There is much frankness in this explanation inasmuch as it was the difficulty of marrying their daughters in a way they considered properly that encouraged the practice. There is no doubt there had been a persistent warfare in the formative periods of the tribes, and when the warlike conditions made it impossible to marry the daughters advantageously, the daughters become a burden with the result that the practice of infanticide sprang up. “The practice which prevailed in Europe,” says Colonel Walker, “and chiefly amongst the principal families, of placing their daughters in nunneries, might be traced to the same motives that led the Jharejas to put theirs to death; and both have originated in the desire of diminishing the cares and expense attending a numerous family.”[185] That the practice, no matter how deeply rooted in the tribe, still leaves the decision with the father, is shown from the following explanation of putting the child to death: “When the wives of the Jhareja are delivered of daughters, the women who may be with the mother repair to the oldest man in the house; this person desires them to go to him who is the father of the infant, and do as he directs. On this the women go to the father, who desires them to do as is customary, and so to inform the mother. The women then repair to the mother, and tell her to act in conformity to their usages. The mother next puts opium on the nipple of her breast, which the child, inhaling with its milk, dies. The above is one custom, and the following is another: when the child is born, they place the navel string on its mouth, when it expires.”[186] We are further informed that “if a father wishes to preserve a daughter, he previously apprises his wife and family, and his commands are obeyed; if a mother entertains the wish of preserving a daughter, and her husband is averse to it, the infant must be put to death.”[187] The heads of the tribes were consulted. Many of them declared that the women and children were well treated and pointed out the fact that the Hindu religion has always protected the female sex from violence and that it was unlawful to put a woman to death for any offence whatsoever. In support of this they quote the following Sloke verse, which is extracted from the Dhurma Shastra: “Shut Gao Vudhet Veepra; Shut Veepra Vudhet Streeya; Shut Streeya Vudhet Bala; Shut Bala Vudhet Mroosha.” “To kill 100 cows is equal to killing a Brahmin; To kill 100 Brahmins is equal to killing a woman; To kill 100 women is equal to killing a child; To kill 100 children is equal to telling an untruth.”[188] Walker also came across a tribe of Brahmins called Kurada. Their object of worship was a goddess known as Makalukshmee to whom human sacrifice was acceptable. Another name for their deity was Vishara Bhoot, a spirit of poison, a very amiable ghost inasmuch as it led to the poisoning of guests as sacrifices for this queen of another world.