Child marriage is an ancient marriage custom in India, which some people think began in the Vedic period. There are many records in many ancient Indian codes. The ancient Manu Code stipulated that a 24-year-old man should marry an 8-year-old girl. Other religious classics also mention that girls can get married before their development and ascend to heaven after their parents die. Therefore, child marriage has long been a part of Indian religious teachings. Medieval India was full of war and smoke, and Hindus were unwilling to marry other nationalities, so their parents soon married their underage daughters. Therefore, the phenomenon of child marriage in India is more serious and common.
From 65438 to 0929, the British colonial authorities legislated against child marriage. After India's independence, although the legal age of marriage was set at 2 1 year for men and 0/8 for women, due to the lack of legal marriage registration system and supporting law enforcement measures in India, offenders were only sentenced to 15 days of criminal detention and a fine of 1000 rupees at most. Child marriage in India has been repeatedly banned, especially in backward areas such as rural areas. It is said that almost half of the people in India are married by children.
Girls who marry children are usually only a few years old or teenagers, even breast-feeding children. During the wedding season in May every year, large-scale children's collective weddings are held in hundreds of places in India. This kind of wedding, like normal marriage, goes through the words of the media and the orders of parents, and finally holds a formal wedding ceremony. Weddings are like adult weddings. Children aged 3-4 are neatly dressed and wear necklaces and bracelets under the guidance of adults? Flame? Three laps.
According to custom, young girls still live in their parents' home after marriage. 1 1- 12 years old, I went to my husband's family, and my future was decided by my husband's family. They do housework that is not in line with their age and lose the opportunity of education. Some people become mothers at the age of ten. Widowed young women are not allowed to remarry, wear the worst clothes or participate in any recreational activities.
Indian women not only get married at a young age, but also get a high dowry. Dowry is about six years' annual income. If the dowry fails to meet the requirements of the in-laws, married women will be abused and even killed. What caused such a peculiar dowry system?
This is still to be found in religion. The Hindu caste system stipulates that the level of a child's birth will depend on the level of the child's father. That is to say, if a high-caste man finds a low-caste woman, their children are still high-caste, but if a high-caste woman marries a low-caste man, the children become untouchables. In India, the superiority of caste still has great benefits in social identity and the possession of political resources. So who do those lower middle classes want to marry their daughters to? Good family? : a man with high sex. These poor pariahs want their grandchildren to come true? By blood? Noble. Therefore, high-caste men are crazy about money.
If the high dowry makes women breathless, the fate of widows is even more tragic. For Hindu widows, there are only two ways to go, either to be buried or to live a life that is worse than death.
What is the name of widow martyrdom in India? Stie? . Usually, the place of martyrdom is chosen by the pond. After cleaning in the pond, the widow put on new clothes and jewelry and went to the crematorium. The priest, relatives and friends and the band all stood by. The priest or the son of the deceased lit the pyre, and the widow took off her new clothes and jewelry and threw it into the fire, then jumped into it. At this time, the band played music, and people threw sticks at the woman in the fire to stop her from jumping out of the fire. The scene was terrible. In addition to being cremated with her husband's remains, there is also a system of human burial with her husband's relics. If the wife is pregnant when her husband dies, she will be buried with her husband's belongings after giving birth. If there are several wives at the same time, only the wife has the right to be buried with her deceased husband, and the other wives are buried with her deceased husband's relics. If the husband dies in a foreign country, the wife touches her chest with her husband's shoes and then jumps into the fire to set herself on fire.
These widows chose to be martyred because Brahmanism also promised these poor women that if they could be martyred, they would live a richer life in the afterlife. Secondly, the widow's miserable life made them lose the courage to live, and simply accompanied her husband to heaven.
If you don't have the courage to die, the widow's face and clothes should be marked. According to Hindu Manu code, widows are not allowed to remarry, dress up, stand by the door, indulge in delicious food, visit their neighbors, offer sacrifices, eat a meal during an eclipse and lie on the floor. Does widow count? Something ominous? People even think that their wives are unlucky and kill their husbands. They are regarded as the burden of the family, so they have to do heavy housework and look after the children for others in their lives amid the blame, reprimand and inner pain of others.