The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s6.39

c2.s6.39

Among the sins looked upon as ‘without expiation’ (as a variation on the saying quoted above) we find injury to a friend, thanklessness, woman-killing, and teacher-killing. It is quite in accord with the character of the Epic that we find one verse giving the expiation for a crime, and another denying the existence of such expiation (xii. 108. 32). To steal women is also one of the customs reprehended by Aryan law,* and we find it especially laid down for the dasyu that he should avoid union with (Aryan) women of high station, and theft of women.† Nevertheless, the Aryans, as they always carried captured women into slavery, could not have been free from this fashion.‡ Indeed, one of the marriage-forms is simply robbery of the girl, and one of the uses of a king is, it is said, to prevent women being stolen (xii. 67. 8 ff.)—that is, to put a stop to this antiquated form of marriage, of which, however, the Epic affords traditional examples in the case of its chief heroes.