Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 252

INFANT MARRIAGES
212
A young Brahmin should, ordinarily speaking, be married
when he is about sixteen years of age, but the ceremony is
The wife chosen
often postponed till he is older than this.
for him is generally five, seven, or at the utmost nine
years old \
This custom of marrying
girls in their
and as soon as possible, though common
most strictly observed by the Brahmins.
early childhood,
to all castes, is
When once a
has passed the marriageable age, it is very difficult
In this caste there is often an
for her to find a husband.
enormous difference in age between the husband and the
wife.
It is no uncommon thing to see an old man of sixty
or more, having lost his first wife, marry for the second
time a little child five or six years old, and even prefer
her to girls of mature age. What is the result of this ?
The husband generally dies long before his wife, and often
even before she has attained the age which would allow
him to exercise his rights as a husband. So the poor girl
becomes a widow before she has even become a wife, and
as by the custom of her caste she may not marry again,
she is oftentimes tempted to lead a dissolute life, thereby
reflecting discredit on the whole caste.
Everybody recog-
nizes these abuses, but the idea of remedying them, by
allowing a young widow to break through the stern rule
of custom and marry again, would never even enter the
head of a Hindu, more especially of a Brahmin 2
It is
true that the strange preference which Brahmins have for
children of very tender years would make such a permis-
sion almost nominal in the case of their widows 3
girl
.
.
The Jews also married their children at an early age. A youth
who was not married before he was eighteen was considered by them
1
command
which says
In-
as he had attained
the age of thirteen. Their daughters were betrothed in childhood, and
were married as soon as they had arrived at a suitable age, which was
Dubois.
usually fixed by them at twelve.
-
Hindu social reformers are now agitating for virgin-widow re-
marriages, and in a few instances such marriages have been brought
to be sinning against the
He
crease and multiply.'
about.
was
free to
of the Creator,
'
:
marry as soon
Ed.
Amongst the Jews it was permissible for widows to marry again but
those who voluntarily, out of respect and affection for their dead husbands,
3
;
refrained from marrying again, were looked
— Dubois.
up
to with very great respect.