NANA FIRNAVESE. 
193 
the guilt, and to become in his own person responsible 
for all the consequences of the sin. The princess was 
accordingly put to death, and female infanticide was 
from that time practised among the Jarejahs.'* 
Whether this be really the origin of female infan- 
ticide or not, it is certain that the motive for its 
practice among the Rajpoots is the same — the difficulty 
of finding suitable matches for their daughters. But, 
it may naturally be asked, why not allow them to 
live unmarried ? Because among the Hindoos celibacy 
is considered a family disgrace, and so universal is 
this feeling, that there is scarcely to be found an un- 
married female of high caste throughout the whole 
extent of the Indian peninsula. Children are affianced 
to each other in their infancy, when not more than 
three or four years old, and girls at that tender age 
are frequently betrothed to very old men, when the 
match is considered advantageous ; so that an old 
maid is as rare in Hindostan as common in Eu- 
rope. Mr. Moor, the ingenious author of the Hindoo 
Pantheon, tells a story sufficiently amusing, and at the 
same time strongly corroborative of the fact stated. 
“ Nana Firnavese, prime minister of the Mahratta 
empire — the Pitt of India — lost his wife in 1796, 
when he was rather an old man, and as he was infirm 
withal, it was not expedient that he should marry, as 
is usual, a mere infant, and his brahminical brethren 
sought far and near, and for a long time sought in 
vain, for an unmarried marriageable Brahminee of a 
* See Report from Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Walker, 
dated Baroda, 15th March 1808, of the measures pursued by 
him for the suppression of infanticide in Katl^war or Guzerat. 
s 
