Page:Walter Matthew Gallichan - Women under Polygamy (1914).djvu/118

 The destruction of girls by the hands of their mothers is not sanctioned by religion; but public opinion and the law are not severe in regard to the practice. Many children of the female sex disappear; "they have been taken by wild animals." In 1870, three hundred girls from the town of Umritzar were carried away by wolves.

"Let thy mother be to thee like unto a God." Notwithstanding, sorrow is the lot of the woman who is sterile, or who brings forth only girls. For her there is no adoration.

Child-marriage is another evil indicted by the Pundita Ramabai Sarasvati. This is one of the practices difficult to reconcile with the Hindu regard for the welfare of women. Dr. Coomaraswamy refers very briefly to the custom, and regrets that it still exists. I think I am right in saying that Miss Noble