Education in Ancient India c11.s2.8

c11.s2.8

The Lowering of the Marriage Age:—The mischief caused by the discontinuance of Upanayana was further enhanced by the lowering of the marriage-able age. In the Vedic period girls were married at about the age of 16 or 17; but by c. 500 B. C. the custom arose of marrying them soon after the attainment of puberty. Dharmaśāstra works of the period however permit the postponement of a girl's marriage to the age of 16 or 17 in case a suitable match could not be arranged.¹ Manu, though in favour of a marriage at 12 in normal circumstances, was prepared to contemplate the possibility of a girl remaining unmarried to the end of her life, if no suitable bridegroom could be found.² Later writers, however, of this period like Yājñavalkya,³ Saṃvarta⁴ and Yama,⁵ most vehemently condemn the guardian who fails to marry a girl before the attainment of the puberty. This condemnation had the natural effect; from Alberuni we learn that in the 11th century Hindus used to marry at an early age, and that a Brahmana was never allowed to marry a girl above the age of 12.⁶ Many marriages must have taken place much earlier, for the Smṛitis written at the end of this period begin to glorify the merits of a girl's marriage at the age of 7, 8, or 9.⁷ When it was regarded as an ideal thing to celebrate a girl's marriage at so young an age, female education could hardly prosper.