It was the custom of the Talpur dynasty of Sind to put to death all children born to the princes of slave women. Dr. James Burnes was informed that one member of the family alone had destroyed 27 of his illegitimate offspring.
Dr. Cooke saw mummy-like bodies of infants in a cave) in Bhagwana in Baluchistan, some of which had a comparatively recent appearance.
Infanticide of girl infants was common in Saur rada, by eutombing them alive, or wrapping them in cloth, and so burying them. It was put an end to by Colonel (Sir John) Campbell about the year 1848. The Kandh killed their own girls, and then purchased wives from other parts of the country.
Infanticide was greatly condemned by the Sikh Guru Goldin], who says, With the slayers of daughters whoever has intercourse, him do I curse.' And again, ' Whosoever takes food from the slayers of daughters, shall (lie unabsolved.' Nevertheless, the 13edee race of the Sikhs, the hereditary priest hood, who are to bo found all over the Panjab, adopted this mode of disposing of their daughters, from religions pride leading them to regard with horror the idea of giving their daughters to persons of inferior rank.
In the total population of British India of 253,891,821, the males, in 1881, numbered 129,941,851, and females 123,949,970, or six millions less.
In four provinces or states the females were in excess, viz. :— Males. Females.
Bengal, . . . . 34,625,591 34,911,270 Mad ras, . . . . 15,421,043 15,749,588 Mysore, . . . . 2,085,842 2,100,346 Travan core, . . . 1,197,134 1,201,024 In every other province the males were more numerous, and in the, following four greatly so :— Males. Females.
Coorg, . . . . 100,439 77,863 N.W. Provinces and Oudb, 23,297,255 21,552,364 Panjab, . . . 12,322,356 10,389,764 Itajputana, . . 5,544,665 4,723,727 Under Act viii. of 1870 for the suppression of female infanticide, small sections of the Ahir, Ahar, Taga, Jat, Rajput, Gujar, and Mina, aggre gating about 350,000 persons, were proclaimed in various parts of the N.W. Provinces and Oudh.
The suspected castes consist mostly of well-to-do agriculturists, amongst whom the 1881 census shows the following proportion of females to 100 persons :— The census report of 1881 shows, as under, the nereentage of females in age groun Among the last five castes there still is neglect of female infants, though during the last ten years the high mortality amongst the Rajput, Taga, and Gujar must have considerably abated ; but among the Ahar and the Jat there has been little, if any, improvement. the five years 1875
to 1879 inclusive, the birth-rate of the proclaimed castes fluctuated from 321 to per 1000 of the population.
Infanticide at one time was prevalent in the Ktunlyan country, from poverty, being born under an evil star, and illegitimate children.
The Chinese have complete power over their offspring, even to life. In China, and also iu Japan, infant murder Is at the present time pre valent. In the great cities of Pekin and Canton, Sir George Staunton found the exposure of children to be very common. Among the Chinese, however, it is ascribed to their extreme poverty, and it is more prevalent in the southern coast provinces than in the northern and midland. There are towns and districts in China where infanticide is practised, in some instances to an infamous extent, in others to a less degree. There are others, again, where it is not known at all as a habit, and Mr. Medhurst believes that in the majority of cities it is a crime no more frequent than in some Euro pean towns, and then only to conceal frailty. The Government of British India, and their officers engaged in the census-takings of 1872 and 1881, have been directing much attention to this sub ject, and the present position will be found described at p. 237 of article India, and p. 354 of Rajputs.—Mcdharst, Far. Cathay, p.90; Browne on Infanticide ; Cormack's Female Infanticide ; Cole. Myth. Hind. ; Makolnes Persia ; Burnes' Sind ; Calcutta Review, 1871 ; Gonad Rehet Nameh, extra to the Gruneh ; Cunningham's Sikhs ; Sale's Koran, p. 54; Abbe Dubois; Chatfield's Hindustan ; Census Reports ; Oriental Herald, xv. p. 479 ; Pr. R. A. Soc. iii. p. 263 ; Mon and Mat. Frog., 1874-75, 1875-76.