Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.6

c8.6

In the society depicted by Vātsyāyana, no marriage could take place, as we have already seen, until a young man had completed his education¹, until he had passed through to the end of the Vedic lore, as Yājñavalkya asserts². Again, in his chapter on marriage, Vātsyāyana emphasises the point that it was an educated man (śrutavān) who was to look for a bride³. "It is only the educated man who is entitled to the householder's life," declares Medhātithi while expounding the corresponding passage of Manu and moreover, he affirms in the same connection, "Mere study of the Veda is not enough, its meaning also must have been mastered⁴." Even Siddhārtha, the Śākya prince was refused the hand of Gopā by her father, Daṇḍapāṇi the Śākya, who according to the Lalitavistara, thus made reply to the proposal for marriage offered by Śuddhodana: "His Highness the Prince has been nurtured amidst ease and comfort, while it is our family-custom that a girl is to be given away to one proficient in the arts and not to one ignorant of them. The Prince is neither skilled in the arts nor is he acquainted with the art of warfare with the sword and the bow. How then could I bestow my daughter upon one ignorant in the arts." The Prince, the same book informs us, had to exhibit his learning and prowess, his proficiency in the arts and sciences, before he could get the hand of the girl of his choice. When we bear in mind that the *Lalitaristara* was written about the same time as the *Kamasutra*¹, the above episode in the life of Buddha gives us an insight into the mentality of the people of the period with regard to the necessity of a liberal and technical education before marriage.