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India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s3: Section 3. Marriage

India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c8.s3

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Section 3. Marriage

c8.s3.1

The householder's life began with marriage. Its ceremony was performed round the Fire as witness. Pāṇini refers to marriage by the word *upayamana* (I.2.16), which he explains as *sva-karaṇa*, *i.e.* 'the bridegroom making the bride his own' (I.3.56). The marriage ceremony was solemnised by *pāṇigrahaṇa*, 'the holding by the bridegroom of the bride's hand.' Pāṇini uses two other terms for it, *haste-kṛitya* and *pāṇau-kṛitya*. This holding of the hand was a symbol of *sva-karaṇa*, *i.e.* formal transfer of the father's dominion over the girl to the husband. We may cite Manu's comment that this ceremony was observed for marriage within the same caste (III.43).

c8.s3.2

This formality was considered so important in marriage that Kātyāyana calls the legally wedded wife as *pāṇi-gṛihītī* (*vār.* on IV.1.52; *Bhāshya* II.221), whereas the girl married without proper ritual was marked out by the different term *pāṇi-gṛihītā* (*yasyā hi yathākathaṁchit pāṇir-gṛihyate*, II.221). *SOCIAL EFFECT OF MARRIAGE*—The legal effect of marriage is an important proposition in Hindu law. The term *sva-karaṇa* of Pāṇini is explained by Patañjali as 'making one's own what was not so previously' (*asvaṁ yadā svaṁ karoti*, *Bhāshya*, I.3.56; I.284). According to Manu marriage meant the gift (*pradāna*) of a girl by her parents by which they transferred their dominion over her to the bridegroom (*pradānaṁ svāmya-kāraṇam*, V.152).

c8.s3.3

According to Pāṇini, the bride whom the husband marries should be a *kumārī*, which is explained by Patañjali as *apūrva pati*, *i.e.* one who is not previously married (*Kaumārāpūrvavachane*, IV.2.13). The virgin after marriage was honoured by the title *kaumārī bhāryā*, and her husband *kaumāra-pati*. It is the same as the epithet *ananyapūrvikā* applied by Yājña-valkya (I.52). The husband and his wife after marriage had to perform jointly the sacrificial rites, from which the wife derived the title of honour as *patnī* (*patyur-no yajña-saṁyoge*, IV.1.33). It was denied to a woman not properly married. The social status of the husband devolved on his wife, as implied in Pāṇini's *sūtra* (*Puṁyogād ākhyāyām*, IV.1.48), *i.e.* a designation derived from her husband; *e.g.* *mahāmātrī* (ministrix), wife of a *mahāmātra*, a high government official, and *gaṇakī*, wife of a *gaṇaka* (accountant). Pāṇini also speaks of *āchār-yānī* as the wife of an *āchārya* (IV.1.49).

c8.s3.4

EXOGAMY—Marriage must have been contracted outside the *gotra*. Pāṇini in one place refers to the formation of compound words showing two *gotras* united in marital relationship. (*maithunikā*) (IV. 3. 125). Patañjali instances (1) *Atri-Bharadvājikā*, (2) *Vasishṭha-Kaśyapikā*, (3) *Bhṛigu-Aṅgira-sikā*, (4) *Kutsa-Kuśikikā*, and (5) *Garga-Bhārgavikā*, *i.e.* marriages contracted between two different *gotras* jointly designated (II.4.62; I.492). Most of these *gotra* names occur in Pāṇini's *sūtras*.

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