War in Ancient India c5.s1.38

c5.s1.38

Marriages, then, among the warrior caste, as among the other castes, were occasions of great rejoicing, accompanied by festive processions, music and dancing. Marriages in royal families were generally occasions of public rejoicing. At the *svayamvara* marriage, all the chiefs of the land were invited and in the specially decorated hall they were seated in order. As the bride passed in front of the princes assembled, with a white garland of flowers, her lady-in-waiting would state briefly to her the name of each prince and his achievements. The prince whom she garlanded became her husband-elect. The marriage was at once celebrated in which all the rejected suitors were invited to participate; the princes did not think it in any way improper to mingle in the general festivities.³² Classical instances of a *svayamvara* are furnished by the marriage of Nala and Damayanti, and that of Rāma and Sītā. A study of the epics and the Purāṇas shows that polygamy was the rule, and polyandry an exception, if not altogether unknown. We have only one instance of the polyandry system, and that in the case of the five Pāṇḍava brothers having one wife Draupadī, daughter of king Drupadā. But what is held virtuous and praiseworthy is the *ekapatnīvrata*, or the law of having only one consort. Dāśarathi Rāma is a typical instance of the *ekapatnīvrata*.³³ His fidelity to and love for Sītā, the incarnation of chastity, is undoubted; but when he heard that public opinion was not in favour of his taking back his devoted wife, he sent her away to the forest and separated from her.