The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s5.18

c7.s5.18

Intercaste marriages were permitted down to the 10th century because the cultural differences between the members of the different twice-born castes were not many or far-reaching. They all performed *upanayana*, and observed the various sacraments laid down for them. They were all non-vegetarians; even Brahmanas used to eat meat when they took part in Vedic or ancestral sacrifices. Things began to change gradually, and by about the 9th century, the cultural gulf between different castes became too wide to permit of happy and harmonious inter-marriages. Under the influence of growingly rigorous notions of puritanism Brahmanas gave up Vedic sacrifices and meat-eating; not content with one daily bath, they began to have two or even three ablutions a day. Sandhyā prayers could never have been more than two in the earlier times, now a third one was added at the midday. A number of new *vratas* came to be prescribed. The Brahmana community as a whole used to conform to the new standard as much as possible. Other castes, however, could not only not follow the new standard, but found it difficult to maintain the old one. Thus all the *dvijas*, *i.e.*, Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaiśyas, were authorised to study the Vedas. From Alberuni, however, we learn that the Vaiśyas had ceased to avail themselves of this privilege long before the 10th century, and even as regards Kshatriyas, although a few of them were still studying the Vedas, marriage and other ceremonies were performed in their case with Pauranik and not with Vedic prayers and formulæ. This shows that the rule permitting Vedic studies to them had practically become a dead letter. Kshatriyas and Vaiśyas could not accept the prohibition of meat-eating, laid down and followed by Brahmanas. When the cultural differences between the Brahmanas and other castes had` become so wide, inter-caste marriages were found to be highly undesirable. How could, for instance, the marriage between a vegetarian and a non-vegetarian be found feasible ? Marriages between Brahmanas and non-Brahmanas first went out of vogue. When Brahmanas made their own group endogamous, other castes followed suit, and in course of time inter-caste marriages even of the *anuloma* type, though permitted by Smṛitis, disappeared from society.