marriage. 75
law, her husband cannot take her side without shaming himself before his elders.
Thus she quickly learns the behavior appropriate to her role as a young bahuin a
strange household.
Virtually every new bride longs to return to the security of her natal home. Even
though she may be secretly thrilled by her relationship with her husband, a bride
rarely enjoys being sequestered and ruled by her mother-in-law. Songs stress the un-
happiness of the young wife in her new residence, and young girls eagerly seize any
opportunity to return home. Sometimes a young wife is so unhappy she commits
suicide, typically by jumping in a well. Few girls can go home when they wish; a
young wife must be formally called for, with the permission of her in-laws, and es-
corted by a responsible male from her natal household.
For the village bride, marriage does not mark attainment of independent adult-
hood but signals the acquisition of a new set of relatives to whom she is subordi-
nate. Her actions had previously been guided by sometimes indulgent parents; with
marriage and gauna, they fall under the control of adults who are far less likely to
consider her wishes. She herself can attain a position of authority only by growing
older, becoming the mother of children, and outliving her mother-in-law. Until she
is at least middle-aged, a woman is usually subordinate to and protected by others.
NOTES
- Country-wide legislation has set the minimum legal marriage age for girls at
eighteen and for boys at twenty-one. The average age at which village girls in the Bhopal
area marry is gradually rising, and many brides are now in their late teens. - Oscar Lewis, Village Life in Northern India (New York: Vintage Books, 1965),
160–61. - Tara Krishna Basu, The Bengal Peasant from Time to Time (Bombay: Asia Pub-
lishing House, 1962), 100. - Among some high-status groups of Central India, dowries are currently increas-
ing in size and importance. Such a trend has been noted in many parts of the country. - D. N. Majumdar, Himalayan Polyandry (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1960),
124–32; Gerald D. Berreman, Hindus of the Himalayas (Bombay: Oxford University
Press, 1963), 171–73. - Mildred Stroop Luschinsky, “The Life of Women in a Village of North India”
(PhD diss., Cornell University, 1962), 350–51.