Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 4. C. Kamchandra Aiyar, Sub Judge, Madura.—From my experience of 23 years of several districts in this Presidency, I am in a position to assure the Government that in spite of liberal education, and a painful consciousness on the part of the educated men of the evils of all sorts arising from it, infant marriage has become more numerous than ever, and I should say it has become the mania of the people at large. Even graduates of the University and educated men generally have been disposing of their infant girls of two or three years by marriage, simply from an apprehension that they could scarcely get rich boys or sons of rich men at a future time. The fashion of the day is that infant girls of rich men are forced upon the sons of rich men with dowry of great value, and that, in a competition of this kind the boy's parents choose the infant who brings them the largest sum as dowry. That a reform in this direction is certainly needed, has been admitted on all hands; but nothing can be done and will be done by the Hindus, if they be left to themselves, even for a century to come. A few of the educated Hindus no doubt take real interest in effecting a reform in this matter, but their exertion is not enough to override the powerful opposition of the masses under the influence of their priests. To substantiate my assertion, I would respectfully ask the Government if there is today any graduate or educated man who as a father of infant girls has not got them married, while they were infants, or if there is any graduate or educated man who has had the moral courage of keeping his daughter unmarried till she had attained her puberty and then getting her married. BTo one will come forward to say that he has done so To render a gift made by a Brahman valid, his wife should sprinkle wa...