The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s2.4

c7.s2.4

The Rākshasa marriage, or as it is more appropriately described by one authority, the Kshātra marriage, takes us back to prehistoric times when women were regarded as prizes of war. In this marriage the victor carried away the bride and married her, The fight was necessary either because women offered real resistance on account of the ill-treatment which they received from their husbands in primitive society, or because parents were unwilling to lose the services of their daughters, or because it was regarded as a point of honour for a warrior that he should have for his wife a woman, whom he could point out also as a trophy of war. The last point has been emphasised by Śrīkṛishṇa, when he proceeds to appease the anger of Baladeva and justify the conduct of Arjuna in forcibly carrying away Subhadrā, who, though fallen in love with Arjuna, was about to be married to a son of Dhṛitarāshṭra. ‘Arjuna,’ says Śrīkṛishṇa, ‘did not like Brāhma marriage, because brides are treated there as objects of gift like cattle. Purchase of bride, being a disreputable procedure, was altogether out of question. Since Subhadrā had fallen in love with him, to carry her away relying upon the power of his own arms was the only honorable course left open for Arjuna¹.’ This argument gives a good glimpse of the warrior mentality, which favoured the Kshātra marriage. It is interesting to point out that Śrīkṛishṇa had himself acted upon this theory at the time of his marriage with Rukmiṇī.