The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s5.7

c7.s5.7

The caste also did not raise any insurmountable barrier in the way of marriage for a long time. Even in the days of Manu the system was much more flexible than it is to-day, both as regards inter-marriages and inter-dining. The question of inter-caste marriages cannot be discussed here in detail; we may however observe that *anuloma* marriages and *i.e.*, marriages of males of higher castes with females of lower ones, were not uncommon in society down to the eighth century A. D. Even orthodox Smṛiti and Nibandha writers regarded them as legal, though not commendable, down to the 14th century A. D. Dharmaśāstra authors further lay down rules governing the shares of inheritance of sons born from wives of different castes.¹ Nor do they forget to enlighten us about the different periods of ceremonial impurity to be observed in case the relation dying happens to be of a different caste². That rules on these points should be found necessary to be laid down shows that inter-caste marriages of the *anuloma* type were not infrequent at least among the Brāhmaṇas, Kshatriyas and Vaiśyas.