Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 250

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THE SEX1S EQUALLY PROPORTIONED
which extended over a period of
are no longer within my
but I am convinced that out of perhaps G,000
reach
children baptized by me, one sex did not outnumber the
Another convincing proof that
other by more than 200.
the proportion of the two sexes is about equal in India, is
furnished by the Brahmins, who can only have one legiti-
mate wife, and for whom marriage is obligatory. One
hardly ever meets with a woman who is not, or has not
These
limits.
registers,
more than twenty-five
years,
;
been, married.
Blind,
dumb,
deaf, or lame, all find hus-
bands amongst poor Brahmins, whose low fortunes do not
allow them to aspire to an alliance with any more attractive
spouse.
It may, it is true, be retorted that amongst Brahmins
a widow cannot remarry, whereas a widower may at once
take to himself another wife. The consequence is, it may
be urged, that the women of this caste must be more
numerous than the men. But I reply that the age at which
the two sexes marry compensates for this difference. Girls
are married when seven or even five years old, whilst boys
wait till they are sixteen, twenty, or even older. I am
therefore decidedly of opinion that in hot as well as in
temperate climates the births of the two sexes are nearly
equal
and that polygamy is opposed to all laws, both
;
natural and divine
This unnatural custom of polygamy, which finds a place
amongst some nations, may be attributed to sinful lust,
to abuse of the power of the strong over the weak, and to
It is evidently
the dominion of the one sex over the other.
altogether contrary to the intention of the Creator, who,
when He created the father of mankind, gave him only
1
.
1
According to the Census Report of 1891, to every 1,000 males there
are returned only 958 females ; and the tables show that there are in
the country fewer females than males to the number of, speaking roundly,
6} millions. The deficiency is greatest in the Punjab, N.W. Provinces,
and Rajputana. In Bengal, Madras, and Upper Burma, however,
females are in excess to the extent of something under three-quarters
The conclusion arrived at with regard to the deficiency of
of a million.
females is that it is to a large extent due to deliberate concealment and
But the Report remarks
deliberate omission from the Census returns.
The subject of sex is a very intricate one, and the more one studies it
the less inclined is a cautious statist to adopt any single explanation.'
The Report examines the whole question at considerable length. Ed.
:
'