The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s3.31

c7.s3.31

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.