62 ' WOMEN AND SOCIAL INJUSTICE
settled. The cost of the marriage will be not less than Rs 900 in
ornaments and dowry (Rs 300). I have a life policy in the Sun
Life Assurance of Canada for Rs 2,000. The policy was issued in
1914. The company has agreed to give me a loan of Rs 400 only.
It is only half the amount required. I am absolutely helpless in
respect of the other half. Could you not help this poor father
with the other half ? "
This letter is one out of many such. The majority of
letters are written in Hindustani. But we know that
English education has made things no better for parents of
daughters. In some cases they have become worse in that
the market price of possible young men who would suit an
English educated daughter of an English educated father
suffers an appreciable increase.
In a case like the Bengali father's the best help that
can be rendered is not a loan or a gift of the required
sum, but it should consist in persuading and strengthening
the parent to refuse to purchase a match for his daughter
but choose or let the daughter choose one who would
marry her for love, not for money. This means a voluntary
extension of the field of choice. There must be a breach
in the double wall of caste and- province. If India is one
and indivisible, surely there should be no artificial divisions
creating innumerable little groups which would neither
interdine nor intermarry. There is no religion in this cruel
custom. It would not do to plead that individuals cannot
make the commencement, and that they must wait till the
whole society is ripe for the change. No reform has ever
been brought about except through intrepid individuals
breaking down inhuman customs or usages. And after all
what hardships can the school-master suffer, if he and his
daughters refuse to treat marriage as a marketable transac-
tion instead of a status or a sacrament which it undoubtedly
is ? I would, therefore, advise my correspondent
courageously to give up the idea of borrowing or begging,
and to save the four hundred rupees he can get on his life
policy by choosing in consultation with his daughter a
suitable husband, no matter to what caste or province he
belongs.
Harijan, 26-7->36