On August 3, 1893, Mumai, six months old, was married to her paternal cousin, a boy of 10. This was one of the last child marriages amongst the Parsis of Navsari and, therefore, attended by Chimnabai, then 22 years old, the second wife of Sayajirao III Gaekwad, the Maharaja of Baroda, whose domain included Navsari. Greatly distressed by this child marriage, Chimnabai became a crusader for the rights of Indian women, until her death in 1958, at 87.
Mumai was asleep in Aimai’s lap and oblivious to the rice and rose petals being showered upon her and her husband, who kept......