History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.325

v2.c26.325

Afew words may be said about infanticide. Westermarck in his ‘Origin and Development of Moral Ideas’ vol. I. (1906) pp. 393-413 furnishes an exhaustive account of this practice in ancient and modern times among barbarous and civilised communities from various countries, e. g. in Sparta (for the purpose of securing strong and healthy fighters), among the Rajputs (from family pride and fear of the crushing burden of expenses at marriage).¹¹⁸⁶ He is wrong in saying that in the Vedic times infanticide or exposure of children was practised. Ṛg. II. 29. 1¹¹⁸⁷ is of no use on this point; it says ‘cast off from me sin as a woman who secretly gives birth to a child (casts it off).’ This is not a reference to infanticide of children born in wedlock, but refers to the exposure of a child by an unmarried woman which is clandestinely practised everywhere and as regards which even in England a very lenient attitude is shown as manifested by the passing of the Infanticide Act (12 and 13 Geo. V. Chap. 18). The most important passage on which some European scholars like Zimmer and Delbrück rely upon for this proposition is Tai. S. VI. 5. 10. 3 ‘They go to the *avabhṛtha*¹¹⁸⁸ (the final sacrificial bath); they keep aside the *sthālīs* (pots) and take up the vessels for *vāyu*: therefore they (the people) keep aside the girl when she is born and lift up (i. e. greet with pride and joy) the son’. This simply refers to the fact that a daughter was not greeted as much as the son. It has nothing to do with exposure or infanticide. That passage only expresses the sentiment contained in the Ait. Br.¹¹⁸⁹ (33. 1)