Does anyone here know if there is a direct or scriptural connection between the historical practice among Hindus of “marrying” female children, especially to much older adult men?
Last night I watched the film “Water,” which focuses, through a fictional account, upon the barbaric treatment and status of widows in fundamentalist Hindu culture. The chief protagonist in the film was a girl who was “married” and subsequently “widowed” by the age of eight!
By the way, though a bit melodramatic for serious western film buffs (but thoroughly un-melodramatic by Indian and Hollywood standards), I highly recommend the film. It is one of the most beautifully lit and filmed movies I’ve ever seen. It has an absolutely wonderful supporting score. The acting, especially by the little girl “widow” is superb.
“Water” should go in the pantheon of excellent movies describing the oppression of women via the pathology of belief, along with films like “The Magdalene Sisters,” “Deliver Us From Evil,” and “Osama.”
Also, note that “Water” took years to make after fundamentalist Hindus threw the original sets in the Ganges, made death threats against the writer/director, etc.
[ Edited: 09 February 2008 07:11 AM by Trail Rider ]
I don’t know about the actual statistics of child bride marriage in Hindu culture; however, it is quite common in many cultures around the world.
Water was an excellent film. If you liked that, try the other two by the same director: Earth and Fire. They handle drastically different stories, but are all just as brilliant and poignant.
Thank you AP. I do intend to view the other movies in Mehta’s trilogy.
And the Wikipedia entry is interesting. I first became aware of the fundamentalist Mormon practice of child “marriage” through reading Under the Banner of Heaven, but I didn’t know that Muhammad had married a nine-year-old when he was fifty-three!
Guess I’ll have to research further to find out if child marriage is actually encouraged by Hindu scripture or if, like so many things in India, it’s roots are economic.
“Water" should go in the pantheon of excellent movies describing the oppression of women via the pathology of belief, along with films like “The Magdalene Sisters,” “Deliver Us From Evil,” and “Osama.
Yes Trail Rider, Water is an exceptional film and should be recommended to all on this forum. Also, particularly so is Osama. Thank you for posting this.
Water was a very good film. I need foreign films done well to help me understand other cultures as long as they hold my attention like water did. Born into Brothels I heard was good too.
Does anyone here know if there is a direct or scriptural connection between the historical practice among Hindus of “marrying” female children, especially to much older adult men?
I haven’t read all the Hindu scriptures, so I can’t say for sure there is not one, but I can say there wasn’t one in the ones that I have read so far.
IIRC this question of scriptual hindu connection and tradition is dealt with at the movie’s end in a conversation with a hindu priest or w/e he is. (leader)
On child marriage, surely this developed in an age, where:
1) Few females, in relation to population
2) Infant mortality is high, usually taking mother as well.
Other factors like getting you order in early, and getting more home help.
If polygamy developed because of a population shortage, and 1 male could cover 3-10 women, but logistics and market forces reduce this to about 3, as an average.
See Moses story for how Judeo/Christian ethic inception was brought about.
Sorry, Roger, but both your premises are false. While there are and were a few more males born than female, the mortality rate of male children is and was appreciably higher than of female children. Infant mortality was hign, but that didn’t mean the mother died. In fact, many women had ten or twelve pregnancies with two or three children surviving. More likely it was that female children weren’t valued as highly because they couldn’t be put in fields to work as hard, because they weren’t going to be warriers, and mostly because of the myth that a “real” man produced sons. I believe that older, more well off males could bribe families to sell their young girls into marriage. This allowed the older male to enslave a girl child because she was too young to stand up to him, thus giving him a sense of power.
OK so the females did not have the strength, but could do the menial work, the milking and weaving, but getting back to infant mortality, I am not saying in every case the mother perished but that a reasonable percentile would.
I am sure that some corruption of the basis for child marriage would occur (human nature) though there would have to have been some basis, for such a cultural practice, maybe the child was sold early to avoid the ongoing costs of another mouth to feed etc.
Sorry, Roger, but both your premises are false. While there are and were a few more males born than female, the mortality rate of male children is and was appreciably higher than of female children. Infant mortality was hign, but that didn’t mean the mother died. In fact, many women had ten or twelve pregnancies with two or three children surviving. More likely it was that female children weren’t valued as highly because they couldn’t be put in fields to work as hard, because they weren’t going to be warriers, and mostly because of the myth that a “real” man produced sons. I believe that older, more well off males could bribe families to sell their young girls into marriage. This allowed the older male to enslave a girl child because she was too young to stand up to him, thus giving him a sense of power.
Occam
Roger was not completely wrong. This question basically comes down to women’s condition being contingent upon wether a culture is ignorant or educated. If it’s ignorantly religious, it is likely to abuse women and enslave them. This is the bottom line. The most famously notorious at that are the muslims. To this day, hindu husband submit their wives to ultrasounds when they are pregnant to determine the sex of the fetoes, and if it turns out to be a girl, they order an abortion. In China, they have or at least used to have what they call the dying rooms where they put female infant to die, no boys, just females. I think women’s mistreatment is directly linked to pure ignorance and also religion.
Also, maybe not today but in ancient india, at least in some areas, women were expected to self terminate upon their husband’s death by throwing themselves in the burning “whatever” where the husband’s body is being creamated!!! every widow was under terrible pressure to do that since if she failed, she would have automatically been accused of being either unfaithful or unloyal or whatever.
But getting back to the point, Culturally what was the original basis for child brides?
The bride burning surely would not have to do with infedility, but dissemination of property.
The bride burning surely would not have to do with infedility, but dissemination of property.
man, you’re good, I absolutely agree but, still if she decided she had a life after the bag she was married too is gone, she still would not been able to survive in that same community since her opportunity to confirm that she was loyal in life and would’ve been in death as well would have been it.
But getting back to the point, Culturally what was the original basis for child brides?
as much as I hate to admit it, I think you already answered that question by referring to one being able “to get their order in early”. To this day, women are still being looked down upon even in civilized cultures if they are old, except of course, in some cases, if they got either some education, money or both, not to mention the esthetics. Imagine how that must be like in third world cultures. The youngerst could mean the freshest, the most innocent, most naive and therefore easily drivable and controlable. Or it it could have nothing more than pedophile roots to it.
