Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.598

c7.598

Among males too marriage at a very tender age is quite common; thus in the N. W. Provinces, of 10,000 boys 433 are married at the age of 5-9 while at the age of 10-14 only a fraction more than half the population remain unmarried.⁵ Yet, for example, in Madras the husbands are on average about 10 years older than the wives which reminds one actually of the rules in M. and Mah. The rule of the Smṛtis, that a mature girl who remains unmarried in her father’s house is a cause of shame to the whole family, still rules the modern ideas in a potent form, so that even the lowest castes are more and more running into child marriage.