Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.512

c7.512

§ 16. *The eight forms of Marriage.* The anomalies in the family law of the Brahmans are explained in their essence quite simply if it is comprehended what a high value was attached to the possession of a male descendant from economic and religious motives and by a crude conception about the position and vocation of the woman it was held, *inter alia*, that the children of the wife belong to the husband who is the owner of the woman even when he is not their father, just as the crops growing in a field belong to the owner of the field even though he has not sowed it (M. 9, 31-56 ; Nār. 12, 55-57 ; Vas. 17, 6-9 ; Āp. 2, 13,6 f. ; Baudh. 2, 3, 33-35 etc.). This view has however been challenged already in the Veda (*śruti*) and in some of the Smṛtis it has certainly been repudiated like the theory of subsidiary sons. A similar contrast between cruder and finer conceptions is met with also in the Indian law of marriage, in which beside the extremely rigid and lofty ideal of marriage we find matches being made by purchase or robbery or by defrauding the woman of her portion.