The Rashtrakutas and their Times c21.137

c21.137

Alberuni says that the Hindus of his time used to arrange the marriages of their sons, because they used to take place at a very early age.¹⁰⁸ In another place he informs us that no Brahmana was allowed to marry a girl above 12 years of age.¹⁰⁹ That Alberuni's observation was true of the Deccan of our period as well, is proved by the *Nitivākyāmṛta* from which we learn that boys were usually 16, and girls not above 12, at their marriage.¹¹⁰ It may be pointed out that as early as the time of the Dharmasūtras, *i. e.* c. 300 B. C. – c. 100 A.D., pre-puberty marriages were regarded as preferable to post-puberty ones; almost all the Smritis that were composed at about our period pronounce most frightful curses upon the guardians who fail to marry their female wards before they attain puberty.¹¹¹ We may, therefore, safely conclude that during our period pre-puberty marriages of girls were the order of the day at least among the Brahmanas. There seem to have been some occasional cases of post-puberty marriages among the ruling families; the marriage of Samyogitā, with the famous Pṛthvīrāja, for example, took place when she was quite grown up. But such cases were exceptions and not the rule.