In 1884, the case of Rukhmabai, a twenty-five year old Hindu woman whose crusade not to be bound to an unhappy and unconsummated child-marriage, became a cause celèbre in colonial India and in Britain. It highlighted the plight of women, the injustices of child marriage, and questioning the authority--indeed the legality--of Indian marriage laws. Chandra takes this case as his raw material and goes on to examine the wider issues of colonial power, gender relations, and the law in the late 19th century.