The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s6.74

c2.s6.74

Before taking up the question of the price paid for the girl, let us consider the kind of a girl one should marry. She should of course be ‘of good family’: the first rule, wherever we find rules on this subject, is always that a man should take care that his son marry a girl whose family is worthy of her; and his daughter, a man of like or higher caste. In this regard, because of caste, no land was ever stricter in its precepts. Legends, however, oppose the laws in showing us as many cases of men of knightly caste uniting with priests’ daughters as men of priestly caste with girls of warrior-caste; and even the women of lower castes are here wedded to kings and priests. To be avoided in marriage are girls personally defective, or afflicted with disagreeable diseases, or with inauspicious names. Too close relations are forbidden to marry in the later law: ‘one should avoid a girl of the same family as one’s mother.’*