Child Marriage in Hinduism (Revised)

 

لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ‎ 

Starting with the name of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala) The Most Merciful, the Entirely Merciful!

Age of Marriage and Hinduism

The marriage of Prophet Muhammad PBUH with Aisha May Allah SWT be Pleased with Her at the age of 6 and consummating it at the age of 9 has been the most repeated argument almost every so-called critique of Islam has made. It's important to know that in Islam, marriage is allowed when a girl or boy reaches the age of puberty and has been explained numerous times.

Despite this the so-called critiques of Islam do not stop at making this argument again and again, especially the Hindus or it would be right to say the Sanatani Hindus or it would be much better to say Far Right Sanatani Hindu Supremacists. It is due to the rising government backed hatred between Hindus and Muslims in India which is justified by the Hindu religion.
I have seen that there is no way to argue with these particular types of Hindus and the only way to answer them is to turn the tables back at them.

It is no hidden fact that marrying a prepubescent girl and consummating the marriage when the girl has reached puberty have been a part of Hindu religion and culture. But who will tell them that? The political parties, the Sanatani Scholars use religion to provide basis for their activities against Muslims and hide the truth from the laymen, the blindly following Hindus who do not know what is in their religion.

There are eight forms of Marriage in Hinduism mentioned in Manusmriti which is also known as the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra or Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitution among the many Dharmaśāstras of Hinduism.

Manusmriti 3.21 quotes these 8 forms of marriages, “(1) The Brāhma, (2) the Daiva, (3) the Ārṣa, (1) the Prājāpatya, (5) the Āsura, (6) the Gāndharva, (7) the Rākṣasa and (8) the Paiśāca, which is the eighth and the lowest.”

The best form of marriage is Brahma. After the student bachelor has completed his gurukulavasa or studies, his parents approach the parents of a girl belonging to a good family and ask them to give away their daughter in marriage to their son--to make a gift of their daughter (kanyadana) to him. A marriage arranged like this is brahma. In it this girl's family does not give any dowry or jewellery to the boy's family. There is no "commercial transaction" and the goal of a brahma marriage is the dharmic advancement of two families. Of the eight forms of marriage the dharmasastras regard this as the highest.

Jagadguru Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Mahaswamigal also known as the Sage of Kanchi or Mahaperiyava meaning of “The great elder” was the 68th jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham says, “It is for these reasons that the dharmasastras, which are based on the Vedas and which constitute Hindu law, permit eight forms of marriage. In all these eight, the bride and groom have the right to be united in wedlock with the chanting of mantras. But brahma is the highest of the eight forms. In it the bride must not have attained puberty. "Pradanam prak rtoh": -- this statement is in the dharmasastras themselves. A girl's marriage, which has same significance for her that the upanayana has for a boy, must be performed when she is seven years old (or eight years from conception).”

Manusmriti 9.88 says, “One shall give his daughter in the proper form, even though she may not have attained (the age), to a bridegroom who is of exceptionally distinguished appearance, and her equal.”

Medhātithi the most famous and oldest commentator on Manusmriti explains, “‘She who has not attained’; -i.e., who has no carnal desires aroused, who is still too young, not having reached the youthful age, called ‘nagnikā’ in another Smṛti-text; i.e., one in whom the sexual instinct has not arisen, who is only eight or six years old, but not a mere infant; as is indicated by the qualifications (elsewhere) ‘one who is eight years old.’ This same qualification may also be indicative of the fact that marriage is meant to be conducive to spiritual merit If mere Lust were the sole inducement to Marriage, wherefore could there be any marriage of the girl ‘who has not attained her age’?”

In the explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha who was a Scholar of Sanskrit, Indian Philosophy and Buddhist Philosophy is written, “Aprāptām ‘Who has not attained the marriageable age,’ (Medhātithi and Rāghavānanda); ‘who has not attained eight years of age’ (Kullūka and Nārāyaṇa). This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 481), which explains ‘aprāptām’ as ‘one whose marriage time has not arrived, i. e., who is still a child’; in Smṛtitattva (II, p. 124), which explains ‘aprāptām’ as ‘one who has not attained the age that is most commended for marriage.”

 

It is mentioned in Gautama Dharmasūtra one of the oldest Sanskrit texts which is also considered one of the authorities in legal frameworks of Hinduism comments on Manusmriti 9.88, ‘A girl should be given in marriage before puberty.’

 

Also, in the commentary of Vaśiṣṭha, ‘Out of fear of the appearance of the menses, let the father marry his daughter while she still runs about naked. For if she stays in the home after the age of puberty, sin falls on the father.’

 

Baudhāyana states, ‘Let him give his daughter, while she still goes about naked, to a man who has not broken the vow of chastity and who possesses good qualities, or even to one destitute of good qualities; let him not keep the maiden in his house after she has reached the age of puberty.’

 

Swami Prabhupada the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement" or ISKCON says in the commentary of Srimad Bhagavatam 4.25.42, “A young woman who has no husband is called anātha, meaning “one who is not protected.” As soon as a woman attains the age of puberty, she immediately becomes very much agitated by sexual desire. It is therefore the duty of the father to get his daughter married before she attains puberty.”

 

It is in Manusmriti 9.94, “Man thirty years old shall marry a charming maiden twelve years old; or one twenty-four years old, a damsel eight years old; in the event of his duties suffering, he may do it sooner.”

 

Medhātithi’s comments on this verse quote, “What the injunction means is that the maiden married should be so much younger than the man and not that marriage must be done only at the age stated. Nor is any stress meant to be laid upon the exact number of years mentioned; all that is meant is that one should marry a girl very much younger than himself.”

 

Vishnu Purana 3.10.16 states, “A man should marry a girl 1/3 of his age.”

 

Mahabharat 13.44.31 states, “A person of thirty years of age should wed a girl of ten years of age called a Nagnika. Or, a person of one and twenty years of age should wed a girl of seven years of age."

 

In Padma Purana VI.118.2-15 it is stated, “A man should marry his daughter as long as she has not attained puberty. Wise men recommend a girl’s marriage when she is eight years old.”

 

Brihaspati Smriti 24.3 states, "If the father does not marry her before during her menstruation or if a Husband doesn't have intercourse with her during her periods, they become legally reprehensible and deserving of punishment."

Samvarta Samhitha verses 66-68 states, "By seeing a maiden in menses, her mother, father and eldest brother these three go to hell. Therefore, one should espouse a maiden before she has menstruated; the marriage of an eight years old maiden is most preferrable.”

From the mentioned evidences it becomes clear like water that Hinduism endorses prepubescent child marriages. The only question that remains is that will the Hindus endorse what their scripture says? And will they use the argument of Pedophilia against their own scriptures or not?  The conclusion is left to be decided to the Hindus.


By Muhammad Raza Ul Mun'im Ibn Muhammad Hanafi Athari

You can also watch the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSt0HnAyEoE&t=29s