The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s3.29

c7.s3.29

We may therefore conclude that during the period 400 B. C. to 100 A. D. the marriageable age was being gradually lowered, and the tendency on the whole was to marry girls at about the time of puberty. There was, however, no uniformity in practice current in society. The *Kāmasūtra*, which belongs to the end of this period, presupposes the existence of both the post-puberty and pre-puberty marriages (III, 2-4). The stories in the *Kathāsaritsāgara*, which depict the social life of about this time, refer both to child marriages brought about by parents and to love marriages arranged by the parties themselves (Chaps. 24, 124).