The age of menarche in classical India

Data from the writings of Indian legislators during the period between ca. 500 B.C. and A.D. 500 have been used to study menarcheal age among girls born in classical India. As these legislators were concerned mainly with the upper-caste population, it can be presumed that the recordings obtained are only from upper-caste Hindu girls. Throughout the period the age at menarche was about 12 years. A number of legislators considered the best age for conception to be around 16. When these data are compared with those obtained from classical Greece and Rome, the Indian age is found to be about 1-2 years earlier. Comparison of the data from the 19th century and present-day India reveals that the older data are about 0.8-2.2 years earlier when various areas are considered. These results contrast with the downward trend for the age at menarche seen in the industrialized countries during this century.