Child Marriage
Megasthanese is of the view that women were of marriageable age even at the age of seven. Child marriage means children were married at an early stage before they attained maturity, mentally and physically.1 Even infants below one year were married and the parents of the bride and bridegroom would look after their children till they attained maturity. Normally, the parents were in a hurry to marry off their daughters at an early stage. In certain cases, marriage proposals were made when the child was in the womb of the mother and if the child was a male instead of a female, the marriage proposals would be dropped. In the case of child marriage, the victim was the female children because they were given in marriage to matured men. For instance, 4 or 5 year old girls were married to men of 20 to 35 years. The parents of female children normally kept them in their house till they attained puberty. During the course of time, girls used to visit their husbands’ house and the husbands too visited the brides’ houses but no sexual intercourse would be allowed till the girl attained puberty. When the wife attained puberty, immediately she would be sent to her husband’s house after conducting some ceremonies.
The minimum age recommended by Manu for a girl being given in marriage was eight years. The husband must be a matured man for running the family and have the capacity to shoulder the responsibility of the family. The Vedas also kept silent on child marriage.
The great epics, Ramayana and Mahabaratha, were silent about child marriage and their heroines, Sita and Draupathi, were married before attaining maturity. The Sangam literature gives limited references to the existence of child marriage. For instance, 12 year old Kannaki, the heroine of Silapathikaram, was married to 16 year old Kovalan.2 Child marriage received its momentum during the medieval period when the Muhammadans fitted out their expedition into the Hindu soil and invaded the country. Their invasion included plundering the country which resulted in a lot of social disorder and communal chaos.
Causes for Child Marriage
It is maintained that Muslim invasion and occupation in India was one of the causes for child marriage. The parents of female children could not save them from the hands of Muslim invaders who used to ravish the modesty of women and girls and kidnap the young girls for their sexual pleasures.
Another reason was that girls, who attained matured age, would indulge in sexual impulses which would cause illegal pregnancy and child birth. Keeping a matured girl for a long time unmarried was a burdensome task to the parents and therefore, they would try to marry their girls at an early age for avoiding such unpleasant things. This was the psychological and sociological reason behind child marriage in the past.
The most important cause for child marriage was the dowry problem. The parents of the girl had to find a suitable husband at any cost. The talented and suitable bridegrooms were purchased by the bride’s party at an early age when they could be purchased for a lesser dowry.
The Hindu Law did not prohibit polygamy during the Nineteenth Century. Peculiar incidents such as a forty year old man marrying two year old girl were not uncommon in Madras Presidency. The Brahmins, the guardians of Hindu philosophy and authority of on sacred codes, made offers to sell their girls for money.5 Among the lower class, there existed a system of bride price by which the bride groom had to give a considerable amount to the bride’s father for the consideration of marriage.
Before the close of the Eighteenth Century, there were 257 married girls below the age of four years in Madras Presidency.6 Child marriage witnessed the existence of child wives, child mothers and child widows. The position of child wives in the house was pathetic. She was subjected to the commands of in-laws as well as her husband. Since they were physically and mentally weak, they could not raise their voice against their in-laws. If they objected to anything, they would be driven out of the houses and such girls could not find any place in their mother’s houses. The parents wanted to reduce the burden by sending away their girl children in the name of marriage and they would not like to shoulder any further responsibility of their married daughters. Hence the parents normally hesitated to admit their married daughters driven out by her husband’s family members. Such deserted child-wives became destitutes and vagabonds of whom a considerable number of them became prostitutes, without any alternative. In 1881, there were 21 percent of widows among Hindu women and nearly 2 percent of them had become widows before they attained puberty.
The right of a husband over his wife was immeasurable. They missed no opportunity to utilize their wives in all possible means. The consent of girls for sexual matters was not considered and in majority of cases, the child-wives were raped by their husbands. In many instances, the young innocent girls were either killed for not consenting to the sexual impulses of their husbands and many girls died during the course of forced sexual intercourse. These unnatural events occurred due to the tenderness of the girls and the over age of the husbands who were 20 to 25 years older than their wives.
The child-wives became child-mothers shortly and in many cases, the pregnant girls perished during delivery. The child mortality was also very high and many new born children died at the time of their birth itself. The health of both the mother and the surviving new born children were not sound. The unequal marriages i.e., old men marrying young girls, resulted in the death of old men, leaving young widows who in many cases might not have reached the age of puberty. There was double moral standard existing in the society, according to which the wife should not marry whether the husband died young or old but when the wife died, her husband could marry again.
In order to avoid attraction and also to identify them as widows, their mode of dress and hair style were changed by forcing them to wear the white dress and shave off their heads. They would not be allowed to wear colored dress and grow hair. For avoiding any kind of contact with men, they were kept under tight security. To put it in a nutshell, it could be stated that they were forced to live a saintly life till their death.9 In India, in the year 1881, there were 2,09,36,626 widows out of whom there were 3,96,656 young widows below the age of fifteen.
Sati
Sati is a Sanskrit term literally meaning a ‘’virtuous wife” but historically, it has acquired the meaning of immolation of widows. It was the practice of wife cremating herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. Sati means the widow of a deceased person dying on in his grave or the funeral pyre. When the husband died, the wife, irrespective of age, burnt herself alive, along with the dead body of her deceased husband in the same funeral pyre.
Men did not like the existence of widows in their house because of their degraded life as well as the inauspiciousness of their existence. Hence they wanted to do away with them in the initial moment of their widowhood itself. Another reason assigned to it was that young girls married to old men, used to poison their aged husbands in order to live with young men illegally. The fabulous wealth of rich old people attracted the attention of parents of young girls, who married their daughters to such old men. Simultaneously the girl wife, or she, along with her parents, would poison her husband and enjoy the wealth of her husband. In order to protect the lives of old men from their young wives, the male members formed rules that the wife should die when her husband died.
Religiously speaking, the wife was living for the welfare of the husband, her god and she should sacrifice everything for the happiness of her husband and at last, when her lord dies, she should die with him. In many cases, the son-in-law insisted on the mother-in-law committing sati for possessing the property. If she refused to oblige, she would be threatened with disgrace and the status of an outcaste by ex-communication. Sons too instigated their mothers to commit sati for obtaining the possession of the property.
Many widows were subjected to rape and molestation due to lack of sufficient protection.11 They were not permitted to lead a decent moral life by sex hunters. Unwilling widows were also forced to abide by this custom. The widow was administered intoxicating drugs to get her consent and remove the fear of death.
In 1829, Lord William Bentinck, the Governor General of India, abolished sati by the Regulation No.XVII of 182911. He was assisted by Rajaram Mohan Roy who took the initiative and collected support from the elite public and the Government. In Madras, Stephen Rumbold Lushington, the Governor of Madras, took the initiative to abolish the practice of sati. Accordingly, he passed a regulation in 1830 and abolished sati officially.
The famous Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the learned Principal of a Sanskrit College, induced the Government to introduce a bill advocating widow remarriage. At last, on 17 November 1855, Grant, a member in the Governor General -in-Council, introduced the Hindu Widows Marriage Bill.13 When the Bill was introduced, the orthodox Hindus raised hue and cry against the bill, by stating that Christian administrators were interfering with the internal life of the Hindus. Memorials were sent to the Government from different parts of the country and legislators protested against the legislative measures of the British administration. From Madras, the persons who supported the bill, sent memorials, stating that all legal obstacles to the marriage of Hindu widows should be removed.14 Number of objections raised against the bill came from South India when compared to North. In North India, Bengal Presidency was a pioneer in this move for widow remarriage.15 At last, the Bill was passed into an Act on 19 July 1856, entitled, ‘ Hindu Widows Marriage Act’.
The Widow Remarriage Act was dead letter from the beginning. The people were not matured enough to adopt the Act because of their illiteracy and religious mindedness. Caste rigidity and religious dominance prevented the people from adopting the widow remarriage. Tradition never allowed the persons to marry a widow and those who dared, were excommunicated. The priest who conducted the marriage, was condemned. Above all, even old men could get young girls without any hardship but it was impossible to expect a man to marry a widow. Always people wanted to avoid liabilities and marrying a widow would create the liability of maintaining the children of her deceased husband.
The religious minded and orthodox Hindus never encouraged widow marriage and insisted that their widows should not marry. Hence widowhood was enforced on certain sets of people, particularly the Brahmins. The strongest opponents of widow remarriage were many women themselves whose stand might be summed up in these words, “we are born once, we die once and we marry once”.
In Madras, G. Subramania Iyer, a learned Brahmin and the founder of the news paper, “The Hindu” in English and “Swadesamitran” in Tamil, challenged the practice of perpetual widowhood and fought against it by conducting the marriage of his widowed daughter.
In addition to G. Subramania Iyer, Raghunatha Rao, Kandukuri Veerasalingam Pantalu and Chentsal Rao championed the cause of widow marriage. Raghunatha Rao, the veteran social reformer and Sanskrit scholar, proved that widow marriage had shastric sanction behind it. Kandukuri Veerasalingam established a Widow’s Home in Rajamundry and he appointed both men and women teachers for teaching the inmates (widows).The teachers were paid from his own pocket. He himself taught the girls, whenever he found time.18 In 1884, he founded the Widow Marriage Association for conducting and propagating widow remarriages.19 But the works of social reformers and the government did not bear fruit owing to the deep-rooted religious faith and superstitious beliefs as well as social customs.
Raising the Age of Consent and Abolition of Child Marriage
Politically, the administration of the East India Company came to an end in India with the Queen’s Proclamation and the British Government took over the administration of India. The Queen’s proclamation provided assurance to the Native Indian States that they would not interfere in their internal matters, such as social and religious and cultural matters. But they could not honour their words for long on social matters. The prevailing social problems necessitated the British administrators to initiate legislative intervention in India. Among the measures, the Age of Consent Act of 1891 was worthy of note.19 The introduction of English education in India enlightened the Indian people to gradually analyse the western values. The spread of European literature and western social system in India induced the people to do away with certain anachronistic traditional practices such as child marriage, early widowhood and so on. In 1884, the Tamil paper, Vettikkodiyon, condemned the practice of infant marriage and insisted on the Government to pass legislation for suppressing it. In 1889, the issue of infant marriage was highlighted in the British Parliament by John Gorst, an M.P, who stated in the House of Commons that the British Government should take appropriate legislative measures for raising the age of consent.
The raping of children in the name of marital rights, necessitated the Government and the elite public to take preventive measures. Hence the Government decided to raise the age of consent of girls on sexual matters. The Indian Penal Code of XLV of 1860 fixed the age of consent of girls at ten years.
In 1891, there were eleven child widows below ten years for every 10,000 females; between 10-16, ninety six child widows, 15-40, 1245 and between 40 and over, 6417 widows in the Madras Presidency. The proportion of Hindu widows outnumbered the Muslims and the Christians.22 The census returns added another source material for highlighting the need for abolishing child marriage and the raising of the age of consent.
Andrew Scoble, the Law Member, introduced the bill entitled “Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill” in the Governor General- in- Council. When he introduced the bill, he collected sufficient evidences on moral, mortal and material problems of child marriage prevailing in the Indian society. The bill was related to Section 375 of the I.P.C. which explained rape and fixed the punishment for the same.
Under Section 375 of I.P.C., the offence of rape was committed when a man had sexual intercourse with a woman under certain special circumstances. One of these was when the intercourse took place with or without the consent of women who were under ten years of age.23 There were two objects in the bill- one was the protection of female children from prostitution and the other was prevention of premature cohabitation by husband and underaged wife.24 Krishnaji Lakshman Nulkar, an Indian member in the Council, opposed the bill by stating that it was against the spirit of Hindu religion; violation of Queen’s proclamation of 1858; there could be no such offence as rape between husband and wife and it was not recognized by the English law too; the law would lead to police oppression and false charges by enemies and so on. The elite community in India sent memorials to the Viceroy, praying that the age of consent be raised to fourteen years. Some leading women of India jointly sent a memorial, with more than 1,600 signatures, to the Queen, praying for the increase of the age of consent to fourteen years. In addition to that, some fifty lady doctors sent a petition to the Viceroy to raise the age of consent. In the petition, they quoted the hardships and sufferings of child mothers during the delivery time.
The rulers of the native states took preventive measures against child marriages. Raja Madhava Rao of Mysore stated that restrictions should be imposed on the marriage of female children and the Hindu girl should be married only two years after they attained puberty. In Madras, Justice Muthusamy Aiyar, Seshaiya Sastri, the Dewan Regent of Pudukkottai, V. Sashyam Aiyangar, Subramanya Aiyar, Sankaran Nair and others supported the bill.26 The Congress party too supported the bill.
At Kanchipuram, a meeting was organized in February 1891, under the leadership of R.Ragunada Rao to protest against the age of consent bill.27 In Salem, a meeting was organized in March to express their protest against the age of consent bill. In that meeting, it was decided to agitate against the bil1.28 Some resolutions were passed against the bill. In the midst of various supports and partial opposition, the Governor General-in-Council passed the bill on 19th March 1891.
The enactment of the Age of Consent Act of 1891, did not solve the problem of child marriage. It was impossible to change the long standing social custom which blended into the blood of every Hindu and hence the Act became a dead letter. In many cases, the girls’ parents hesitated to complain about the harassment or rape of their minor girls by their legally wedded husbands because it would strain the relation between the husband and their family, that the girl would be discarded by the husband and his family and that the girl would be unfit for family life.
Again the Age of Consent Act of 1891 did not define the child marriage. The Act prohibited the cohabitation of the husband with his wife by force. If he indulged in such action by force, when his wife was below 12 years, it would be constituted as rape. If a girl was married at the age of 5 or 6, the Act could not intervene. Normally, the girls were married at an early age of 5, 6 or 8 and were kept in the house of their parents till they attained puberty. During this period, the husband used to visit his child wife’s house and in many cases, they might indulge in some possible sexual play, with or without the consent of wife’s parents.
After the failure of legislative measures, again the social service organizations and the elite public raised the question of child mortality and morality due to child marriage. The medical reports exhibited the danger of child motherhood from a medical point of view. The sale of young girls to pimps and religious prostitutes, called the devadasis, in the name of marriage or adoption created new problems for the administrators. In Travancore, educational institutions emphasized the need for abolishing child marriage on moral and material grounds. Two meetings were held under the auspices of the S.M.R.V. Club, under the chairmanship of K.G. Sesha Aiyar, to condemn the evils of child marriage.
– N. INDU, Ph.D Research Scholar in History, Department of History, Dravidian University, Kuppam, Andhrapradesh .
END NOTES
- Jayamathy Grace Frank, Women and Social Legislations in Tamil Nadu, 1920-1937, M.Phil Dissertation, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 1996, p.18
- Panchapakesa Ayyar. A.S., Kovalan and Kannaki; The Story of the Silappadikaram retold. Alliance Company, Madras, 1947, pp.7-8; Ilangoadigal, Silapadikaram, (Tamil) Pukar Kandam, Mangala Vazthu Padal, Lines 24,34, South India Saiva Siddhartha Kazaha Publication.
- Paramarthalingam, C., Social Reform Movement in Tamil Nadu in the 19th Century With Special Reference to St. Ramalinga, Rajkumari Publishers, Madurai, 1995, p.99
- Papers Relating to Infant Marriage and Enforced Widowhood in India; Selections from the Records of the Government of India in the Home Department. No. CCXXIII, Government of India, Calcutta 1886, pp.12- 14.
- Viveka Vardhani, (Telugu) Rajamundri, October, 1883, M.N.P.R ., 1883, p.3.
- Census of India, 1891, Madras, VoI.XIV, Madras, Table VIII, Part- B, February 1893.
- Census Report of 1881, Madras, Part. I, Madras, 1882, pp. 71-72.
- Abstract of the Proceedings of the Council of the Governor-General of India 1891, Government of India, Vol. XXX , Calcutta, 1892.
- Abbe Dubois, J.A., Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Clarendon Press, London. Vol. II. 1897, pp. 353-358;
- Mayo Katherine, Mother India, Janathan Cape, London. 1933, pp. 81-88.
- Hindu Widow, House of Commons, London, 1830, pp. 242- 243.
- Government of Madras, Report of the Commissioners for the Investigation of Alleged Cases of Torture in the Madras Presidency, Madras, 1855, p. xxix.
- Ghose, J.C., (ed.), The English Works of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vol.III, Calcutta, 1901, pp.87-97.
- Clarke Richard Compo, Regulations of the Government of Fort St. George in Force at the end of 1847, East India Company, London 1848; ‘Bengal Regulation XVII of 1829’, in Madras Regulation 1 of 1830, p. 496.
- Central Legislative Council Proceedings, (C.L.C.P.), 1854-1855, Vol.I, Government of India, Calcutta, 1855, p. 781.
- Ibid., Vol. II, 1856, Government of India, Calcutta, 1857, p. 260.
- Ibid., p. 3.
- Ibid.,p. 459.
- Chandran, R., The Hindu’s Struggle for Social Reform –A Study, M.Phil Dissertation, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, 2006, p.85.
- Anjaneyulu. D., Kandukuri Veerasalingam, Government of India, New Delhi. 1976, p.55.
- Ibid., pp. 34-35.
- Suntharalingam, R., Politics and Nationalist Awakening in South India, 1852 – 1891, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1974, p. 325.
- Virittanka Patrika, 9 May 1889, M.N.P.R., 1889, p. 101.
- Legislative Acts of the Governor- General of India in Council, 1834 - 1861, Tacker Spink and Co., Calcutta, Vol. III , 1868, pp. 577-578.
- Census Report of India, 1901, Madras, Imperial
Series, Vol. XV, Part. I, Madras, 1902, p. 69. Legislative Acts of the Governor- General of India in Council, 1834-1861, Tacker Spink and Co., Calcutta, Vol. III, 1868, pp. 577 – 578. - Abstract of the Proceedings of the Council of the Governor- General of India assembled for the purpose of making Laws and Regulations 1891,Government of India, Calcutta, 1892, p.9.
- Folaskar, M.B., (ed.), Religious and Social Reform by Mahadeva Govinda Ranade, Bombay 1902, pp. 124 – 127.
- Swadesamitran, (Tamil), Chennai, 26 February 1891, M.N.P.R., 1891, pp. 42-44.
- Ibid., 27 February 1891, M.N.P.R.,1891, pp. 55.