{"id":5646,"date":"2014-01-03T17:38:32","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T17:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vedkabhed.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/03\/paedophilia-in-hinduism\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T06:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T06:42:30","slug":"paedophilia-in-hinduism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vedkabhed.com\/index.php\/2014\/01\/03\/paedophilia-in-hinduism\/","title":{"rendered":"Paedophilia in Hinduism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Written by Sulaiman Razvi<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hinduism presents early marriage as a moral obligation, particularly for girls.<\/span> Several Smriti and Purana sources state that failing to marry a girl before the onset of puberty constitutes a serious sin. According to the scriptures, the forefathers of the girl shall drink the blood of her monthly courses if she is not married before puberty. Conversely, marrying a girl before puberty is described as a meritorious act capable of sanctifying multiple generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

These texts also impose strict caste-based and sexual regulations. A Brahmin man marrying a Shudra woman is condemned and labelled Vrisalapati, a term used to denote ritual degradation. Notably, this same label is applied to a man who marries a girl after the onset of menstruation, indicating that post-pubescent marriage was treated as ritually improper. In a similar vein, a girl who remains in her father\u2019s house after menstruation is described as fallen or degraded. Some Smriti and Purana prescriptions even state that a man of thirty should marry a girl of twelve, reflecting a normative endorsement of <\/span>paedophilia<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Taken together, these prescriptions reveal a lack of consensus among Hindu lawgivers on prohibiting practices that modern standards would classify as paedophilia. Rather than uniformly condemning such practices, <\/span>the consensus among authoritative texts appears to normalise or even explicitly endorse them<\/span>. Historically, child marriage and paedophilia were widespread in India well into the late nineteenth century. For example, when the British <\/span>colonial government introduced the Age of Consent Bill of 1891\u201392, which sought to raise the age of consent for girls from ten to twelve, several prominent Hindu leaders, including Bal Gangadhar Tilak, opposed the reform on the grounds that it violated Hindu customs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historical examples further illustrate the social acceptance of child marriage during this period. Rabindranath Tagore, the renowned poet and composer of the Indian national anthem, was twenty-two years old when he married Mrinalini Devi, who was ten, in 1883. Evidence from the Puranas also suggests that such practices were prevalent at the time of their composition. Although Hindu personal law was later codified and child marriage was made illegal, the practice has not been entirely eradicated and continues <\/span>all over<\/span> India today.<\/span><\/p>\n

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