A quick question - Child marriage?

From a fellow members post, I came to know that Ramji and Sita maa got married when they were a child[ Ramji- 16 yrs old and Sita maa - 9 years old"

But then Child Marriage is considered a crime. So, shouldn't Ramji and Sita maa have gone against child marriage?

is there a specific reason why they got married at such a tender age?

Originally posted by: dharam-veer fan

From a fellow members post, I came to know that Ramji and Sita maa got married when they were a child[ Ramji- 16 yrs old and Sita maa - 9 years old"

But then Child Marriage is considered a crime. So, shouldn't Ramji and Sita maa have gone against child marriage?

is there a specific reason why they got married at such a tender age?

Originally posted by: godisone

It's true that Ramji was 16, but Sitaji was not 9. She was 14 years old. Even then, Child Marriage has been considered a crime only recently. In my grandmother's time, child marriage was quite frequent and the accepted norm also, so way back in the Treta Yuga, it was also normal and not against law.

As bad as it sounds, the Vedas say nothing against Child Marriage, only our law. And also, only in these days is the legal age 18 years old. Back in the olden days (including Ramji and Sitaji's times), a child was no longer a child after he/she reached puberty. A male was considered an adult as soon as he was out of gurukul and done with his education, and a female was considered an adult as soon as she got her menstruation.

So technically, Ramji and Sitaji did not do anything wrong, because in our scriptures, there is nothing against child marriage, and in the laws of their time, the same also. Actually, many female children in my great-grandmother's time got married when they were infants, and lived in their parent's house until they had their menstruation, but then they were shipped off to their in-law's house, no matter how young they were.

Hope this helped...

Originally posted by: desichica

Agree with godisone....also to know the life span in Treta yug reached as much as 11,000 years...this was normal.....at this day and age, 11,000 years for survival seems near to impossible....but thats how it worked....

Although this has not much to do with Child Marriage....some1 once told me that the warriors like Bhishma pita, Dhrona, Kripa were as old as 500 years old when they fought....& this was in Dwapar yug!!!!

So each yug had different span of life, and different rules also.....hence different rules applied to each yug!!!!

Hope this makes sense!!!

Rightness or wrongness of any custom depends upon the society n circumstances. Child marriage suited that era. In primitive ages life was very simple. There was nothing like "'educalion for all" nor there were so many professions n jobs. it suited that era. I think child marriage was introduced to minimise pre-marital relationships- pre-marital pregnancy

A merit of child marriage is that it developes friendship between husband n wife if both of them r of tender age. when two people spend their childhood together they develop a strong bond n can become true soulmates. My grand parents also married at a tender age. they were happy with their marriage

But child marriage does not suits modern times. To live with dignity in present world u need education. Child marriage ruins right to education n full development. Working for child rights is my childhood dream n I m totally against child marriage yet I think that it was not that bad in primitive era I mean in Ramayan ages