History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c8.7

v1.c8.7

It is interesting to observe that in the matter of marriage, there is a distinct difference in the remark of Megasthenes and that of Hiuen Tsang, the former belonging to the time of Chandragupta of 300 B. C. and the latter to the time of Harsha of 600 A. D. Megasthenes remarks that the Brahmins were allowed to marry wives from the lower castes.* In fact this tallies with the provision of Manu which allows the higher castes to marry into the lower, the progeny when the lower order was immediately next being of the same caste as that of the father. This rule of Manu has, as we know, been abandoned in the later Smṛitis and in order that the progeny may be of the same caste both the husband and wife must be, it is now declared, of the same caste. This view of the later Smṛitis is reflected in the remark of Hiuen Tsang. But it must be noticed here that the old order of things of Manu’s days had not yet passed away entirely in the time of Harsha. Caste was still somewhat loose and higher orders were allowed to marry in the lower next without the lowering of the caste of the progeny. Hiuen Tsang reports that Harsha’s daughter was married to Dhruvabhata and that while the former was a Vaiśya the latter was a Kshatriya. So also Bāṇa records that Harsha’s sister was married to Grahavarmā Mankhari of Kanauj and we shall see that while Harsha's family name ended in Vardhana or Bhūti indicating their caste to be Vaiśya, the name of the Maukaris ended in Varman showing that their caste was Khatriya. Thus the times of Harsha were an intervening step in the process of the rigidification of caste ending in the next few centuries in the total prohibition of marriage outside the caste.