Chapter 5 Chapter 3 Child Marriage

I wish very much that it would have been best not to write this chapter, knowing that I will have to shed many painful tears in this narrative.But if I call myself a worshiper of the truth, I cannot avoid this experience.This is my painful responsibility, and I have to record here that I got married at the age of thirteen.Today when I look at the children in my care who are my age, I can't help but think of my own marriage, and I grieve for myself, and I am thankful that they have not met my fate.I see no moral argument for such an absurd early marriage as mine. Readers please do not misunderstand that I am married not engaged.Because in Katiyahua, engagement and marriage are two different etiquettes.Engagement is a marriage contract promised in advance by the parents of both men and women, and it is not irresolvable.When the man dies, the woman does not need to be a widow.This is entirely an agreement between the parents, and has nothing to do with the children, and sometimes they don't even know it.I seem to have been engaged three times myself, though I don't know it myself.I heard that the two girls chosen for me had both died, so I suppose I was engaged three times.I vaguely remember my third engagement when I was seven years old.But I can't remember if anyone told me about it.What I shall be dealing with in this chapter is the history of my marriage, which I remember very well.

We are three brothers, and the eldest brother has been married long ago.Our parents decided to call my second brother who was two or three years older than me, and a cousin who was about a year older than me and myself were married at the same time.They do it not for our happiness, still less our desire, but purely for their own convenience and economy. Hindu marriage is not a simple matter.For a marriage, the parents of both men and women often lose their fortunes. They waste money and waste time.In order to purchase clothing and prepare banquets, it often takes several months.Banquets also compete with each other to see who has the most samples and is the best.Women, no matter whether they are good at singing or not, always sing loudly, and even get sick because of it, yelling and disturbing the neighbors.And the noise and the annoyance of the leftovers were always indifferent to the neighbors, because they knew that someday they would have one too.

Our parents understand the troubles of these things, so they want to do it in one go, which is economical and good.Because spending money once, even if it is extravagant, is more cost-effective than spending three times.My father and uncle are very old, and we are the youngest children, and they probably hoped to have the comfort of this last marriage before they died.Because of all these considerations, they made the decision to have three marriages at the same time, so as I said before, they were busy with preparations a few months earlier. It is by being busy with these things that we are alert to the coming events.I think at that time I just thought that getting married was nothing more than getting dressed, beating gongs and drums, welcoming the bride, having a big feast and getting a strange girl to play with, that's all.Sexual desire comes later.In order to hide my embarrassment, I think I will not talk about it except for a few plots worth describing.

I will talk about these later.And these plots don't have much to do with the central idea of ​​my writing this story. In this way my second brother and I were sent back to Porbandar from Rajkot.There were some interesting things about the preparations before the final show—such as smearing turmeric paste all over our bodies—but I must spare them. My father was a Tiwan, but at any rate a servant, all the more so because he had won the confidence of the prince of his country.The prince was not willing to let my father leave until the last moment, and sent my father several special carriages, which could save two days' journey.Fate, however, arranged otherwise.It is 120 miles from Rajkot to Porbandar, five days' journey by horse-drawn carriage.My father arrived in three days, but on the last leg the car overturned and he was seriously injured.When he returned home, his body was already wrapped in gauze.Although the interest of my father and us has been reduced by more than half, the wedding still has to be held.

Because how can the date of marriage be changed?However, indulging in the childish pleasures of the wedding, I actually forgot my father's pain. I am filial to my parents, but the degree of indulging in my carnal desires is no less than my filial piety to my parents.I did not yet understand that honoring one's parents should sacrifice all happiness and joy.Then, as punishment for my indulging in pleasure, an incident occurred which I will regret for life, which I will speak of later.There is a line in the Niskulanna song that says, "Without desire and a pure heart, you will never be able to hold on." Whenever I sing this song, or hear someone else sing it, it reminds me of this painful incident. Shameful, filled with shame.

My father managed to attend the entire wedding despite being injured.Looking back to this day, I still vividly remember where he sat during every detail of the wedding.I never dreamed then that one day I would severely criticize him for making me marry at an early age.I found everything on that day to be well-placed and pleasant.Of course I wanted to get married myself at the time.Precisely because my father's actions that day were so understandable, those events are still novel in retrospect.To this day, I can still draw how we sat on the wedding platform, how we walked the "seven steps" ceremony with the bride, how as newlyweds, we put caramel candies into each other's mouths, and how we were born after that. living together.And, that wedding night!Two ignorant children threw themselves into the sea of ​​life without knowing it.My sister-in-law once fully imparted the knowledge that the first night should have to me.I don't know if someone taught my wife that too.I never asked her, and I don't want to now.The reader must think that we were too nervous to face each other.We are really embarrassed.How can I talk to her?What can we talk about?What my sister-in-law taught me didn't seem to be enough to help me get much help.

In fact, things like this don't need advice.The impression left by our predecessors is enough to make all teaching superfluous.We gradually got to know each other and could talk casually together.We were the same age, but it wasn't long before I exercised my husband's authority.