The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s5.10

c7.s5.10

Epigraphical and literary evidence shows the same thing. The Brāhmaṇa king Agnimitra of the Śuṅga family had married a Kshatriya princess named Mālavikā in *c.* 150 B. C. A fifth century inscription records how a Brāhmaṇa of a respectable family, Soma by name, had married a Kshatriya lady 'in accordance with the precepts of Śrutis and Smṛitis'³, and not out of any frivolity. The Vākāṭaka minister Hastivarman was descended from him. At about the same time a Kadamba ruler, though a Brāhmaṇa by caste, gave his daughter in marriage to the Guptas, who were Vaiśyas. As the bride belonged to a higher caste than the bridegroom, this was not only an inter-caste but also a *pratiloma* marriage, which is very vehemently condemned by Smṛiti writers. The founder of the Pratihāra family, king Harichandra (*c.* 550