a suitable boy... (or a girl)

November

There is this story in the newspaper about a four-year-old girl who was married to a dog to ward off the evil eye from her family..

Gosh! This black magic thing is very prevalent amongst the lower classes and in the villages. I have even met with educated urban Indians who believe in this black magic stuff.

Coming back to the question of marriage, just 50 or 100 years ago, most people in rural India were married off at a tender age or even as babies. Before educated folks scream that this was uncivilized, barbaric etc. let me point out the benefits of marriage at an early age. In those days, life expectancy was short, so if the family line had to continue, it was best that people reproduce as fast as possible. Secondly, when people were married off as kids, it prevented them from indulging in promiscuous sexual behaviour openly. This also had the benefit of preventing these people from contracting and transmitting STDs. Anything wrong with that? Thirdly, it ensured that almost every human being reproduced to the maximum of their ability at a time when the population of India was not as staggering as today and child mortality was high. This was to ensure the survival of the species and of the lineage. Labour was needed to work the fields and who was better than your army of kids to do that?

From a modern, western point of view these practices were abhorrent but from a practical point of view, they were just common sense. Of course with education and urbanization different factors come into play as reproduction at a fast rate will neither help in one's survival nor lead to material or psychological fulfilment. India is now at that stage where a large chunk of people can in fact choose not to marry and reproduce blindly. But without a spiritual structure backing up this choice (like in Buddhism), it will be difficult for most to go through this.

Well! even among those who marry today 20% of the couples will be sterile, the statistics tell us. So Nature has her own wisdom and her own balance. The rates of sterility may increase in the coming decades. Nature's message is clear and loud----hold your horses man, your army of brats may not materialize at all; you can become a sadhu and atone for your sins and progress towards nirvana as your material assets will not follow you after you leave your body!