SIR T. MADAVA Row.-I don't think there is any one here that has a word to say in favour of child-widowhood. But let us cut at its very root, and concentrate our efforts on the removal of its cause. A HINDU SOCIAL REFORM MISSIONARY.-And now, dear brethren, allow me to offer a humble prayer to the Giver of all Good, for guidance and help. May He, Whose work is all Love, yet all Law,* teach us to fulfil His Law, and fill us with His Love May He, "Whose Essence is Sacrifice," "Who sacrificed himself in created things, and created things in Himself",‡ may He inspire us with self-sacrifice, and turn it into power for good! § May He Who is full, Who remains full even if a full be taken from Him, may He give us a part of His own fulness of life, and help our unborn part to rise higher and higher, by good deeds, and pure thoughts, and holy communion! O Holy One, Who art Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Surya and Soma-O Mighty One, regenerate our being, preserve our true life, deaden us unto sin, bountifully shower Thy grace upon us, warm us with Thy loving kindness, breathe into us a breath of Thine own purity, illumine us with Thine own light, and upheave us with Thine own force! Holy, All-merciful Father, guide our erring footsteps, as Thou didst guide our fathers' of old-forgive our backslidings, and incline Thine ear unto our cry for help! Help us, oh Light of the World, oh Life of Life, to do Thy will, to check the ebb of our national glory, and to spread Thy sunshine in our darkened homes! Spirit of the Universe, Lord Supreme, accept our lowly prayer and bless Thy little children! Shánti ! All-Shánti! Shánti! Shánti!· * Browning. + Muir I.-495. UNIV. OF CHAPTER I. STATEMENTS OF FACT ON THE SUBJECT OF INFANT MARRIAGE. SECTION I. MADRAS PRESIDENCY. 1. A. SANKARIAH B. A. PRESIDENT, HINDU SABHA, MADRAS.-Freedom to marry girls and widows at any age is not denied now, and was not denied at any time, and the agitators are not just and even honest in interfering with those who do not religiously, or socially, approve of that freedom. 2. K. KRISHNASWAMY RAO, CHIEF JUSTICE, TRAVANCORE. The existence of the evils of infant-marriage and enforced widowhood......cannot be denied...... In countries where marriage is a matter of contract, and the bride has the right of choosing her own partner in pleasure and in sorrow, there will be no necessity for placing any restriction on the right to marry, but in India the protection of the interests of minor girls who are often victims of the caprice and sometimes of the avarice of their guardians, renders it necessary that some restriction must be imposed. The practice of marrying boys to girls older than themselves seems to be confined to a very small section of low classes, in certain districts, among whom marriage after puberty is not prohibited. Marriage of girls being compulsory and the difficulties of procuring husbands of proper age of the same caste as that of the girl, seem to be the sole reason of the existing practice. 3. H. H. RAMA VARMA, MAHARAJAH OF TRAVANCORE.I do not for a moment doubt that the majority of these sensible men now consulted, will express their decided opinion against these horrible causes of much misery and biting af flictions', to their poor sisters and daughters. 6 4. C. RAMCHANDRA AIYAR, SUB JUDGE, MADURA.-From my experience of 23 years of several districts in this Presidency, I am in a position to assure the Government that in spite of liberal education, and a painful consciousness on the part of the educated men of the evils of all sorts arising from it, infant marriage has become more numerous than ever, and I should say it has become the mania of the people at large. Even graduates of the University and educated men generally have been disposing of their infant girls of two or three years by marriage, simply from an apprehension that they could scarcely get rich boys or sons of rich men at a future time. The fashion of the day is that infant girls of rich men are forced upon the sons of rich men with dowry of great value, and that, in a competition of this kind the boy's parents choose the infant who brings them the largest sum as dowry. That a reform in this direction is certainly needed, has been admitted on all hands; but nothing can be done and will be done by the Hindus, if they be left to themselves, even for a century to come. A few of the educated Hindus no doubt take real interest in effecting a reform in this matter, but their exertion is not enough to override the powerful opposition of the masses under the influence of their priests. To substantiate my assertion, I would respectfully ask the Government if there is today any graduate or educated man who as a father of infant girls has not got them married, while they were infants, or if there is any graduate or educated man who has had the moral courage of keeping his daughter unmarried till she had attained her puberty and then getting her married. No one will come forward to say that he has done so...................................... To render a gift made by a Brahman valid, his wife should sprinkle water on the betel which her husband passes to the donee. During the performance of religious ceremonies his wife is required to stand by, touching him with a holy grass. During the performance of Yogam, a sacrifice of sheep, cow &c., one end of the husband's cloth and one end of the wife's cloth are knit together, and they both move together wherever and on whatever purpose they may move. For all these purposes a betrothed infant girl is considered unqualified, till she attains her puberty, and her marriage is actually consummated....................... If we go today to a college in any district we can hardly find unmarried Brahman boys of 12 or 13 years....... The belief that a girl attaining puberty before betrothal or marriage loses her caste...............has no legal basis. To show that it is so, I have to refer to the community of Nambudri Brahmans of the West coast, among whom infant marriage is rare, and I should say never takes place................... In any illom or house of a Nambudri kaving such unmarried girls, the Patter Brahmans of Pal Ghat, as well as their brethren of the East coast, sit in a line with the Nambudris and take meals which are prepared by such girls. A majority of boys (in colleges and schools) are Brahmans, and infant marriage is greatly among them, and to a fearful extent, and this vice has been copied by other caste people who try to imitate them in every respect. 5. C. SUBBARAYA AIYAR, B.A., B.L., THIRD JUDGE, AppelLATE COURT, ERNACOLLUM.-Referring to the census statistics of 1881, it will be found, on a comparison of figures, that the custom of early marriage is prevalent specially among the Brahmans. To quote from the census report, "some are married before seven and nearly all are married before 10." The figures suggest that between 6 and 7 is the average age of marriage for females among Brahmans. This has the natural result of a high percentage of widows, and we find that nearly 1/3rd of the Brahman women are widows......Out of a total of 80,000 widows under twenty, 60,000 belong to the Brahman caste, and 20,000 only to other castes. Early marriages, brought about under the discriminating and fostering care of Hindu parents, have not failed to lead to happy unions, securing to the married couples social and domestic felicity............I have heard from my European friends that, even in England and other civilized countries, where freedom of choice and liberty of action are enjoyed in the highest degree by the contracting parties, marriage is a lottery in which more blanks are drawn than prizes. 6. S. SUBBRAMANIA AIYAR, VAKIL, HIGH COURT.—To be brief, Mr. Malabari has not exaggerated the evil effects of the pernicious practice of marrying boys and girls before they attain proper age, now obtaining among a large section of the Hindu community. The most orthodox cannot deny that the evil is a real evil having a most degenerating influence on the social, moral, intellectual, and physical well-being of society. It is however gratifying to find, that there is a strong reaction in the minds of the educated classes in this matter, and the percentage of such marriages is on the decrease. 7. CHENTSAL RAO, SUPERINTENDENT OF STATIONERY.According to custom which is regarded, I think, erroneously, as the law, every girl has to be married before she atttains her puberty, and if she is not so married she loses her caste. Girls in this country usually attain puberty at 12 or 13, and sometimes even so early as 11, so that the latest period up to which a girl can be safely kept unmarried is 10.............. In my humble opinion it is far better that a boy of 16 or 17 marries a girl of 8 or 9, than that a youth of 21 or 22 years marries a girl of 9 or 10. As regards marriages of infant girls with old men, I certainly think it is a matter in which Government can interfere, without provoking the slightest suspicion in the minds of intelligent natives. I have known cases in which girls of 8 or 9 years have been given in marriage, for the sake of money, to men of 60 years, but such cases are so very few that the interference of Government is hardly called for. If Government is to interfere at all, it must be by legislating that such marriages are illegal. In this part of the country, there are but very few cases in which older girls are married to younger men, and the |