Note 72 — Chapter VI

Thus 1,971 persons are shown as married in the first year of life. What is known as the petmanganiya or “womb betrothal,” that is the engagement of unborn children should they turn out to be of different sexes, is noted in the case of Kanjars. It is remarkable that the returns show that the proportion of children married below the age of 4 is as high among Muhammadans as Hindus. Mr. Baillie believes that the custom prevails mainly among Muhammadan sweepers; but this is not quite certain. Assuming 9 to be about the age of puberty, about 2½ per cent. of boys and 5 per cent. of girls enter the state of matrimony below that age. But it must be noted that this does not imply premature consummation: these infant marriages are probably nearly all in the families of persons of some wealth and social importance, and in such cases cohabitation is practically always postponed till puberty, when the gauna or bringing home of the bride takes place. Mr. Baillie goes on to remark:—“Between 10 and 14 nearly nine-tenths of the female population pass into the married state; but considerably more than one-half of the males remain unmarried. Between 15 and 19 there are 15 married females for each one unmarried, whilst at the end of the period only 60 per cent. of the males have been married. By 24 practically the whole of the female population have been married, almost the whole of those unmarried at this and later ages being women whose avocations preclude marriage, or whose physical or mental health forbids it. Of men considerably more than a fourth are unmarried up to 24, whilst an appreciable but diminishing number remains unmarried through all subsequent age periods.”72