and more common. The ramification of the caste system into hundreds of sub-castes and the prohibition of inter-marriages among them from about the 8th or the 9th century A. D. further accentuated the evil of child marriages. The selection of a suitable bridegroom was becoming progressively more difficult, as the field of choice was being further and further narrowed down by the rise of new water-tight sub-castes. Parents did not like to take the risk of losing a good bridegroom at hand by postponing the marriage to a later date. Paradoxical though it may appear, it seems that the Satī custom, which became fairly popular at this time, helped the cause of early marriages to some extent. If the father died and the mother followed him on his funeral pyre, there would be a father-in-law at least to look after the young orphans, if they were already married. So why not provide them with an additional guardian of natural affection by marrying them at an early age? This reason for the child marriages prevailing in Bengal was given to Merchant Fitch by the Bengalis with whom he discussed the problem in the 16th century.¹ The joint family system prevailing in society was also favourable for early marriages. Marriages could be performed long before the husband became an earning member, because his parents, uncles or elder brothers used to take care of his wife and children till the time he began to earn. The economic condition of the country was fairly satisfactory and it did not therefore necessitate the postponement of marriage to the time the husband became an earning member. Naturally therefore society became more and more conscious of the advantages of early marriages and oblivious to their drawbacks. It further found that child marriages gave a good opportunity to the bride to know gradually the natures and idiosyncrasies of the different members of the joint family of her husband, to note almost imperceptibly his likes and dislikes , and to entertain an affection for him before the sex instinct had been aroused. There was further no chance of any scandals arising as was admittedly the case in the earlier era of post-puberty marriages. Nor need the parents entertain any apprehensions of a daugter slipping into a nunnery against their wishes. Of course society knew that under the system of child marriage there was the danger of widowhood overcoming a bride before she came of age. But such a calamity was believed to be a decree of fate, which could not be set at nought by any human efforts.

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¹ Dasgupta, *Bengal in the 16th century A.D.*, pp. 128, 131.

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The popularity of early marriages therefore went on increasing in medieval times. Some enlightened rulers like Akbar disliked them and recommended to their subjects that marriages should be performed after the attainment of puberty (*Ain-i-Akbari*, p. 277). The advice, however, produced no effect. A number of foreign travellers and merchants tell us that boys and girls were married in India several years earlier than the time of puberty. Fitch, a 16th century English trader, has noted that boys and girls were married at Murshidabad in Bengal at the age of 10 and 6 respectively (Dasgupta, p. 131). Manucci tells us that during the 17th century girls were often married before they were able to speak, but never after the age of 10 (Vol. III, pp. 59-60). According to Tavernier, the usual marriage age was 7 or 8 (Vol. II, p. 197). One of the Brāhmaṇa generals of the Peshva was filled with great anxiety because his daughter's marriage could not be arranged at the age of 9. 'If the marriage is postponed to the next year,' he writes from the battle-field, 'the bride will be as old as 10. It will be a veritable calamity and scandal.'

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8 or 9 was the usual marriageable age of girls at the advent of the British rule. With the introduction of western ideas and civilisation the educated sections of society began to feel the necessity of deferring marriages to a more advanced age. Social conferences began to advocate the cause of post-puberty marriages during the nineties of the last century, but their efforts were not appreciably successful till the beginning of the 20th century. The terrible havoc caused by the plague advanced the marriageable age of girls from 8 to 12 or 13. Society, however, was still afraid to cross openly the fateful age of puberty. The gradual disruption of the joint family system, the progressive realisation of the usefulness of female education, and above all, the hard necessities of the economic struggle for existence have now induced the advanced sections of Hindu society to throw overboard the Smṛiti injunctions, and to openly adopt post-puberty marriages. If, on account of economic factors, youths find it necessary to postpone marriage to the age of 24 or 25, they have naturally to choose their partners in life who are at least 16 or 17 at the time of the marriage. The Sarda Act, which has laid down 18 and 14 as the minimum legal age of marriage for boys and girls respectively, follows the actual practice of the advanced middle classes of society. Of course early marriages still prevail in lower sections of the community, and working on the data of the census of 1921, the Age of Consent Committee of 1929 computed that about 39% of girls were married before the age of 10. But the factors favouring late marriages will soon begin to operate even in the case of lower classes and in less than a generation post-puberty marriages will become the order of the day.

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The passing of the Sarda Act in 1929, penalising the marriages of girls before the age of 14, produced a reaction in the orthodox section of Hindu society, some members of which proceeded to openly break the law. Their protests and propaganda, however, are not likely to help the cause of the child marriage to any appreciable degree. The fact is that all those secular causes, which favoured the custom of the child marriage, are rapidly disappearing now. The joint family system is disintegrating, the economic struggle is becoming hard, and the theory that girls need not be educated like boys has ceased to appeal to society. The injunction of the later Smṛitis prescribing pre-puberty marriages is of course there, but the thoughtful section of Hindu society feels that it should be now set aside in favour of the view of the earlier Dharmaśāstra writers, who permitted the postponement of girls' marriages to about the age of 16 or 17. In accepting and following the theory of post-puberty marriages Hindu society is merely returning to the old custom of the Vedic and Epic times. It need not therefore be regarded as anti-religious at all. The main reason that was responsible for popularising post-puberty marriages in the early period of Hindu history was the great concern which society felt over the question of girls' education. Precisely the same reason is now helping the cause of post-puberty marriages. In the past a few ladies known as Brahmavādinīs used to remain for ever unmarried, as they were anxious to devote themselves entirely to the cause of learning and religion. The phenomenon is repeating itself in modern times. To-day also we have some ladies in society, who prefer to remain unmarried because they want to devote themselves to the cause of education and social service. The recently founded Servants of Women Society of Poona has laid it down that its members shall remain unmarried, so that they should find it possible to devote themselves wholly and solely to the cause of the Society.

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When the pendulum is now moving towards the direction of late marriages, it is necessary to point out that they also have their own defects and drawbacks. The marriage of a girl at the age of 10 is as undesirable as her marriage at the age of 30. There should be post-puberty marriages, no doubt, but they should not be normally postponed to beyond the age of 18 or 20. We have shown in Chapter I (*ante*, pp. 31-33) how the secondary and higher education of girls can be finished before this time. One Dharmasūtra writer has pointed out that both the bride and the bridegroom ought to be in the prime of their youth at the time of their marriage; not a single hair of theirs should have grown gray at that time. This point has to be remembered when the marriage age is being gradually raised every decade. Society therefore must be vigilant and should not countenance any tendency to postpone girl's marriage beyond the age of 18 or 20.

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In the Vedic and Upanishadic periods when post-puberty marriages were the order of the day, religious and spiritual ideals were held in high veneration by the community; they used to permeate the atmosphere of society and raise up its moral tone. This used to help grown-up maidens and youths in following the rules and discipline of the Brahmacharya life. Unless there is a similar or corresponding atmosphere in society, it will not be able to reap the full advantages of post-puberty marriages. If youths and maidens, who have to remain unmarried till an advanced age, have to live in a society full of temptation and characterised by a vitiated taste, their late marriages would not be much better than the child marriages of the last century from the eugenic point of view.

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Before concluding this section it may be pointed out that child marriages were quite common in Europe also for a long time. In ancient Rome maidens were married at the age of 10 or 12 (Müller, *Family*, p. 260). In the age of chivalry girls were often married at the age of 5, simply because marriage was a matter of military tactics and territorial alliances. The rule of the church, that boys and girls should be married at the age of 15 and 12 respectively, was openly flouted¹. In England, especially in the upper classes, child marriages were common in Tudor times. Sometimes they were performed when the parties were only 4 or 5; they were, however, voidable before the time of consummation (Müller, p. 114). Child marriages were less common among the working classes. Though in actual practice, late marriages became common in England by 1850 A. D., still down to 1929, the minimum legal age of marriage continued to be 12 for girls and 14 for boys. In that year the Parliament raised it to 16 both in the cases of girls and boys, partly as a reaction to the introduction of the Sarda Bill in the Indian Legislature.

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¹ J. L. Davies: *A short History of Woman*, pp. 237-61.

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