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

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).