Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/331

288 very short passage on this subject from Ward's description of the manners and customs of the Hindus:—

"Early marriages also give rise to another dreadful evil, almost all these girls, after marriage, remain at home one, two, or three years; and during this time, numbers are left widows without having enjoyed the company of their husbands a single day. These young widows being forbidden to marry, almost without exception, become prostitutes."'

In support of this contention, he again cited a passage from a paper published by Major Wilkinson, some time resident of Nagpore. The passage runs as follows:—

"To revert to our author (a Brahman of Nagpore), he maintains that the present prohibition against the second marriages of widows, especially these infant widows, is highly impolitic and unwise, because, in the first place, it disappoints the palpable purpose of the Creator in having sent them into the world; secondly, because it inevitably leads to great moral depravity and vice on the part of these widows; thirdly, because it inevitably causes a frightful amount of infanticides and abortions; fourthly, because the maintenance of these widows in an honourable and virtuous course of life causes a ceaseless, though fruitless anxiety to their parents, and parents-in-law, &c.; fifthly, because these widows, inevitably rendered corrupt and