Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.58

c8.58

Marriage of a girl before puberty, also appears to have been equally, if not more prevalent, as is evidenced by Vātsyāyana's section on Bālopakrama, that is, the courtship of a bālā or a girl of tender years. Similarly in a passage that we have already referred to above, he contrasts a wife who is of tender years, with one of advanced youth.⁵ This is also supported by the Gṛhyasūtras which speak of the marriage of a *nagnikā*, technically, a girl of ten years of age, as the most approved.¹