In the traditional Hindu practices marriage is not a romantic union of hearts, it is a religious duty and a social necessity. A man and a woman cannot function fully separately neither physically nor in the sacred terms. Only the union sanctified by marriage combines them into a single entity in which they are able to fulfill their mission. Therefore, the family within the Hindu tradition is perceived as a sacred institution, and family ties are an essential component of the life cycle, consistent implementation of the idea of self-sacrifice, the idea of the sacred law which is the base of harmony in the world.
The custom of early marriage is determined by its three main objectives: the implementation of new sacrifices in the name of religion; conception, which will provide a happy father, ancestors afterlife and will continue to race; sexual pleasure. One of the major factors in this practice implied reduction the number of women (Sen 2001: 35). In India the famine was very common scourge. During periods of starvation mortality was high among pregnant women, newborn babies and girls who are denied food to feed their brothers. Poor people even dare to kill female children. In addition, when the age of marriage has decreased, the level of mortality was increased among those girls who were married too young. In India, the ideal marriage is one in which the bride's age was 1/3 of the groom's age. The laws called appropriate ages 8 years and 24 years respectively.
Also in the XI century Muslim conquerors came to India. Unmarried Hindu women were regarded as the spoils of war. Fear for the fate of the daughters forced the parents to arrange their future in a very young age. Religious duty of the father implies the need to give a daughter in marriage until her maturity characteristics. The girl's father, who had not managed in time to get married, was deprived of all class privileges. In India, it was believed that the son born of a woman, defiles the sacred food sacrificed ancestors. Usually Indian bride-child was not confronted with some of the problems that burdened her contemporaries in other countries. In most cases, her husband belonged to the same class as it is (in more recent times to the same caste), so their outlook and training were similar.
Initially, early marriage was a privilege of the upper classes. Subsequently, the custom also spread to the lower castes, who sought to emulate the nobility. Such marriages are actively practiced by members of the lower social strata and tribes. The groom's family, in turn, gets free labor on the farm unit. The parents of large families in order to save trying to marry all the children at the same time. Social institute of the Hindu family actually ruled adult daughter. Even in early childhood daughter's fate was to decide her father or guardian (Patel, Rodrigues, DeSouza 2002). Daughter for the first time received the right, albeit limited, in the role of his wife, when she was getting on Hindu private law an integral part of another family group.
Girls lose their childhood and the possibility to get an education and find a deal to their liking. Also, early marriage could lead to legalized sexual exploitation of adolescent girl of a more mature age. Girls sometimes are subjected to psychological violence in a new family, as well as physical and sexual. The main types of child labor in a marriage include debilitating and excessively long work of children in the household; work in the industry, institutions and organizations, which do not correspond to the physical and mental abilities of children. Complications resulting in early pregnancy is the main cause of death in women aged 15 to 19 years.
Also it can be considered immoral by the fact that in the caste hierarchy women subordination to men. The higher caste status implies the greater the restrictions for women, the more noticeable gender inequality called "gender asymmetry". As the lower castes, the woman was considered ritually impure from birth. In ancient Hindu books girl is often characterized as a seductress, false, thoughtless, inconsistent person.
Bibliography
Deaton, Angus. 2008. ”Height, health, and inequality: the distribution of adult heights in India." The American economic review 98, no. 2, p. 468.
Murthi, Mamta, Guio, Anne-Catherine and Dreze, Jean. 1995. "Mortality, fertility, and gender bias in India: A district-level analysis." Population and development review, pp. 745-782.
Patel, Vikram, Rodrigues, Merlyn and DeSouza, Nandita. 2002. "Gender, poverty, and postnatal depression: a study of mothers in Goa, India." American Journal of Psychiatry 159, no. 1, pp.43-47.
Sen, Amartya. 2001. ”The many faces of gender inequality." New republic, pp. 35-39.
