{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe07/sbe07026.htm","path":"hin/sbe07/sbe07026.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe07/sbe07026.htm","text":"1. Now a Br\u00e2hmana may take four wives in the direct order of the (four) castes;\n2. A Kshatriya, three;\n3. A Vaisya, two;\n4. A S\u00fbdra, one only.\n5. Among these (wives), if a man marries one of his own caste, their hands shall be joined.\n6. In marriages with women of a different class, a Kshatriya bride must hold an arrow in her hand;\n7. A Vaisya bride,. a whip;\n8. A S\u00fbdra bride, the skirt of a mantle.\n9. No one should marry a woman belonging to the same Gotra, or descended from the same Rishi ancestors, or from the same Pravaras.\n[XXIV. 1-4. Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 21, 74; M. III, 12-14; Y. I, 56, 57.--5. M. III, 43; Y. I, 62.--6-8. M. III, 44; Y. I, 62.--9, 10. Weber loc. cit. 75; M. III, 5; Y. I, 53; \u00c2past. II, 5, 11, 15, 16; Gaut. IV, 2-5.--12-16. M. III, 8.--12. Y. I, 53--17-26. M. III, 20, 21, 27-34; Y. I, 58-61; \u00c2past. II, 5, 11, 17--II, 5; 22, 2; Gaut. IV, 6-13.--27, 28. M. III, 23-26, 39; \u00c2past. II, 5, 12, 3; Gaut. IV, 14, 15.--29-32. M. III, 37, 38; Y. I, 58-60; Gaut. IV, 30-33.--38. M. V, 151; Y. I, 63.--39- Y. I, 63.--40. M. IX, 90; Y. I, 64.--41. M. IX, 93.\n1. This chapter opens the section on Samsk\u00e2ras or sacraments, i. e. the ceremonies on conception and so forth. (Nand.) This section forms the second part of the division treating of Akira. See above, XIX.\n9. According to Nand., the term Gotra refers to descent from one of the seven Rishis, or from Agastya as the eighth; the term \u00c2rsha (Rishi ancestors), to descent from the \u00c2rshtishenas or Mudgalas, {footnote p. 107} or from some other subdivision of the Bhrigus or \u00c2ngirasas, excepting the G\u00e2madagnas, Gautamas, and Bh\u00e2radv\u00e2gas; and the term Pravara, to the Mantrakrits of one's own race, i. e. the ancestors invoked by a Br\u00e2hmana at the commencement of a sacrifice. Nand.'s interpretation of the last term is no doubt correct; but it seems preferable to take Gotra in the sense of 'family name' (laukika gotra), and to refer the term sam\u00e2n\u00e2rsha to descent from the same Rishi (vaidika gotra). See Dr. B\u00fchler's notes on \u00c2past. II, 5, 11, 15, and Gaut. XVIII, 6; Max M\u00fcller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, pp. 379-388; Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 69-41. If \u00e2rsha were connected with pravara, the whole compound sam\u00e2n\u00e2rshapravar\u00e2 would denote 'a woman descended from the same Rishi '= saman\u00e2rsh\u00e2, Y. I, 53, and sam\u00e2napravar\u00e2, Gaut. XVIII, 6.]\n10. Nor (should he marry) one descended from his maternal ancestors within the fifth, or from his paternal ancestors within the seventh degree;\n11. Nor one of a low family (such as an agriculturer's, or an attendant of the king's family);\n12. Nor one diseased;\n13. Nor one with a limb too much (as e. g. having six fingers);\n14. Nor one with a limb too little;\n15. Nor one whose hair is decidedly red;\n16. Nor one talking idly.\n17. There are eight forms of marriage\n18. The Br\u00e2hma, Daiva, \u00c2rsha, Pr\u00e2g\u00e2patya, G\u00e2ndharva, \u00c2sura, R\u00e2kshasa, and Pais\u00e2ka forms.\n19. The gift of a damsel to a fit bridegroom, who has been invited, is called a Br\u00e2hma marriage.\n20. If she is given to a Ritvig (priest), while he is officiating at a sacrifice, it is called a Daiva marriage.\n21. If (the giver of the bride) receives a pair of kine in return, a is called an \u00c2rsha marriage.\n22. (If she is given to a suitor) by his demand, it is called a Pr\u00e2g\u00e2patya marriage.\n23. A union between two lovers, without the consent of mother and father, is called a G\u00e2ndharva marriage.\n24. If the damsel is sold (to the bridegroom), it is called an \u00c2sura marriage.\n25. If he seizes her forcibly, it is called a R\u00e2kshasa marriage.\n26. If he embraces her in her sleep, or while she is unconscious, it is called a Pais\u00e2ka marriage.\n27. Among those (eight forms of marriage), the four first forms are legitimate (for a Br\u00e2hmana);\n28. And so is the G\u00e2ndharva form for a Kshatriya.\n29. A son procreated in a Br\u00e2hma marriage redeems (or sends into the heavenly abodes hereafter mentioned) twenty-one men (viz. ten ancestors, ten descendants, and him who gave the damsel in marriage).\n30. A son procreated in a Daiva marriage, fourteen;\n31. A son procreated in an \u00c2rsha marriage, seven;\n32. A son procreated in a Pr\u00e2g\u00e2patya marriage, four.\n33. He who gives a damsel in marriage according to the Br\u00e2hma rite, brings her into the world of Brahman (after her death, and enters that world himself).\n34. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the Daiva rite, (brings her) into Svarga (or heaven, and enters Svarga himself).\n35. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the \u00c2rsha rite, (brings her) into the world of Vishnu (and enters that world himself).\n36. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the Pr\u00e2g\u00e2patya rite, (brings her) into the world of the gods (and enters that world himself).\n37. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the G\u00e2ndharva rite, will go to the world of Gandharvas.\n38. A father, a paternal grandfather, a brother, a kinsman, a maternal grandfather, and the mother (are the persons) by whom a girl may be given in marriage.\n39. On failure of the preceding one (it devolves upon) the next in order (to give her in marriage), in case he is able.\n40. When she has allowed three monthly periods to pass (without being married), let her choose a husband for herself; three monthly periods having passed, she has in every case full power to dispose of herself (as she thinks best).\n41. A damsel whose menses begin to appear (while she is living) at her father's house, before she has been betrothed to a man, has to be considered as a degraded woman: by taking her (without the consent of her kinsmen) a man commits no wrong.\n[39. Regarding the causes effecting legal disability, such as love, anger, &c., see N\u00e2rada 3, 43.\n40. Nand., arguing from a passage of Baudh\u00e2yana (see also M. IX, 90), takes ritu, 'monthly period,' as synonymous with varsha, 'year.' But ritu, which occurs in two other analogous passages also (Gaut. XVIII, 20, and N\u00e2rada XII, 24), never has that meaning.\n41. Nand. observes, that the rules laid down in this and the preceding Sloka refer to young women of the lower castes only. Nowadays the custom of outcasting young women, who have not been married in the proper time, appears to be in vogue in Brahmanical families particularly. Smriti passages regarding the illegality of marriages concluded with such women have been collected by me, \u00dcber die rechtl. Stellung der Frauen, p. 9, note 17. The {footnote p. 110} custom of Svayamvara or 'self-choice,' judging from the epics, was confined to females of the kingly caste, and in reality was no doubt of very rare occurrence.]","title":"XXIV.","type":"page"}