In the twenty first century Child-marriage has been more or less successfully restricted in most of the countries including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. But it was a critical social problem in nineteenth century’s India. Social reformer like Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar fought against this social evil. In this website we wrote an article on Swami Vivekananda’s quotes on marriage (linked at the bottom of this page), now we are going to write a sub-article only on Swami Vivekananda‘s quotes on Child-marriage.
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- I have a strong hatred for child-marriage.[Source]
- I must set my foot to the best of my ability upon this devilish custom of child-marriage.[Source]
- “Oh, what examples or self-denial are our widows! Oh, how sweet is child-marriage! Is another such custom possible! Can there be anything but love between husband and wife in such a marriage!” such is the whine going round nowadays.[Source]
- Society nowadays does not follow the texts recommending child – marriage nor will do so in future. Even now don’t you see?[Source]
- The Hindus, to keep up a high standard of chastity in the race, have sanctioned child-marriage, which in the long run has degraded the race. At the same time, I cannot deny that this child-marriage makes the race more chaste. What would you have? If you want the nation to be more chaste, you weaken men and women physically by child-marriage.[Source]
- The Westerners say that child-marriage is the root of all evils, therefore that is also very bad, of a certainty it is!. . . We are not discussing here whether these customs deserve continuance or rejection; but if the mere disapproval of the Westerners be the measure of the abominableness of our manners and customs, then it is our duty to raise our emphatic protest against it.[Source]
- You must abolish child marriage.[Source]