PATNA: Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Monday favoured raising the marriage age to 25 in tune with "Ashrama system" prescribed in Hindu philosophy for good health and getting rid of the problem of malnutrition.

The present permissible age of marriage for boys is 21 years while for girl its 18 year.

"I believe marriage age for both boy and girl be raised to 25 in accordance with the age old tradition of Ashrama system," Manjhi told reporters on the sidelines of "Janata ke Darbar me Mukhya Mantri" programme.

The Ashrama system divides life into four stages on the basis of age.

The first stage is "Brahmacharya" (celibacy) till the age of 24.Second one is "Grihastha" from 24-48, then "Vanaprastha" (48-72) and finally "Sannyasa" (72 till demise).

There was sound reasoning for categorisation of stages in the Shastras, he said and attributed the ills of health problem, population explosion and malnutrition due to violation of the age-old practise.

"Why height of an average person has come down to 5 feet from earlier 7 feet?" he asked and attributed it to early marriage.

The 70-year-old CM cited his own example and said he got married after 25 and that's the reason even at this age he does not take any medicine.

"Lifting marriage age to 25 will solve the problems of bad health and malnutrition among women and infants prevalent in society today," he said.

