The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-15
HllDOO WIDOWS ARE
HOUSEHOLD DRUDGES
Girl Babies of India Born to Be Vic
Tins Of Tyrannous Customs Con-
corning Marriage.
BY FRANCES sHAFFER.


Last February foreign dispatch an
nounced the celebration of 400 child we'd
dings among the members of certain
caste in India. And they were, all in one
town. On a single day. Fortunately, the
caste celebrates but once in ten or twelve
years.
OF course, the little folk most con-
cerned had not a notion of what they
were doing, for the ages of the brides
ranged all the way from one to seven
years, while the young bridegrooms
varied from three to nine. And most of
them sat or lay on the laps of their par
ents. fed on sugar plums or other sweets
TO keep them quiet.
And with that custom and all its hor-
, rible accomplishments well in mind, it is
interesting to note a case which has Just
arisen out of one of those infant mar
riages.
A daughter of an influential Hindoo
judge, according to custom, was married
considerably before her tenth birthday
and became a widow two months after
the ceremony.
And there the trouble began, for the
young widow, also according to custom,
faced a life which for thousands of girls
proves almost worse than slavery; and
the father determined to defy the ruling
and let IL work out as il might.
Her Condition PitiabIe.
Custom DEGREES that these baby-mar-
riages must be re-solemnized when the
brides reach the mature age of ten or
eleven, but if 1t happens that baby
brides husband dies before the time
comes around for the second marriage. |
she is widowed for life. And that is not
all, for all hope of happiness is taken
from her. She is subject to the beck and |
call of the dead husbands family, is |
looked upon an outcast, and becomes |
nothing better than a household drudge |
fortunate if she escapes the worst kind |
of treatment.
That is part of the terrible custom, 4
which makes the future of the baby |
wife dependent upon the life or the
death Of her lord: but the father OF
this young widow did not think much
OF a custom which condemned his daugh-
ter to lifelong misery, and he gave her
i'm marriage a second time.
OF course. the relatives of the dead
husband claimed the power of guardian
ship over the child, but as the second
marriage had taken place there was
nothing to do but to fight il to legal
finish to determine how the claims OF
the dead husbands family could be rec
onciled with the living husbands rights.
The father in his struggles in behalf of |
his young daughter, had the sympathy
and support of many Hindoos, who are
ready and eager to break down an old
custom that Spells llNlnR-Oedln 10 lHOu-
sands of hapless young girls.
Women Have Nothing to Say.
But. as is always the case, there was
the power of the old school thinkers,
and those one-sided men-the women
themselves had nothing to say-declared
that the custom, sanctioned by religion
itself, eminently right, for were not
giri-babies born to serve the other half
of the world? And if husband were
unfortunate enough to be called into
the pale realms of shade must not
the widow fast and be denied all lux
uries. I'm order to insure him a full cupi
of happiness across the borderland?
Some of us who read of the tangle
very much wanted to learn how the
legal test ended. but We never heard
whether might or right, prejudice or
light won the case
And the strange part of these baby
marriages is that if A little wife dies
the Hindoo world joys along just the
same and nobody is driven into luck
less life The husband is expected to
take unto himself another wife a few
months after the death of his bride, ex-
pected to he quite happy and unconcerned
TO the end.
But, after all. things really might be
worse. For custom might still bid the
widow throw herself upon the funeral
pyre of her husband; but, happily, India
has sufficiently emerged from its age-i
long darkness to work away from that
horrid cloud.
Two Sets of Laws.
Some day, even tradition-bound India
will wake up TO the fact that widows
and wives are not born to be victims
of tryannous customs. and when the
light comes flooding in, as it must in
time there will be a real chance for the
country to grow.
Meanwhile, il is to wonder why the
world has deemed ii well to have two
sets of laws, one for man, another for
woman and two sets of customs, one
pretty dark and dismal. 1t is certainly
significant to note that the wider those
,wo sets of laws and customs diverge
the darker and deader stays the coun-
try. l.
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