Rhetoric against Age of Consent: Resisting Colonial Reason and Death of a Child-Wife
Author(s): Tanika Sarkar
Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Sep. 4, 1993, Vol. 28, No. 36 (Sep. 4, 1993), pp.
1869-1878
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4400113
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SPECIAL ARTICLES
Rhetoric againstAge of Consent
Resisting Colonial Reason and Death of a Child-Wife
Taiiika Sarkar
The historian cannot afford to view the colonial past as an unproblematic retrospect wvhere allpower w
side and allprotest on the other. Partisanship has to take into account a mullti-faceted nationalism, allaspe
w4ere complicit withpowerand domination even when they critiqued western knowledgeand challenged co
This article contends that colonial structures ofpower comprontised with-indeed learnt much fiom-ind
patriarchy and upper caste norms and practices which, in certain areas of life, retained considerable
Legislative activity on Hindu marriage issues in the lastfew decades of the centu ry forms the discursivef
exercise.
I
forced a decisive break in their discourse.this
It single source. Each and every kind of
made it imperative for them to shift to an
contestation, by the same token, is taken to
AT the risk of provoking startled disbelief,
be equally valid. Today, with a triumphalist
entirely different terrain of arguments and
I propose to place constructions of IHindu
images, moving from the realm of reason
growth of aggressively communal and/or
conjugality at the very heart of the forma- and pleasure to that of discipline and pain.
fundamentalistic indentity-politics in our
tive moment for militant nationalism in
The entire exercise, I hope, will widen the
country, such a position comes close to
Bengal.' Ilistorians have adequately noted
context of early nationalist agitations and
indigenism and acquires a near Fascistic
the centrality of debates around colonial
give them an unfamiliar genealogy.
potential in its authoritarian insistence on
laws on women and marriage in the disA few words are necessary to explain
the purity of indigenous epistemological
course of liberal reformers. No attempt,
why, in the present juncture of cultural
and autological conditions.
however, has been made so far to locate
studies on colonial India, it is important to
It has weird implications for the feminist
these themes within early IIindu nationalretrieve this specific history of revivalist- agenda as well. The assumption that coloism.
nationalism, and to work with a concept of
nialism had wiped out all past histories of
Three interlocking themes will be taken
nationalism that incorporates this history. patriarchal domination, replacing them
up and elaborated simultaneously. In the
Edward Said's Orientalism has fathered a
neatly and exclusively with western forms
last few decades of the 19th century, a fairly
received wisdom on colonial studies that
of gender relations, has naturally led on to.
distinct political formation had emerged
has proved to be as narrow and frozen in its
an identification of patriarchy in modern
that I shall clumsily designate as revivalistscope as it has been powerful in its impact.
India with the project of liberal reform
nationalist. It wasa mixed groupof newspaIt proceeds fromaconviction in the totalising alone. While liberalism is made to stand in
per proprietors, orthodox urban estate holdnature of a western power knowledge that for the only vehicle of patriarchal ideology
ers of considerable civic importance within
gives to the entire Orient a single image
since it is complicit with western knowlCalcutta and pundits as well as modern
with absolute efficacy. Writings of the Sub-edge, its opponents-the revivalists, the
intellectuals whom they patronised. They
altern Studies pundits and of a group of
orthodoxy-are vested with a rebellious,
used an explicitlynationalistrhetoricagainst feminists, largely located in thc first worldeven emancipatory agenda, since they reany form of colonial intervention within the academia, have come to identify the strucfused colonisation of the domestic ideolHindu domestic sphere which marked them tures of colonial knowledge as the origi nary
ogy. And since colonised knowledge is reoff from the broader category of revivalist moment for all possible kinds of power and garded as the exclusive source of all power,
thinkers who would not necessarily oppose disciplinary formations, since, going by
anything that contests it is supposed to have
reformism in the name of resisting colonialSaid, Orientalism alone reserves for itself
an emancipatory possibility for the women.
knowledge. At the same time, their comthe whole range of hegemonistic capabiliBy easy degrees, then, we reach the position
mitment to an unreformed Ilindu way of
ties. This unproblematic and entirely non- that while opposition to widow immolation
lifeseparated them from liberal nationalists historicised 'transfer of power' to strucwas complicit with colonial silencing of
of the Indian Association or Indian National tures of colonial knowledge has three major non-colonised voicesand, consequently, was
Congress variety. Needless to say, these
consequences; it constructs a necessarily
an exercise of power, the practice of widow
groups were not irrevocably distinct or
monolithic, non-stratified colonised subimmolation itself was a contestatory act
mutually exclusive. Despite considerable
ject who is, moreover, entirely powerless
outside the realm of power reladtons since it
shifts and overlaps, however, we do idenand entirely without an effective and opera- was not sanctioned by colonisation. In a
tify a distinctive political formation of na- tive history of his/her own. The only historycountry, where people will still gather in
tionalists who contributed to emerging nathat s/he is capable of generating is neces- lakhs to watch and celebrate the buming of
tionalisma highly militant agitational rheto- sarily a derivative one. As a result, the
a teen-aged girl assati, such cultural studies
ric and mobilising techniques built around
colonised subject is absolved of all comare heavy with grim political implications.
the defence of l-indu patriarchy.
plicity and culpability in the makings of the We will try tocontend that colonial struc.
The second related theme would explore
structures of exploitation in the last two
tures of power compromised with, indeed
as to why they chose to tie their nationalism hundred years of our history. The only
learnt much from indigenous patriarchy
to issues of conjugality which they defined
culpability lies in the surrender to colonial and upper caste norms and practices which,
as a system of non-consensual, i ndi ssol ubl e, knowledge. As a result, the lone political
in certain areas of life, retained considerinfant marriage. And, finally, we need to
agenda for a historiography of this period able hegemony. Tlhis opens up a new condwell upon the arguments they fabricated.
shrinks to the contcstation ofcolohial knowl-text against which we may revaluate liberal
We find that the Age of Consent issue
edgc since all power supposedly flows fromreform. Above all, we need to remember
Economic and Political Weekly September 4, 1993 1869
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the wife reaches her puberty. Since puberty oppressive and marginalised clerical existthat other sources of hegemony, far from
ence, the household of the bhadralok inwas quite likely to occur before she was 12
becoming extinct, were reactivated under
in the hot climate of Bengal, the new legis- creasingly appeared as the solitary sphere of
colonialism and opposed the liberal rationalist agenda with considerable vigour and lation meant that the ritual would no longerautonomy, a site of formal knowledge
where-and only here-education would
success. The historian cannot afford to view remain compulsory. If the wife reaches
yield practical, manipulateable, controllable
the colonial past as an unproblematic retro- puberty before attaining the age of consent,
results. The Permanent Settlement had genspect where all power was on one side and then garbhadhan could not be performed.
erated a class- of parasitic landlords with
all protest on the other. Partisanship has toThis, in turn, implied that the 'pinda' or
take into account a multi-faceted national- ancestral offerings, served upby the sonsof fixed revenue obligation whose passivity
was reinforced by uninhibited control over
ism (and not simply its liberal variant), all such marriages, would become impure and
that generations of ancestors would be
their peasants' rent. The gap between a
aspectsof which were complicitwith power
fixed sum of revenue and a flexible rent
starved of it. The argument provided the
and domination even when they critiqued
central ground for a highly organised mass procurement in a period of rising agriculwestern knowledge and challenged colotural prices, cushioned an existenceof fairly
campaign in Bengal. The first open massnial power.
comfortable tenure holding. The Rent Acts
level anti-government protest in Calcutta
of 1859 and 1885, however, breaches that
and the official prosecution of a leading
lI
security. Organised tenant resistance of the
newspaper were its direct consequences.6
late 19th century led to heightened anxiThe summary might be taken to suggest,
A summary of the most controversial
eties and uncertainties among the landed
Cambridge School fashion,7that nationalist
legislative activity on Hindu marriage isinitiative was actually a mere reflex action,
gentry. The household, consequently, besues in the last few decades of the century
came doubly precious and important as the
following mechanically upon the legal iniwould help to map out our discursive field.
tiatives of the colonial state. Far from being only zone where autonomy and self-rule
The Native Marriage Act III of 1872 was,
so, however, not only was colonial initiacould be preserved.'0 0
for its times, an extremely radical package
tive itself generally a belated and forced
In the massive corpus of household manwhich prohibited polygamy, legalised divorce and laid down a fairly high minimum surrender to Indian reformist pressure but
agement manuals that came to occupy a
Hindu revivalist reaction against both was
dominant place in the total volume of printed
age of marriage. It also ruled out caste or
vernacular prose literature of these years,
religious barriers to marriage. Predictably, ultimately constituted by a new political
compulsion. It was coterminus with a rethe proposed bill raised a storm of controthe household was likened to an enterprise
versy. Its jurisdiction was eventually nar- cently-acquired notion of the colonised self
to be administered, an army to be led, a state
that grew out of the'1857 uprising, postto be governed"-all metaphors, rather
rowed down to people who would declare
themselves to be not Hindus, not ChrisMutiny reprisals, Lyttonian discriminatory poignantly, derived from activities from
which colonised Bengalis were excluded.
tians, and not Jains, Buddhists or Sikhs. In policies in the 1870s and the Ilbert Bill
short, its scope came to cover the Brahmos
racist agitations in the 1880s. These experiUnlike Victorian middle class situations,
alone, whose initiative had led to its incepences collectively and cumulatively modithen, the family was not a refuge after work
tion in the first place.2
fied and cast into agonising doubt the ear- for the man. It was their real place of work.
Furiousdebatesaroundthebill hadopened
lier choice of loyalism that the Bengali
Whether in the Kalighat bazaar paintings'2
up and problematised crucial areas of H indu intelligentsia had made fairly unambiguor in the Bengali fiction of the 19th century,
workplace situations remain shadowy,
conjugality-in particular the system of ously in 1857. Our understanding of renon-consensual, indissoluble infant marsponses to colonial legislation can make
unsubstantial mostly absent. Domestic reriage whose ties were considered to remain
only very limited and distorted sense unless
lations constitute the axis around which
binding for women even after the death of
they are located within this larger context.
plots are generated, in sharp contrast with
their busbands. The polemic hardened in
Whereas early 19th century male liberal
for example, Dickensian novels.'3
1887 when Rukma Bai, an educated girl
reformers had been deepl y sel f-critical about The new nationalist world-view, then,
from the lowly carpenter caste, refused to
the bondage of the women withi n the housereimaged the family as a contrast to and a
live with her uneducated, consumptive hushold,8 the satirised literary self-representa-critique of alien rule. This was done primaband, claiming that since the marriage was
tion of the Bengali 'baboo' of the later
rily by contrasting two different versions of
contracted in her infancy it could be repudi- decades recounted a very different order of
subjection-that of the colonised Hindu
ated by her decision as an adult. She was
lapses for himself: his was a self that had
male in the world outside and of the apparthreatened with imprisonment under Act
lost its autonomy and that now willingly
ently subordinated Hindu wife at home. T'he
XV of 1877 for non-restitution of conjugal
hugged its chains. Rethinking about the
forced surrender and real dispossession of
rights. The threat was removed only after
burden of complicity with colonialism ham-the former was counterposed to the allegconsiderable reformist agitation and the
mered out a reoriented self-critique as well edly loving, willed surrender and ultimate
personal intervention of Victoria.3 The isas a heightened perception about the mean-self-fulfilment of the latter.'4 It was in the
sue foregrounded very forcefully the prob-ingofsubjection. It is, perhaps, noaccident,
interests of this intended contrast that conlems of consent and indissolubility within
that even the economic critiques of drain,
jugality was constituted as the centre of
Ilindu marriage.4 In 1891 the Parsi redeindustrialisation and poverty would come gravity around which the discursive field on
former Malabari's campaign bore fruit in
to be developed by the post-1860s generathe family organised itself. All other relaTheCriminal LawAmendment Act l0which tions.
tions, even the mother-child one (which
revised Section 375 of the Penal Code of
With the gradual dissolution of faith in thewould come to take up its place as the
1860, and raised the minimum age of conprogressive potential of colonialism that
pivotal point in the later nationalist diss-ent for married and unmarried girls from accompanied political self-doubt and the
course) remained subordinated to it up to
10 to 12.5 Under the earlier Penal Code
failureof indigenouseconomic enterprises,9the end of the 19th century. It was the
regulation a husband could legally cohabit
there alsodeveloped a disenchantment about
relationship between the husband and wife
wvith a wife who was 10 years old. The the magical possibilities of western educathat mediated and rephrased within revivalrevivalist Hindu intelligentsia of Bengal,
tion that had led the earlier reformers to lookist-nationalism, the political themeofdominow claimed that the new act violated a
hopefully at the public shpere asan arena for nation-subordination, of subjection-refundamental ritual observance in the lifethe test of manhood, of genuine self-imsistance as the lyrical or existential problem
cycle of the Ilindu houscholder-that is,
provement. With the boundaries of activi- of love, of equal but different ways of
the 'garbhadhan' ceremony, or the obligaties shrinking into the constrictive limits of loving.
tory cohabitation between husband and wi fe parasitic petty landlordism or tenure-holdThe household generally, and conjugalwhich should take place immediately afterings andl to mechanical chores within anity specifically, came to mean the last inde-
1870 Economic and Political Weekly September 4, 1993
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pendent space left to the colonised HIindu.
This was a conviction that was both shaped
and reinforced by some of the premises of
colonial law. English legislators and j udges
clearly postulated a basic division within
the legal domain. British and Anglo-Indian
law had a 'territorial' scope and ruled over
the 'public' world of land relations, criminal law, laws of contract and of evidence.
into courts of law after due ritual purifica- often in conflict with cach other.2> In any
tion of the space.2" Tlhe introduction of i case, the prolonged primacy of case law and
limited jury system between the 1860s and- common law procedures within England
the 1880s in Bengal further strengthened
itself made English judges in India agree
the voice of local Ilindu notables, and,
with Indian legal and nationalist opinion
consequently, of local usages and norms.
that customs, usages and precedents were
An official recommendation of 1890 curfar more valid sources of law than legislatailed the powers of the jury in many othertion.29
directions but left the powers of settling
A general consensus about the differentiated nature of colonial law, then, postulated
a fissure within the system wherein Hindus
form a unified, internally coherent body ofcould insert their claims for a sectoral, but
sonal', covering persons rather than areas,
and ruling over the more intimate areas of opinion on proper Hindu norms and prac- complete autonomy, for a pure space. The
tices which they would then try to freeze. specific
A
and concrete embodiment of this
human existence-family relationships,
substantial debate developed over a propurity seemed to lie more within the body of
family property and religious life.'5 Early
posal in 1873 to transfer the cognisance of
the Hindu women, rather than of the mannationalists chose to read this as a gap
between the territory or the land colonised cases connected with marriage offences,
a conviction shaped, no doubt, by the growby an alien law, and the person, still ruled by
especialy adultery, from criminal to civil
ing self-doubt of the post-1857 Hindu male.
one's own faith-a distinction that the
courts. While Simson, the Dacca CommisIncreasingly, irony and satire, a kind of
Queen's Proclamation of 1859, promising
sioler, recommended the repeal of penal
black humour, became the dominant form
absolute non-interference in religious mat- provisions against adultery, Reynolds, the
of educated middle class literary self-repreters, did much to bolster.'6 Even in sub- Magistrate of Mymensingh strongly desentation. There was an obsessive insisjected India, therefore, there could exist anmurred: "I have always observed with great tence or the physical manifestation of this
interior space that was as yet inviolate.
aversion the practice of the English law in
weakness. The feeble Bengali male phyFar from trying tohegemonise this sphere giving damages in cases of adultery and
sique became a metaphor for a larger condiseduction, and wanted it to remain a crimiand absolutising its control, colonial rule,
tion. Simultaneously, it was a site of the
especially in the post-1857 decades, tried to nal offence."' About cases of forfeiture of critique of the ravaging effects of colonial
keep its distance from it, thus indirectly
property rights by 'unchaste widows', there rule. "The term Bengali is a synonym for a
adding to the nationalist conviction. The
was a clear division between the high courts
creature afflicted with inflammation of the
earlier zeal for textualisation and codificaof Allahabad on the one hand and those of
liver, enlargement of the spleen, acidity or
tion of traditional laws was gradually reBombay, Madrasand Calcutta on the other.24 headache." Or, "Their bones are weak,
placed by a recognition of the importance of The divisions reflected the absence of any
their muscles are flabby, their nerves toneunwritten and varied custom, of the inadmonolithic or absolute consensus about the
less."'" Or, "Bengal is ruined. There is not a
visability of legislation on such matters, excellence of English legal practices as a
single really healthy man in it. The digesand of urging judicial deference, even obemodel for Indian life.
tive powers have been affected and we can
dience, to local Hindu opinion.'7 Towards
These decades in England had gone
eat but a little. Wherever onc goes he sees a
the end of the century, a strong body of
through profound changesi n women's diseased
rights people.32 Through the grind of
Ihindulawyersand judgescame tobe formedin property holding, marriage, divorce,
the
western
education, offic9routine33 and enwhose conformity to Ihindu practices rights of prostitutes to physical privacy.25
forced urbanisation, with the loss of tradi(Ilindutva) was often taken to be of decisiveEnglishmen in India were divided about
tional sports and martial activities, it was
importance in judicial decision-making,
their direction and a significant section felt supposedly marked, maimed and completely
even though their professional training was
disturbed by the limited, though real, gainsremade by colonialism. It was the visible
in western jurisprudence, and not in Hindu
made by contemporary English feminists.
site of surrender and loss, of defeat and
law.'7, There was, moreover, an implicit
They turned with relief to the so-called
alien discipline.
grey zone of unwritten law whose force was
relative stability and strictness of l-lindu
The woman's body, on the other hand,
nevertheless quite substantial within law
rules. The Hindu joint familysystem, whose was still held to be pure and unmarked,
courts.'8 Take a Serampore Court case of collective aspects supposedly fully subloyal and subservient to the discipline of
1873, for instance, where a I-lindu widow
merged and subordinated individual rights
shastras alone. It was not a free body by any
was suing her brothers-in-law for defraud- and interests, was generally described with
means, but one ruled by 'our' scriptures,
ing her of her share in her husband's pov- warm appreciation-2 They found here a
our custom. The difference with the male
erty by falsely charging her with
system of relatively unquestioned patriarbody bestowed on it a redemptive, healing
'unchastity'. Her lawycr referred frequently
chal absolutism which promised a more
strength for the community as a whole. An
to notions of kinship obligations, ritual
comfortable state of affairs after the bitter
interesting change now takes place in the
expectations from a Hi ndu widow and moral
struggleswith Victorian feminism at home.
representation of the Hindu women in the
norms and practices of high castc women.'9
The colonial experience itself mediated andnew nationalist discourse. Whereas for the
Clearly, these arguments were thought toreoriented contemporary debates on conju-liberal reformers she used to be the archehave value in convincing the judge and the
gal legislation in England. There were imtypal victim figure, for nationalists she had
jury, even though, overtly they had little portant controversies, forinstance, between become a repository of power, the Kali
legal significance. Far from laughing pecuJohn Stuart Mill and James Fitzjames
rampant, a figure of range and strength.34
liarly Hindu susceptibilities out of court,
Stephen on issues of consensus vs force and What were the precise sources of grace
English judges, even the Privy Council,
authority as the valid basis for social and
for the Hindu women? Sheattained itthrough
seriously rationalised them. Referring to
human relations. Stephen, drawing on his
a unique capacity for bearing pain and
the existence of a flindu idol as a legal
military-bureaucratic apprenticeship in In- discipline that were exercised upon her
person in a different law suit, an English
dia, questioned Mill's premise of
body by the iron laws of absolute chastity
judge commented: "Nothing impossible or
complementarity and the notion of the
extending beyond the death of the husband,
absurd in it ...after all an idol is as much of
companionate marriage.2' Nor was there through
a
an indissolube, non-consensual ina person as a corporation."' Legal as well
stable legal or judicial model to import.
fant form of marriage, through austere widas ritual niceties about the proper disposi- Prior to the Judicature Act of 1873 there
owhood, and through a proved past papacity
tion of idols were seriously and lengthily
were four separate systems of courts in
for self-immolation. All of them together
debated and sacred objects were brought England, eachl applying its own form of lawimprinted an inexorable disciplinary regi-
On the other hand, there were Ihindu andmarriage disputes intact in their hands.22
Nor did colonial legislators and judges
Muslim laws which were defined as 'per-
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4,
1993
1871
men upon her person that contained and
the Hindu order, was a double-edged
and organisingsilence lies at the heart of the
defined her from infancy to death. Such
weapon: once it was raised, sooner or later,
projected image of desire and pleasure.
discipline was not entirely confined to the
the question of mutuality was bound to
Even if the quality of Ilindu love was
normative or conceptual sphere. Bengal,
come. Was it equally binding on botb part- assumed to be a higher one, Hindu marriage
with the exception of the Central Provinces ners? If it was not so, since hlindu males
was still placed firmly within mainstream
and Berar, and Bihar and Orissa,- had the
were allowed to be polygamous, could its
developments in the universal history of
jurisdiction on the women be anything moremarriages which had supposedly trodden a
highest rate of infant marriages-a custom
that cut across caste and community lines
than prescriptive? Particularly, if -marriageuniform path from the 'captive' stage to
and did not markedly decrease even after
was imposed on her at infancy without a
fairly permanent, often sacramental systhe Act of 1891.31 Before it was banned, as
question of her consent or choice?
tems. Any consent-based alternative,
we know, Bengal had also been the heartNothing in the Hindu shastras would con- whether in ancient Indian or in class-based
land of the practice of sari. The Ilindu
firm the possibility of mutually monoga- modem western traditions, were dismissed
women'sdemonstrated capacity for acceptmous ties. To redeem the past absence, for
as aberrations or minor variations.45 A long
ing pain and harshi discipline thus became
the first time in the history of Hindu mar- editorial, significantly entitled The Bogus
the last measuate of hope and greatness for a riage, a wave of polemical literature apScience, questioned the sources and authendoomed people. BankimChandra linked up
peared that valorised, inideed, insisted on ticity of reformist knowledge: the nature of
sati with national regeneration: "I can see male monogamy: "We find tracts that adtheir evidence, of deduction, of arrangethe funeral pyre burning, the chaste wife
vise widowers never to remarry."' Some
ment, of proof.6 The powerful eugenicssitting at the heart of the blazing flames,
manuals that advocate self-immolation for
based argument against infant-marriage (inclasping the feet of her husband lovingly to the adult widow, simultaneously advise that fant marriages produce weak progenies)
her breasts. Slowly the fire spreads, dechild widows should be remarried. They
was countered by a climatic view of hisstroying one part of her body and entering could have no obligation towards a husband
tory:47 irrespective of the age of parents, a
another. tier face is joyful ...The flames
whom they had not, as yet, come to love.4" tropical climate was bound to produce weak
burn higher, life departs and the body is
Not just sacred texts but custom, too alchildren. Reformers were accused of casuburint to ashes. ...When I think that only lowed a very wide spectrum of castes to
istry or weak logic. Since the Penal Code
some time back our women could die like
make a second marriage for men possible if had earlier laid down 10 as the minimum
this, then new hope rises up in me, then I
the first wife was barren or bore no sons.42age of consent, how would raising it to 12
have faith that we, too, have the seeds of
In the absence of a shastricor custom-based ensure genuine consent? "A girl of fourteen
greatness within us. Women of Bengal You injuniction against polygamy and given theor sixteen is not capable of legally signing
are the truejewels of this country ."3 Bankim reluctance among Hiindu revivalist-nationa note of hand for 5 rupees and she is ipso
had plenty of reservations for other aspects alists to invite ref'ormist- legislation, male
facto a great deal more incompetent to give
of llindu conjugality,37 but he seemed to chasti ty was fated to remain normative ratherherconsent todefile her person at twelve."'8
identify with it at its most violent point of than obligatory, while the woman's chas- It was also considered to be more than a
termination, through a highly sensualised
tity was not a function of choice or willedlittle dishonest to place such importance on
spectacle of pain and death, a barely disconsent. Tlhis was a compromise that be-the woman's consent in this one matter
guised parallel between the actual flames
came fundamentally difficult to sustain. since within post marital offences, "in the
destroying a feminine body and the conThrough much of the 1880s we find acase of the wife the point does not turn on
suming fires of desire.
studied silence on such uncomfortable po-consent, for, if that had been the case, there
tential within Hindu marriage and a self- would have no such offence as adultery in
III
mesmerising repetition of its innately.af-the Penal Code."49 A high premium was
fective qualities. The infant-marriage ritualthus placed on the rule of rationality in the
There were two equally strong compulis drenched in a warm, suffusing glow of defence of Hindu marriage.
sions and possibilities of construction of
loveability. "People in this country take a
Hindu rationality was represented as a
Ilindu womenhood-love and pain-which
greatpleasure in infant-marriage. The littlemore supportive world view than reformist
produced a deep anxiety within early nabit of a women, the infant bride, clad in redor colonial projects. Given the physical and
tionalism.
silk, her back turned towards her boy hus-economic weakness of women, an indisThe accent on love, had, from the begin- band... Drums are beating, and men, womensoluble marriage tie had to be her only
ning, underlined acute discomfort about
and children are running in order to have security-a
a
contention that once again conmutuality and equality. Pandit Sasadhar
glimpse of that face... from time to time she
veniently overlooked the fact, that, in a
Tarkachuramani, the doyen of Hindu ortho- breaks forth into little ravishing smiles. Shepolygamousworld, indissolubilitywasbinddoxy, argued that a higher form of love
looks like a littlelovely doll"' (italics mine).ing, in effect, on the women alone. A cleardistinguished between western and Hindu
T'he key words here are little, lovely, ravish-eyed kulin brahmin widow haj remarked:
marriages. While the former seeks social
ing, pleasure, infant, doll." They are care-"People say that the seven ties that bind the
stability and order through control over
fully inserted at regular intervals to makeflindu wife to the husband do not snap as
sexual morality, the latter apparently asthe general account of festivities draw itsthey do with Christians or Muslims. This is
pires only towards "the unification of two warmth from this single major source-the not true. According to Ilindu law, the wife
souls. "Mere temporal happiness, the bedelightful and delighted infant bride. Thecannot leave the husband but the husband
getting of children are very minor and sub- community of "men, women and children"may leave her whenever he wants to."'' It
ordinate considerations in Hiindu mar- formed round the occasion is bonded to- was also maintained that consent was imriage."" The revivalist-nationalist segment gether by a deeply sensuous experience, bymaterial since parents were better equipped
of the vernacular press, polemical tracts
great visual pleasurc, by happiness; happi- to handle the vital question of security than
and manuals translated the notion of mar- ness is the operative word. We need to notean immature girl.5" Security also largely
riage of souls as mutual love, ensured and that the radiant picture of innocent celebra-depended upon perfect integration with the
proved by a lifetime of togetherness since tion is rounded off through the cleverlyhusband's family, so the sooner the process
infancy such a uniquely Ilindu way of lov- casual insertion of one phrase: 'boy husbegan, the better it was for the girl.52
ing anchors the woman's absol ute chastity, band'. Infant marriage, however, was prelIindu marriage, in the rather defensive
extending beyond the husband's death, in
scriptive for the girl alone and the groom at discourse of the 1880s, tlhen, was more
mutual desire alone." Yet the very empha-the side of the 'lovely doll' could be, and pleasurable and more beautiful, kinder and
sis on love, so necessary as a critique of
frequently was, a mature, even elderly man, safer, more rational and guaranteed by a
alien oppression and misunderstanding ofpossibly muchz-marriedl already. A strategic sounder system of knowledge. In any case,
1872 Economic and Political Weekby September 4, 1993
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it was essentially a part of universal devIlopments in the history of civilisationrs.
Differences in marriage system between
the Hindu and the non-Hindu, therefore,
were, so far played down, if not obliterated.
unambiguous. "The Brahmin caste occupies the highest position and all laws and
ordinances have been formed with special
In 1890, Phulmonee, a girl of about 10
or 11, was raped to death by her husband,
Hari Mati, a man of 35. Under existing
reference to that. All the other castes con-
Penal Code provisions, however, he was
not guilty of rape since Phulmonee had
duct themselves after the fashion of the
been well within the statutory age limit of
Brahminical castes."58 Or, "it is true that
10. The event, however, added enormous
divorce obtains among some low caste
The Rukma Bai episode of 1887 made it
weight and urgency to Malabari's camimperative at last to rewrite the narrative of people and the government should be really
paign for raising the age or consent from
love and pleasure in the language of force. doing an important duty as a ruler if it
10 to 12. The reformist press began to
should make laws fixing and negotiating
The earlier lyricism had already been rupsystematically collect and publish acthe uncertain and unsettled marriage custured from time to time to underline and
counts of similar incidents from all over
toms of the people."'9
recuperate the basic logic of nonthe country. Forty-four women doctors
consensuality. At a meeting convened at The
the debate prised open the imagined
brought out long lists of cases where childcommunity along the lines of caste and
palace of the Shova Bazar Raj, Rajendralal
Mitra had insisted: "in it [Hindu marriage] gender and delineated the specific contours wives had been maimed or killed because
of the revivalist-nationalist agenda. It could of rape.62 From the possible effects of
there is no selection, no self-choice, no
child marriage on the health of future
consent on the part of the bride. She is an no longer base its hegemonistic claims on
its supposed leadership to the struggles of a generations the debate shifted to the life
article of gift, she is given away even as a
and safety of Hindu wives.
cow or any other chattel." Laughter greeted whole subjected people for autonomy and
Phulmonee was the daughter of late
his exposition approvingly and he went on: self-rule in their 'private' lives. Its nationKunj Behari Maitee, a man from the 'Oriya
"There is in Hinduism not the remotest idea alism became more precisely defined as the
Kyast' caste, who had been a 'Bazar Sircar'
ruie of brahmanical patriarchy. Its rationalof choice and whoever changed any small
at Bow Bazar Market. It was a well paid
ity was one of forced and absolute dominapart of it was no Hindu."53 Rukma Bai's
tion of upper-caste, male standards, not one
job and it seems that by claiming 'Oriya
action violently foregrounded the sexual
Kyast' status, the family was trying for a
of universal reason leading towards freedouble standards and made a mockery of
superior caste posi tion in consonance with
dom and self-determination for the disposthe notion of the loving heart of hlindu
their economic viability since Maitees are
sessed. If it aspired to detach Hindus from
conjugality. A lot of the debate centred
otherwise categorised as a low sudra group.
a colonised reason and lead them to selfaround the vexed question-whether a
rule, it would only do so by substituting forThe ramily frequently referred to its spewomen could sue for separation from an
it a brahmanical, patriarchal reason based
cific caste practices in court with somne
adulterous husband. 'Among the Hindus,
pride. They said that while they adhered to
on scripture-cum-custom, both of which
unchastity on the part of the husband is
were as disciplinary and deprivational for
child marriage, they forbade cohabitation
certainly a culpable offence but they set
the ruled subjects as was the colonial rebefore the girl menstruates, and that in this
much higher value upon female chastity":
gime in the sphere of Indian political
case, Phulmonee had not done so. Their
its erosion would lead to the loss of family
version was that the newly-married couple
economy. Contestation of colonisation was
honour, growth of half-castes and the deno simple, escape from or refusal of power:
had been kept apart according to caste
struction of ancestral rites.' Bare, stark
nor had colonialism equally and entirely
rules, and that Hari, on a visit to his inbones that formed the basic foundation of
laws, had stolen into Phulmonee's room
Hindu marriage nowbegan tosurface, threat- disempowered all Indians. Resistance was
and had forced himself upon her, thereby
ening to blow the edifice of love away. "A an agenda itself irrevocably tied to schemes
causing her death. Hlari Maiti, however,
for domination, an exercise of power that
good Hindu wife should always serve her
was nearly as absolute as that which it
insisted that since the marriage she had
husband as God even if that husband is
illiterate, devoid of good qualities and atresisted.
spent at least a fortnight at his house and
tached to other women. And it is the duty of
they had slept together all the time. He
the govemment to make Hindu women
IV
made no mention of caste rules against
conform to the injunctions of the Shastras."55
pre-menstrual cohabitation. It seems then
The basis of conjugality now openly shifts
Very curiously, one possibility within
that caste customs remained loose and
to prescription.
Ilindu marriage had not occurred to reform-flexible, and that each family would allow
istsor to Bengali ilindu militants-the pos- considerable manipulation within them.
Rukma Bai had forced a choice upon her
community-between the women's right to sibility of sexual abuse of infant wives.
Even though Ilari Maiti had insisted that
free will and the future of the pristine eson the last night they had not had interThere had been, from time to time, the
sence of Hindu marriage. The two could no
course, medical opinion was unanimous
occasional stray report. TheDaccaPrakash
longer be welded togetheras a perfect whole.
of June 1875 reported that an 'elderly' manthat the girl had died of violent sexual
Revivalist-nationalists had to treat the two
had beaten his child wife to death when shepenetration. If the court accepted that Hlari
as separate, conflicting units and indicate
refused to go to bed with him. Neighbours
was right and that Phulmonee had slept with
their partisanship.
had tried to cover it up as suicide but the
him earlier, then it could go a long way to
That came forth in no time at all. "It is murdercharge waseventually proved against
show that since nothing untoward had hapvery strange that the whole of Hi ndu society
him. The jury, however, let him off with a
pened earlier, on the fatal night in question,
will suffer for the sake of a very ordinary
light sentence.60 The E(ucation Gazette of
Ilari would not have any reasbn to suspect
women."56 Or, "kindness to the female sex May 1873 had reported a similar incident
that a more vigorous penetration might lead
cannot be a good plea in favour of the
when the 'mature' husband of a girl of 11
to violent consequences. lIe would, in fact,
proposed alteration."57 Interestingly, the
"dragged her out by the hair and beat hcr till
have been convinced that intercourse was
episode had shown up another fault in the
he killed her" forsimilarreasons. Hewaslet perfectly safe. The English judge, Wilson,
imageofthefHinducommunity. Rukma Bai off with a light sentence as well.6' Reportclearly indicated that he chose to accept
belonged to the carpenter caste where diing remained sporadic and the accounts
llari's version, thus exonerating him from
vorce had been customary. Whose custom
were not picked up and woven into any
the charge of culpable homicide. The charge
must colonial law recognise now? Was
general discussion about Hlindu marriage
as in any case, was not permissible
of rape
Hinduism a heterogeneous, indeed, selfyet. The controversy about the right age of
since the Penal Code provisions ruled out
divided, self-contradictory formation, or
consent continued to hinge on eugenics,
the existence of rape by the husband if the
was it a unified monolithic one? The reviv- mortality, child rearing and family interwi fe was above the age of 10. Thejudge was
alist-nationalist answer, once again, was
ests.
equally opposed to any extension of the
Economic and Politic"' Weekly September 4, 1993 1873
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strict letters of the law in this case to devise
should be ceremonially married. That, in the lute form of patriarchal domination evoKe a
exemplary punishment for a palticularly
constitution of Hlindu society, isa matter with measure of unconsciotus respect and fellow
horrible death: "Neither judges nor Juries
whlich no Government could meddle and no feeling among the usually conservative,
have any right to do for themselves what the Government ought to meddle.
male English authorities, rather than the
law has not done."
instinct for reform? As the Secretary to the
They proceeded to review the considerable
The judge, then, built up his case on the
Public I-Health Society put it: "The history of
medico-legal data on sexual injuries inhypothetical argument that the couple had
British rule and the workings of British
flicted on child wives and concluded that
slept togetherearlier. lie chose to ignore the
courts in India manifest a distinct tenderwhatever the weight of evidence on the
version given by the women in the girl's
ness towards...the customs and religious
matter, the system of infant marriage must
family-of Radhamonee, Bhondamonee and
observances of the Indian people."'
continue unabated. The age of commencing
cohabitation could be raised otly if Hiindus There was still the mangled body of "that
unhappy child, Phulmonee I)assee," a girl
themselves expressed a great desire for
I think it is my duty to say that I think there change (emphasis mine).
of ten or eleven, sexually used by a man
exists hardly such solid and satisfactory
Contrary to received wisdom, then, there whom she had known only for a few weeks,
ground as would make it safe to say that this
is hardly a vision of remaking the Hindu as who was twenty-nine years her senior, and
man must have had knowledge that he was a pale image of his master, of designs of
who had already been married once (aunt
likely tocause thedeath of the girl ... You will,total change and reform. Macaulay's notoBhondamonee's evidence in court). There
of course, in these, as in all matters, give the rious plan of recasting the native as a brown was the deposition of her mother
benefit of any doubt in favour of the prisoner.sahib was not necessarily a design that
Radhamonee: "I saw my daughter lying
remained uniformly dominant for the entirethe cot, weltering in blood... I-ler cloth an
The weight of concern is, very blatantly, on
Sonamonee, the mother, aunt and grandmother of the girl.
the exoneration of the man rather than on
the fate of the women. The law itself was
spectrum of colonial rule. Even when domi- the bedcloth and lari 's cloth were wet with
exonerate the system of marriage that had
made this death possible.
agitation over demands of constitutional
nant, it had to make crucial negotiations blood."6' There was unanimous medical
opinion that Hlari had caused the death of a
shaped so as to preserve custom as well as with other imperatives and value prefergirl whose body was still immature and
the male right to the enjoyment of an infan- ences and, above all, with the everlasting
could not sustain penetration. She died after
tile female body. What needs to be particu- calculation of political expediency. If, at
13 hoursof acute pain andcontinuousblecdthe
time
of
Macaulay,
the
Anglicist
vision
larly noted here is that throughout the trial,
of a westernised middle class had appeared ing. The dry medical terminology somehow
the judge was saying -nothing about a husband who insisted on sleeping with a child, as the strongest reservoir of loyalism, soon accentuates the horror more than words of
enough other al ternatives emerged and were censure:
or about the custom which allowed him to
do so with impunity. Above all, he was not partially accommodated, modifying the ear- A clot, measuring 3 i nches by one-and-a-half
inches in the vagina... a longitudinal tear one
lier formula and crucially mitigating its
making any judgmental comparison bereformist thrust. Our moment of the 1890s and three quarters long by one inch broad at
tween the ways of husbands, eastern or
the upper end of the vagina... a haematoma
western. In fact, he bent over backwards tocomes after a long spell of middle class
three inches in diameter in the cellular tissue
rights, of Indianisation of the services, of of the pelvis. Vagina, uterus and ovaries
small and undeveloped. No sign of ovulasecurity against racial discrimination and
Under no system of law with which Courts
tion."
abuse. It comes after the outburst of white
have had to do in this country, whether Hindu
Phulmonee's was by no means an isoracism over the Ilbert Bill issue when the
or Mohammedan, or that formed under Britlated case. Dr Chever's investigations of
educated middle class was temporarily
ish rule, has it ever been the law that a
vested with the possibility of standing in a1856 had mentioned at least 14 cases of
husband has the absolute right to enjoy the
premenstrual cohabitation that had come to
position of judicial authority over Europerson of his wife without regard to the
his notice, and the subsequent findings inpean. Empowering the Indian through
question of safety to her.63
corporated in Dr McLeod's report on child
westernisation, consequently, came to be
Both the Hindu husband and the Hindu
envisaged as the most threatening menace marriage amply corroborated his data .0 We
marriage system are generously exempted to the colonial racial structures. It was a
may presume that only such cases as would
from blame and criticism. There is, in fact,
have needed police intervention or urgent
moment when the slightest concession to
an assertion about the continuity in the
medical attention would be entered into the
Indian liberal reformism would be made
spirit of the law from the time of the Ilindu most unwillingly and only on the belief that records. These were, then, cases of serious
kingdoms to the time of British rule.
damages that resulted from premature sexual
it represented a majority opinion.
A significant body of English medical
activity. An Indian doctor reported in court
The new legislation was conceived after
opinion confirmed the clean bill of health
the reformist agitation had convinced the that 13 per cent of the maternity cases that
that the colonial judiciary had advanced to
he had handled involved mothers below the
authorities that the 'great majority' was
thellindu marriagesystem. Eveninastrictly ready for change.65 Right after the
age of thirteen. The defence lawyer threw a
private communication, meant for the colo- Phulmonee episode, the revivalist-nationchallenge at the court: cohabiting with a
nial officialdom alone, the secretary to the alists were maintaining a somewhat embarpre-pubertal wife might not have Shastric
Public hlealth Society wrote to the govern- rassed silence which was broken only after
sanction, yet so deep-rooted was the custom
ment of Bengal:
that he wondered how many men present in
the proposed bill came along. During the
interval, it was the reformist voice alone court were not in some way complicit with
The council direct me to lay special stress
the practice? 70
that could be audible. Since this, for the
upon the point...that they base no charge
The divisional commissioners of Dacca,
moment, looked like the majority demand,
against the native community.
political expediency coincided temporarily Noakhali, Chittagong and Burdwan deposed
They reverently cited the work on Ilindu
with reformist impulse and the government that child marriage was widely prevalent
law by Sir Thomas Strange to evoke, in
committed itself to raising the age of con- among all castes, barring the tribals, in their
near-mystical terms, the supreme impordivisions. The commissioner of Rajshahi
sent. At the same time, official opinion in
tance of his marriage rules to the llindu,,pnd
division found that only in Jalpaiguri disBengal did not extend the terms of the
the inadvisability of external interference
specific reform to any larger plans for trict "Mechhes and other aboriginal tribes
with them:
invasive changes. On the contrary, if dis- do not favour child marriage... amongst the
The council admit that our native fellow
played a keenness to learn from the codes of Muhammadans and Rajbungshis, females
subejects must be aallowed the fullest possible h-indu patriarchy. D)id a recognition thatbeing useful in field work, are not generally
freedom in deciding when their children
they were confronted with the most abso- marriedl until they are more advanced in
1874
Economic
and
Political
Weekly
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September
4,
1993
age". On the whole, it was more common
they could not push the age too far back,
more of a consciousness raising device, a
since they hadnot opposed the earlier Penal
among lower castes. The average age of
foregrounding.of issues of domestic ideolCode ban on marital cohabitation before the
marriage for upper caste girls was slowly
ogy than pinning effective hopes of real
moving up to 12 or 13 due to the relatively
social change to acts. Norwas the minimalist
girl was 10. If they now chose to construe
large spread of the new liberal education
the earlier ban as an oppressive intrusion
programme of insisting on the woman's
among them, and, ironically, to the growingthat had already interfered with Hindu mar- physical safety an.insignificant matter, under the circumstances. Revivalist-nationalpressurcs of dowry which forced parcnts to riage practices, then they could no longer
keep daughters unmarried till they could
sustain their present agitational rhctoric:
istson theother hand, grounded theiragenda
put togetheran adequate amount of dowry.7" that the currrent intervention was the first
on the most violently authoritarian regime
In fact, the compulsion to delay marriage
of patriarchal absolutism. Their insistence
fundamental violation of I Iindu conjugality
till the dowrycould becollected would have
and therefore spelt the beginning of the end on self-rule in the domestic sphere coinfound a convenient ally in the new liberalof the only frec space left to the Ilindu.
cided with their insistence that the hIindu
ism. Among the lower castes, on the other
Without this sense of a new, momentous
girl should sacrifice her physical safety,
hand, emulation of brahmanical orthodoxy beginning of doom, the pitch of the highly
and even her life, if necessary, to defend the
rather than of liberal values would be a
apocalyptic rhetoric would fall flat. If the
community's claim to autonomy.
more assured way of claiming a pure ritual
As the reformist campaign gathered monew legislation were to be seen as merely a
status. Wherever infant marriage prevailed,
part of a long-drawn out process, then oppo- mentum and as the government, by the end
there was no way of ensuring that cohabita-sition to it could hardly invest itself with a
of 1890, seemed committed to Malabari's
tion would be delayed till the onset of
life or death mission. TIhey, therefore, in- prosals, I-lindu militants were faced with
puberty.
sisted that 'true puberty' only occurred
two options. They could accept a radical
While both scriptural and customary inbetween the ages 10 and 12. Even if menreorientation of their earlier emphasis: that
junctions were too strongly weighted in
struation occurred earlier, it would be a
is, they could admit of a basic problem
favour of early marriage to allow a raising fluke and not a regular flow. The earlier
within present marriage practices and then
of the age of marriage for girls, certain partsIPenal Code regulation had not therefore delink them from past, supposedly authenof the shastras did prescribe against preinterfered with the garbhadhan ceremony.
tic norms. This way, they could still mainpubertal cohabitation among married
Since in the hot climate of Bengal, mentain their distance from reformers by insistcouples. Nobin Chandra Sen, poet and disarche was sure to start between 10 and 12,
ing on reform from within in place of alien
trict magistrate of Chittagong, suggested
the further raising of the age of consent
legislation from outside. While this would
that this injunction could be reinforced with would constitute the first real breach in
have amounted to an honourable face-saving
legislation. Official opinion tried to distin- ritual practice.
device, it would still have implied an asguish between two distinct levels in marReformers argued that puberty sets in
sault on the totality and inviolability of
riage; the wedding ceremony itself was
properly only after 12. In this, they used a what had so far been exalted as the essential
interpreted as a sort of a betrothal, after
different notion of puberty itself. While
core of the system. Worse still, it would
which girls remained in their parent's homes. revivalist-nationalists unequivocally
have amounted to a surrender to missionIt was only after the onset of puberty that equated puberty with menarche, medicalary, reformist and rationalist critiques of
they went through a 'second marriage' and
reformers argued that puberty was a proHindu conjugality. On the other hand, it
went off to live with their husbands. A
longed process, and menarche was the sign
could come to terms with the phenomenon
group of 'medical reformers' (Indian as
of its commencement, not of its culminaof violence and build its own counter camwell as European doctors who advocated
tion. The beginning of menstruation did not paign around its presence. If difference was
changes in marriage rules on strictly mediindicate the girl's 'sexual maturity' which
found to lie not in superior rationality,
cal grounds) as well as administrators admeant that her physical organs were develgreater humanism, pleasure or love, but,
vised legislation to ban marital cohabitaoped enough to sustain sexual penetration
rather, in pain and coercion, then these
tion before the performance of the second
without serious pain or damage. Until that
constituents of difference should be admitmarriage. They hoped that there was suffi- capability had been attained, they argued,
ted and celebrated.
cient shastric as well as customary sanctionthe notion of her consent was meaningbehind the practice.72
less.
V
It was soon clear, however, that too much
It is remarkable how all strands of opinwas being made of the 'second marriage'. It
ion-colonial, revivalist-nationalist, mediThe Age of Consent Bill could have reawas not generally taken to constitute a
cal-reformer-agreed on a definition of sonably been faulted on many counts. It was
distinct separate stage within marriage as aconsent that pegged it to a purely physical
an unbelievably messy and impractical meawhole. While there was a widespread rec- capability, divorcedentirely from freechoice sure. Reporting and verification of crime
ognition that girls should begin regular
of partner, from sexual, emotional or mcn-were generally impossible in familial situ-cohabitation only after they attained putal compatibility. Consent was made into a
ations. Even if the girl (if she survived) and
berty, the custom was customarily violated. biological category, a stage when the feher parents were willing to depose against
Once the marriage had been performed, a
lot of domestic, especially feminine, pres-
male body was ready to accept sexual penetration without serious harm. The only
the husband, neighbours, whose evidence
was crucial in such cases, usually protected
sure pulled the wife into the husband's
difference lay in assessing when this stagethe man. Proving the girl's age was fairly
family. In any case, itwasdifficult todecide
was reached.
impossible in a country where births are
exactly at what age girls attained puberty
It would be simplistic, however, to constill not registered. Medical examination
and to make sure that no girl was sent off clude
to
that there was a complete identity in
was often inconclusive. Where matters did
her husband before that. Any viable piece of
patriarchal values betwecn reformers and
eventually reach the court, the jury, and
legislation would have tospell out a di finite revivalists. Whatever their broader views,
Bri tish judges, fearful of offending custom,
age at which puberty starts rather than indi- reformers always had to struggle with a
rarely took up a firm stand. In 1891, the
cate a gceneral physical condition.
minimalist programme since nothing else
mother of a young girl had pressed for legal
T he definition of puberty proved to be the
would havc the remotest chance of acceptaction in such a case and the girl herself
stumbling block. According to custom, it
ability cither with the legislative authorigave very definite evidence in court. On the
was cquated with the onset of regular menties, orwith Ilindu socicty. Wconly have to
basis of a dental examination the English
struation. And here, revivalist-nationalists remind ourselves about the explosive promagistrate, however, could not be absowere trcading delicate ground. While they tests that this legislation provoked. Rte- I utely certai n that she was not oover 12. The
wantedl to oppose the proposed age of 12,formist campaigning for legislation was
11usbandl was consequently discharged.73
Economic and(i Political Weekly September 4, 1993 1875
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Unnerved by the massive anti-bill agitations, the government itself hastened to
undermine the scope of the act. Five days
after its enactment, Lord Lansdowne sent
circulars instructing that enquiries should
be held by "native Magistrates" alone and
in any case of doubt, prosecution should be
operations. The claim is justified by breaking up and dispersing the sources of Hindu
conjugal ity among numerous and ever-shifting points of location. Some could be based
on written texts, some located in oral traditions, yet others in ritual practices, and-
to commit the primal sin against Hinduisml,
that an unprecedented attack was going to
be mounted on the last pure space left to a
conquered pcople, was necessary to relocate the beginnings of true colonisation
here and now-so that a new chronology of
resistance could also begin from this moment, redeeming the earlier choice of
most problematic of all-a whole lot could
be simply embedded in an undefinable,
loyalism.
amorphous, diffused Il-indu way of life,
The nationalist press referred to thesc
problems from time to time but used them accessible to Ihindu instincts alone. The
The Indians have felt for the last two centuintention is to disperse the sources of Hindu ries that India is no longcr theirm, that it has
as auxiliary arguments rather than as central ones. Certain other kinds of political
Law and custom beyond condified texts,
passed into the hands of the Yavanas. But the
criticism found a stronger resonance. There however, authoritative or authentic those
Indians have, up to this time, found solace in
was a powerfully articulated fear about the might be. Even an ancient authority like
the thought that though their country is not
extension of police intrusion right into the Manu, who advocated 16 as the upper limit
theirs, their religion is theirs.80
heart of the I-lindu household.75 There was of marriage age for girls, was dismissed as
Or, even more forcefully and explicitly,
alsostrong opposition on the ground that an someone who wrote for the colder northern
"No, no, a hundred battles like that of
unreformed and unrepresentative legislaregions where puberty came later. Charak
Plassey, Assay, Multan could not in terture should not legislate on such controver- and Susruta weredismissed even more sumribleness of effect compare with the step
sial matters 76- a criticism that sought to
marily as near-Buddhists who had scant
Lord ILandsowne has taken."' With the
regard for true Ili ndu val ues. The process of
link up the anti-Bill agitation with current
possibility of protest in the near future,
Moderate Congress-type constitutional dewide dispersal renders Hlindu customs
apocalyptic descriptions of subjection beopaque and infinitely flexible, to the point
mands. These protests too remained rather
came common: "Tlhe day has at length
marginal to the true core of the Ilindu
of being eternally elusive to the colonial
arrived when dogs and jackals, hares and
revivalist-nationalist debate which wascarauthorities.
goats will have it all their way. India is
The crucial emphasis lay on the reiteraried on by hardliners like the newspapers
going to be converted into a most unholy
BaJtgabas hi,DainikOSamacharChafndrika tion that the proposed law was the first of itshell, swarming with hell worms and
or the Amritabazar Patrika.
kind to breach and violate the fundamentals
hell insects. ...The hlindu family is
IHindu nationalists started on a very faof Hlinduism. The argument could only be
ruined.'' 82
miliar note that had been struck on all sorts clinched by derecognising the importance
It was this language of resistance and
of issues since the 1870s: a foreign governof earlier colonial interventions in Hindu
repudiation that gave the Age of Consent
ment was irrevocably alien to the meaning
domestic practices. Sati, it was argued, was
controversy such wide resonance among
of Hindu practices. And, where knowledge
never a compulsory ritual obligation and its
the Bengali middle class. Tlhe Banigabaslii,
does not exist, there power must not be
abolition therefore mercly scratched the
in particular, formulated a rhetoric in these
exercised. A somewhat long illustration
surfacc of Hlindu existence. The Widow
years with phenomenal success,' becomfrom the Daintik 0 Samachar ChlantdrikaRemarriage Act had a highly restricted
ing in the process, the leading Bengali
sums up a number of typical statements onscope, simply dcclaring children born of
daily, changingover from its weekly status,
the matter.
a second marriage to be legal heirs to their
and pulling a whole lot of erstwhile reformThat a women should, from her childhood,fathers' properties.78 Reformers replied that
ist paperswith itsorbit forsome time. Even
the new bill was no unprecedented revision Vidyasagar, the ideal-typical reformer figremain near !ler husband, and think of her
of custom either, since the Penal Code had
husband and should not even think of or see
ure, criticised the bill.'
postponed.74
already banned cohabitation forgirls before
the face of another man...are injunctions of
the Hlindu Shastras, the significance whereof the age of 10. Since girls could attain puberty before that age, the sanctity of the
The response of a fairly pro-reform journal, the Bengalee, epitomises the way in
which the new agitational mood reacted on
is understoodonlyby 'sasttvik' [pure] people
like the Hindus. The Englislh look to thc garbhadhan ceremony had already been
a potentially reform-minded, yet largely
nationalist intelligentsia. It had supported
purity of the body. But in Hindu opinion she threatened. flindu revivalist-nationalists
retaliated with a reference to the elusive
alone is chaste and pure who has never even
the bill quite staunchly up to the end of
sources of I-lindu custom and a notion of the
January, 1891, after which there seemed to
thought of one who is not her husband. No
llindu 'normalising' order which could be
one who does not see with a 1Hindu s eye will
occur an abrupt change of line. In February,
grasped by pure-born Ilindus alone.
not be able to understand the secret meaning
after reporting on "an enormous mass protest meeting, the largest that had ever been
of Hiindu practices and observances.... Ac- It seems they [the reformers] do not know the
held", it started to find problems with the
cording to the Ihindu the childhood of a girl meaning of Adtya RitlJ [real menses]. Mere
is to be determined by reference, to her first flow of blood is no sign of Adya Ritu. A girllegislation-albeit more of a constitutional
never menstruates before she is 10 and even
kind, with reflections upon the unrepresentamenses and not to her age...77
The first point made here is a methodological one that disputes the attempt to
comprehend any foreign system of mean-
ing through one's own cognitive categories
(and immediately proceeds todoso itself by
generalising on English attitudes about the
body and the soul). The meaning of Hlindu
if she does the event must be considered
tive nature of the legislature.' In March it
unnatural.79This took care of the 1860 Penal covered yet another mammoth protest meetCode provision againstcohabitingwith a girl
ing and then redefined the grounds of its
under 10. An 'authentic' [Iindu girl accordown opposition. "It is no longer the laning to revivalists does not reach puberty
guage of appeal which opponents of the Bill
before slhe is 10. The earlierban had thereforeaddress to the rulers of the land....U-owever
not really tampered with H-findu practices.much we may differ from the opponents of
Were the ceiling to be extended to 12, a
the measure, we cannot but respect such
female childhood is then made different
serious interference would take place. IFhe
sentiments."'
through a different arrangement of medical,meaning of physicality itself is constituted We, therefore, turnr to the 'language' of
sexual, moral and behavioural conditions.
differentlyand uniform biological symptoms
the opponents, to the Banzgabashli. I lere was
While revivalist-nationalists do not, as yet,
do not point to a universal bodily developa radical leap from mendicantappeals, from
insist on complete autonomy in the actual
mentall scheme, since Ilindus alone know
oblique and qualified criticism and from
formulation and application of personal
what stands for the normal and the abnormal guilt and shame-ridden self-satirisation.
in the bodly's growth.
laws, they do claim the sole and ultimate
Ilere was the birth of a powerful, self-
right to determine their general field of
1876
Economic
and
T he i nsistence: that thc English were about confident nationalist rhetoric. "Who would
Political
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September
4,
1993
over Hindu marripge controversies.
Even in translation the power of the
voice comes through. The repetitive short
Certain newspapers, especially the
sentences joined by 'ands', the frequency
Bangabashti, took the lead in mobilising
protest, organising mass rallies and proof the word 'must', the use of vaster and
voking official prosecution. That paryet vaster numbers to build up inexorably
ticular group, however, soon withdrew,
The Englishman now stands before us in all towards a sense of infinite doom-all add
from the scene of confrontation. In the
his grim and naked hideousness. What a grim up to an incantatory, mandatory, apocalyptic mode of speech that is the typical
Swadeshi movement of 1905-08, the
appearance. How dreadful the attitude... The
Bangabashi would remain quiescent, even
demons of cremation ground are laughing a vehicle for a fundamentalist millenarianism. All external reasoning has
loyal to the authori ties. I owe this piece of
wild, weird laugh. Is this the form of our
information to Sumit Sarkar. For an exRuling power? Brahmaraksharh, Terror of been chipped away, just the bare mandate
is repeated and emphasised through threats
cellent study of the newspaper see Amiya
the Universe; Englishmen... do you gnash
your teeth, frown with your red eyes, laugh and warnings. This is an immensely powSen, 'Hindu Revivalism in Bengal' (unand yell, flinging aside your matted
erful, dignified voice, aeons away from
published thesis, Delhi University, 1980).
locks...and keeping time to the clang of timid
the mendicancy or morbid self-doubt.
2 Charles H Heimsath, Indian Nationalism
sword and bayonet...do you engage yourandHindu SocialReform, Princeton UniThis is the proud voice of the community,
selves in a wild dance ...and we...the twenty legislation on itself in total defiance of
versity Press, pp 91-94; Ajit Kumar
crores of Indians shall lose our fear and open foreign rule, of alien rationalism. It speaks
Chakraborti, Maharshi Dabendranath
our forty crores of eyes."
the authoritative word in the appropriately
Tagore, Allahabad, 1916, Calcutta, 1971,
Very confidently, almost gleefully, every authoritarian voice. The Hindu woman's
pp 406-35.
former trapping of rationalisation was peeled body is the site of a struggle that for the
3 The act of 1877 was a colonial intervenaway from the core message. Admittedly
first time declares war on the very fundation to tighten up the marriage bond which
sanction for infant marriage came from
mentals of an alien power-knowledge systhe Eindu orthodoxy strongly defended
Raghunandan alone, who was a late and
tem. Yet it is not merely a displaced site
on the ground that it coincided with, and
local authority. It might well lead to other
for other arguments but remains, at this
reinforced the true essence of Hindu condeaths.'9 It did, in all likelihood, weaken moment,the heart of the struggle. Bengali
jugality.
future progeny and lead to racial degenera- Hindu revivalist-nationalism, at this for4 See Dagmar Engels, 'The Limits of Gention; but "the Hindu prizes his religion
mative moment, begins its career by deder Ideology: Bengali Women, the Coloabove his life and short-lived children".'
fining itself as the realm of unfreedom.
nial State and the Private Sphere, 1890Hindu shastras undoubtedly imposed harsh I would not like to end, howeyer, with this
1930, Women Studies', International Fosuffering on women. "This discipline is the
speech, however, powerful. Its very contesrum, Vol 12, 1989.
pride and glory of chaste women and it
tation of alien reformism and rationalism,
5 Heimsath, op cit, pp 147-75.
prevails only in Hindu society"'.9' There its defence of community custom, represses 6 See extracts from BangabashiandDainik
were yet other practices that might bring onthe pain of its women whose protest was
O Samachar Chandrika between 1889
her death.
drowned to make way for an alleged conand 1891 in Report on Native Newspapers, Bengal (henceforth RNP,
FastingonEkadashi(fortnightlyfasting with- sensus. It is no longer possible to resurrect
Bengal).
out even a drink of water that widows are the protest of Phulmonee and of many,
7 For this version of Cambridge historiogmeant to ritually maintain) is a cruel custommany other battered child wives who died
or nearly died asa result of marital rape. We
raphy on Indian nationalism see,
and many weak-bodied widows very nearly
Gallagher, Seal and Johnson, Locality,
die of observing it...it is prescribed only in a have, however, several instanceswhen cases
were lodged at the initiative of the girl's
Province and Nation, Cambridge, 1973.
small 'tatwa' of Raghunandan. Is it to be
8 I have discussed this in Hindu Household
banned, too, for this reason, the guardian ofmothers, sometimes forcing the hands of
the male guardians-a rare demonstration
and Conjugality in Nineteenth Century
the widow arraigned in front of the High
of the woman's protest action for those
Bengal, paper read at the Women's StudCourt and pronounced guilty by the Baboo
times. We also have a court deposition left
ies' Centre, Jadavpur University, Calcutta,
jurors? 92
have thought that a dead body would rise
up again? Whoever thought that millionsof
corpses would again become instinct with
life?" 8 There was an exhilarating sense of
release in the naming of the enemy.
There would be other Phulmonees who
would die similar violent deaths through
infant marriage. Yet,
by a young girl who was severely wounded
and violated by her elderly husband.
1989.
9 N K Sinha, Economic History of Bengal,
Calcutta, n d.
"I cannot say how old I am. I have not reached
10 N K Sinha (ed), The Iistory of Bengal.
puberty. I was sleeping when my husband
"the performance of the garbhadhan cer- seized my hand....I cried out. He stopped my
11 See for instance Prasad Das Goswami,
emony is obligatory upon all. Garbhadhan
Amader Sanmaj, Serampore 1896;
mouth. I was insensible owing to his outrage
must be after first menstruation. It means the on me. My htusband violated me against my
Ishanchandra Basu, Stri Diger Prati
first cohabitation enjoined by the shastras. It will. ...When I cried out he kicked me in the
Upadeslh, Calcutta, n d; Kamakhya Charan
is the injunction of the Hlindu shastras that abdomen. My husband does not support me.
Bannerji, Stri Shiksha, Dacca, 1901;
married girls must cohabit with their hus- He rebukes and beats me. I cannot live with
Monomohan Basu, Hindur Achar
bands on the first appearance of their menses him.
VRYavahar, Calcutta 1872; Chandranath
and all Hindus must implicitly obey the in-
junction. And he is not a true Hindu who doesThe husband was discharged by the British
not obey it...If one girl in a lakh or even a magistrate and the girl was restored to
crore menstruates before the age of twelve it him.94
must be admitted that by raising the age of
consent the ruler will be interfering with the
Basu, Garlhast/iya Pat/i, Calcutta 1887;
Bhubaneswar Misra, Hindu Viva/ha
Samaloclhan, Calcutta 1875; Tarakhnath
Biiswas Bangiya Mahila, Calcutta 1886;
Anubicacliaran Gupta, Grilhastha Jivan,
Notes
Calcutta 1887; Narayan Roy, Bangamahila, n d, Calcutta; Chandrakumar
religion of the Hindus. But everyone knows
that hundred of girls menstruate before the
age of twelve. And garbhas (wombs) of hundred of girls will be tainted and impurc. And
the thousands of children who will be born of
those impure garbhas will become impure
1 1 use the term 'militant nationalism' in a
Bhattacliarya, Bangavivaha, Calcutta
somewhat unconventional sense here: not
1881; Pratapchandra Majumdar, Stri
as a part of a dcefinitc and continuous
C/aritra, Calcutta n d; Purnachandra
historical trend but as a moment of absoGupta, Banigali Bau, Calcutta 1885; and
lute and violent criticism of foreign rule
many others.
and lose their rights to offer 'pindas' lanicesthat was developed by a group of Hindus
12 See the preponderance of this theme in
tral offeringsj."94
the collection Of W C Archer, Bazaar
in the late 1880s and e.rly 1890s, largcly
Economic
and
Political
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4,
1993
1877
Paintings of Calcutta, London, 1953.
13 See, for instance, plots in the novels of
Bankimchandra, Bankinm Rachanabali,
Vol 1, Calcutta.
33 See SumitSarkar, 'The Kalki-Avatar of
57 Sanibad Prabhakar, June 30, 1887, RNP
Bikrampur: A Village Scandal in Early
Bcngal, 1887.
58 Bangabashti, June 25,1887, RNP Bengal,
20th Century Bengal' in Ranajit Guha
(ed), Suibaltera Studies VI, Delhi,
1989.
1887.
59 Nababibhakar Sadhtarani, July 18,1887,
RNP Bengal, 1887.
34 See Tanika Sarkar, Nationalist Iconogra15 See, for instancc, Sir William Markby,
phy.
60 Dacca1Prakash, June 8, 1875, RNP BenFellow, Balliol College an(d erstwhile
gal, 1A75.
35 Report of the Age of Consent Comimittee,
judge in Calcutta HIigh Court, Ilindu and
61 Education Gazette, May 11, 1873, RNP
1928-29, Government of Bengal, Calcutta
Mohamnmadant Law, 1906, Delhi, 1977,
1929. For some statistical observations
Bengal, 1873.
pp 2-3.
on this matter, see pp 65-66.
62 Heimsath, op cit
16 See, frequent references to the Queen's
36 Kamlakanter Daptar.
63 Bengal Government Judicial J C/17/,
Proclamation in the agitational writings
37 Tanika Sarkar, Bankimchandra and the
Proceedings 96-102, 1892, Nos 101-02.
in the nationalist press, RNP Bengal,
Imipossibility of a Political Agenda: A
1887-91.
File J C/17-5. Honourable justice
Wilson's charge to jury in the case
Predicament for 19th Century Bengal,
17 Markby, op cit, for a convergence of the
views of -this Orientalist scholar-cumEmpress vs Main Mohan Maitee, CalNMML Occasional Papers, Second Secutta High Court. Report sent by Arcar,
colonial judge with Hindu Legal opinion,
ries, No XL, 1991
Clark of the Crown, High Court, Calcutta,
compare him with Sripati Roy, Ctustonts38 Bangabashi, July 9, 1887, RNP Bengal
1887. For a critical discussion of such
antd Cutstomary Law in Britislh India,
to officiating chief secretary 90B,
views see Rabindranath Tagore, Hindu
No 6292-Calcutta, September 8, 1890.
Tagore Law Lectures-, 1908-09, reprinted
Vivaha, 1294. Rabindranath, himself, in
64 See Rajat Kanta Ray.
in Delhi 1986, pp 2-6.
this extremely involuted logical exer17a See J D N Derrett, Religioni, Law and the
65 Bengal Government Judicial NF J C/17/,
State in India, London, 1968.
cise, grants a practical purpose to infant
Proceedings 104-17, June 1893. From
18 For a clarification of the notion of unwritmarriage purely for better breeding purSimmons, honorary secretary, Public
poses but, in the process, Hindu conI-lealth Society of India to chief secreten law, see Robert M Ireland, TheLiberjugality is denied all effective orspiritine Mlust Die: Sexuial Dishonour and the
tary, Government of Bengal, Calcutta
tua l pretensions. RabindraRachanabali,
September 1, 1890.
Unwritten Law in thte 191/i Centur) United
Vol 12, Calcutta, 1349.
66 Ibid, C C Stevens, officiating, chief secStates, Journal of Social History, Fall
1989.
39 Chandrakanta Basu, Hindui Patni and
retary 90B, to secretary, home depart19 The Bengalee, March 7, 1873.
Hindu Vivaha Bayas 0 Uddeshya, cited
ment, Government of India, Darjeeling,
20 Markby, op cit, p 100.
in Hindu Vivaha, op cit, also by the same November 8, 1890.
21 This relates to a case involving the disauthor, Hhinduttva, op cit.
67 Letter from Simmons, op cit.
position of a Shalgram-shila in case of
40 See for instance Prasad Das Goswami,
68 Bengal Government Judicial, J C/17/,
Surendranath Bannerjee vs the chief
op cit, Bhubaneshwar Misra, op cit,
op cit.
justice and judges of the high court at
Kalimoy Ghatok, Ami, Calcutta 1885.
69 Bengal Government Judicial, NF J/C/
Fort William, July 1883. See an account
41 Monomohan Basu, op cit.
171, op cit.
in Subrata Choudhary, 'Ten Celebrated
42 Manmohan Basu, op cit.
70 McLeod'sMedicalReporton ChildWives
Cases Tried by the Calcutta High Court'
4-3 Sulabh Samachar 0 Kushadahe, July 22,
Bengal Government Judicial, ibid.
in the High Coutrt at Calcutta, Centenary
1887, RNP Bengal, 1887.
71 Ibid.
Souvenir 18Q.2-1962, Calcutta, 1962.
44 Far from invariably evoking a sense of
72 Ibid.
22 Sharmila Bannerjee, Studies in the Adsuperiority and disgust among English73 The Bengalee, March 21, 1891.
ministrative History of Bengal, 1880men, the spectacle would very often
74 Dagmar Engels, op cit.
1989, New Delhi, 1978, pp 151-55.
arouse similar sentiments. Compare a
75 Surabhi 0 Patrika, January 16, 1891,
23 Cited in The Bengalee, April 26, 1873.
description of a marriage procession by
RNP Bengal 1891.
24 See extracts from Murshidabad Patrika, an English tourist with our earlier ac76 The Bengalee, March 21, 1891.
Dacca Prakash and the Education Gacount: 'It was the prettiest sight in the
77 Dainik 0 Saniachar Chandrika, January
zette in April 1875, RNP Bengal.
world to see those gorgeously dressed
14, 1891, RNP Bengal, 1891.
25 See Philippa Levine, VictorianFeminism,
babies...passer-bys smiled and blessed
78 Nabayug, January 15,1891, RNP Bengal,
1850-1900, London 1987, pp 128-43.
the little husband and the tiny wife'; John
1891.
Also see Holcombe, Wives and PropLaw, Glimpses of hIidden India, Calcutta79 Dainik 0 Samnachar Chandrika, April 15,
erty-Reform of tIhe Married Women's
circa 1905.
1896, RNP Bengal, 1891.
Property Law in 19th Century England,
45 The Hindoo Patriot, July 25, 1887.
80 Nabayug, op cit.
Oxford 1983.
46 Ibid, August 16, 1887.
81 Bangabashti, March 21, 1891, RNP Ben26 Markby, op cit, p 100.
47 Ibid, September 12, 1887.
gal, 1891.
27 Mendus and Rendall (eds),Sexuality and
48 Ibid, August 1, 1887.
82 Ibid.
Subordination, Interdisciplinary Studies
49 Surabhi 0 Patrika, January 16, 1887,
83 See Amiya Sen, op cit.
of Genders in the 19th Century, RKP,
RNP Bengal, 1887.
84 Mentioned in The Bengalee, March 7,
1989, p 133.
1891.
50 Nistarini Devi, Sekaler Katha, first pub28 See also Holcombe, Victorian Wives and
lished serially in Blharatbarsha between 85 Tlte Bengalee, February 28, 1891.
Property: Reform of the Married
1913-14. Jana and Sanyal (eds),
86 Ibid, March 21, 1891.
Wonmen's Property Law, 1857-82 in
Atnmakatlla, Calcutta, 1982, p 87
11Bangabashi, March 28, 1891.
Martha Vicinus, A Widening Sphere:
5 1 Chandrakanta Basu, op cit.
88 Ibid.
Chtaniginig Roles of Victorian Womneni,
52 Tte IIinidooPatriot, Septenbe r 19, 1887. 89 Dainik 0 Santachar Chandrika, January
London.
53 Cited in The IIintdoo Patr-iot, ibid.
15, 1891.
29 Markby and Sripati Roy, op ciL
54 Dainwik 0 Saniaclhar Chiandrika, June 22,90 Bangabashi, December 25, 1890.
30 The Amrita Bazar Patrika, February 4,
1857. Also Dacca Prakash.
91 Dainik 0 Sarnacliar Chlanidrika, January
14 Prasad Das Goswami, op cit.
1873.
55 Bardhawani Sanjiv'aii, July 5. 1887, RN II 14, 1891.
31 Thte Ilindoo Pafriot, August 16, 1887.
Bengal, 1887.
92 Ibid, January J11, 1891.
32 Tfhe Amrita Ba-ar Patrika, January 28,
.56 Dihrntkcu, July 4, 1887, RNP l3cngal.93 Ihid.
1887.
1875, RNP' Bengal, 1875.
94 ThXe Ben galee, Jully 25, 1891 .
1878 Economic and Political Weekly September 4, 1993
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