I've read there were many reasons for the marriages Toni and usually the bride and groom had no say. Influence and money for the parents were the main objects but supposedly protection for the women who were extremely vulnerable. Marrying a young man would have been a relief for many of the young women I would imagine. Marrying an old man, I suppose if you were just an ornament, would have been better than depending on other males in your family to look after you. It was a very different society then in India to our western ideas especially today.