What Does the Shastra Have to Say? The Age of Consent Bill Controversy and the Reimagination of Hinduism in Modern Western India

Abstract

Historians studying the debates around the Age of Consent Bill (1891) have not adequately analyzed its theologico-legal foundations and its utility in ascertaining notion(s) of social reform within the competing domains of authority (colonial law and religious customs). This chapter extensively analyzes the arguments put forth by B.G. Tilak, M.G. Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar, the chief male participants in the debate, in determining the contours of religious exegesis, the appropriate age for marriage and its redressal in the proposed Bill. The chapter then focuses on the steadily growing indigenous feminist movement which defended the Bill and contested patriarchal-religious orthodoxy. Of particular interest is the text The High-Caste Hindu Woman by Pandita Ramabai, which challenged the male authority over the theologico-legal texts and instead imagined a marriage based upon the ideals of freedom of choice and mutual love between partners.