The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s3.58

c7.s3.58

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.