Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

33. RAO SAHIB VISHRAM RAMJEE GHOLLAY.-Female children from 7 to 16 years old are commonly married. The girls of high caste Marathas called Maratha proper, remain unmarried in very many instances till 20 or more years. The Brahmins are bound so to speak, to get their girls married before they arrive at the age of puberty, that is about their 12th year, but some girls above that age are to be found unmarried amongst Brahmins also. The average ages at which boys and girls are married amongst us varry from 16 to 20 years in the case of the former, and from 10 to 12 in the case of the latter.

34. R. G. BHANDARKAR, PROFESSOR OF SANAKrit, Deccan COLLEGE. Why should we suppose the child marriages, that do take place in Hindu society, to be ill sorted. The parents of the bridegroom and the bride belong to the same caste and same social condition, and from child-hood the girl and the boy are brought up in the belief that, they are destined to be wife and husband, and that their mutual relation is as much the work of nature, and consequently inviolable, as the relation between brother and sister, or parents and children. This belief enters into the formation of their character, and they grow up as wife and husband, and consequently become adapted to each other. Cases of child marriage proving ill sorted afterwards, are therefore extremely rare, and deserve no consideration............The earliest age at which a boy begins to live as husband is 18 or 17, and the girl as wife is 14 or 13, and ordinarily I believe it is higher. It is however extremely rare that a girl begins to bear children before she is 16.

Overpopulation is another evil effect attributed to early marriage; but I believe if we compare an average case of this with a similar one of late marriage, we shall not find the fecundity of the former to be greater.

Though, therefore, I cannot agree with Mr. Malabari in attributing such woeful results to child marriage, I do think that the custom is productive of evil. A young man is too early burdened with the cares and responsibility of a family,

and even when his parents, being alive, relieve him of the burden, the excitement and diversion of thought inseparable from a married life, render a single minded devotion to studies and to the improvement of the mind all but impossible. The result is worse in the case of girls. The merest elementary education is all that can be given to them, under the present circumstaces. Their being married when they are 8 or 9 years old, increases also the chance of their becoming child-widows. And I believe that if a young man and a young woman begin to live as husband and wife in all cases when they are 21 or 22 and 16 or 17 respectively, the total physical effect will be better than at present. But I would not avoid the evil, and secure the good, by a legislative measure.

35. GAVRISHANKAR UDEYSHANKAR, (BHAVNAGAR).—AS far as my knowledg extends, infant marriages are not common among the bulk of the Hindu population, but are confined chiefly to a few among the upper classes, such as Brahmins Kshatrayas and Wanias. The prohibition against the remarriage of widows also operates among nearly the same classes, as well as the more respectable of the Rajputs, Grassias, and Patidars......

I consider 11 years for girls and 15 to 17 for boys to be fairly good marriageable ages for the two sexes, in a tropical country like India.

36. NAGINDAS TULSIDAS.-When there are too many sub-divisions of castes, with strict injunctions against intermarriage outside the sub-division, it is natural that parents become anxious to secure for their sons and daughters suitable wives and husbands, as soon as possible. This has been carried to such an absurd extreme, that in Gujrat and Kathiawar, infants a few months old are married in some castes, where marriages are allowed to be celebrated at certain long intervals. In these castes, even unborn children are married. This is managed thus. When two women are in the family way, to whose children's marriage there is no hin

drance on account of consanguinity &c., they agree, with their husbands' consent, that if the issue of one is a male child and that of the other a girl, the two unborn children are to be regarded as married. With this understanding, the two mothers go through the ceremony with balls of flowers in their laps. If the issue of both is male or female, the ceremony goes for nothing. Such is the absurd extreme to which the system of infant marriages is carried on. However there is this to atone for it, that remarriages are open to females as well as males in these castes......

......

The evil (Infant marriage) exists not only among the Hindus but also among the Mahomedans, and even among the Parsis, and to some extent among the uneducated classes. The hot climate has also to answer for the evil to some extent.

37. PANDURANG BALIBHADRA.-With regard to infantmarriages, there cannot be two opinions that they are baneful in the extreme. They sap the foundation of all physical, intellectual, and moral growth. They enfeeble the individual. They degenerate the community. They impoverish the country. But strongly as I would condemn the practice of infant marriages, the question is whether such marriages are at all frequent or common at the present day.... ..So far as my experience goes, I think that the practice has become almost obsolete...... The married couple do not cohabit till they attain the age of puberty. In the Prabhu caste, to which I belong, infant marriages are very rare indeed. Within the last decade I have not seen or heard of any..

Most parents find it difficult to secure suitable husbands for their daughters, unless they promise and can afford to pay a good round sum of money (seldom below Rs. 1,000) to the intended bridegroom or his parents. It is now become almost a fashion for one side to demand, and for the other to submit to this payment, as a condition precedent to marriage. The result is, children of poor parents who cannot pay the heavy price, grow up to a mature age, without the chance of marriage.

38. LAKHMIDAS KHIMJI.-The picture of evil and disastrous consequences of infant marriage and enforced widowhood drawn by Mr. Malabari in his paper is, in my opinion, true in all its sense, and not at all imaginary, and the evil consequences from these long continued practices among the Hindus are even more than what Mr. Malabari has described.

39. LALSHANKAR UMIASHANKAR.-Twelve years ago an anti-carly-marriage-association was formed at Ahmedabad, of which Mr. Ambalal Sakarlal Desai and myself were secretaries. After a good deal of discussion, it was found that the greater evil was in marrying a boy in his infancy, and that the increase of age in the case of boys would, of itself, lead to improvement in the case of girls. Accordingly the following affirmation was fixed to be the qualification of a member.

"1. That I shall not celebrate the marriage of my son before he completes his 16th year, or that I shall seek for his wife a girl who is at least 5 years younger than himself.

2. That I shall try to delay my daughter's marriage till as high an age as is not objectionable, according to the Shastras."

More than 200 persons from different custes and places in Gujrat became members. Monthly meetings were held, and tracts were issued. A few marriages took place under the rules, but several broke the pledge, saying their caste members in the association being few they were unable to follow the rules. After a few years, some of the energetic members left the place, and the progress became slow. The pamphlets were discontinued, and the association is now only a name. The above experience showed the necessity of making an attempt with one entire caste. While at Sholapur, I found that in the Lingayet community, which consists of more than 5000 inhabitants of the place, and which though commercial, is very backward in education, marriages were taking place at an extremely young age, sometimes while in cradles, and a good deal of useless expense was incurred on such occasions. I discussed the subject with the in

« AnteriorContinua »