History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c8.9

v1.c8.9

Anuloma marriages were not thus uncommon in the times we are describing. Such marriages took place usually in castes only one degree apart and rarely though that may be, they took place even in castes two or more grades apart. For Bāṇa records that he had two Pāraśava brothers i. e., sons of a Brahmin by a Śūdra wife. Here the word Pāraśava is used which shows that the progeny is not treated as illegitimate. The caste of the sons was not that of the father, but in case of Brahmins marrying Kshatriya wives or Kshatriyas marrying Vaiśya wives the caste of the progeny was treated the same as that of the father. For it does not appear that Dhruvabhata's son by the daugter of Harsha was treated as less than a Kshatriya. Ample epigraphic evidence is available to show that Brahmins actually married Kshatriya wives, or even Vaiśya wives without loss of caste,[*] by the progeny.