Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/332

Rh vicious themselves by the hard and unnatural laws operating on them cannot be prevented from corrupting and destroying the honour and virtue of all other females with whom they associate." '

Grant again said,—'That these cases are proved instances of frightful murders, incests, and, in short, of every abomination which it is possible to conceive, caused by the prohibition of the remarriage of widows.' A little farther on, he said,—'Between three and four hundred years ago, Raghunandana, a very learned and celebrated Pandit, who had written a digest of the Hindu Law, which formed in Bengal a text-book to this day, made a resolute attempt of this kind. He had, at one time, firmly resolved that his own widowed daughter should remarry; but the attempt failed.'

A little farther on, he read a paragraph from a letter issued by himself, some time before, when he was Secretary to the Law Commission, dated the 4th July, 1837, which the Commissioners had caused to be written, on a proposition (to which they objected), that for the prevention of infanticide, the concealment of pregnancy should be made a specific offence:—

"The Law Commissioners observe with deep regret that the Western Sadar Court believe child murder to be a prevalent crime in the provinces under their jurisdiction. The Law Commissioners think that much of this crime may be owing to the cruel law which prevents Hindu, widows from