Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.514

c7.514

The Kāmasūtra 230 likewise places the Paiśāca Vivāha above the Rākṣasa Vivāha; the former is said to take place in this way: the foster sister or the maid (*dhātreyikā*) of the young lady, on understanding with the wooer, makes her drunk and in this state delivers her up to him, or he proceeds in this way without the help of the *dhātreyikā*. On the other hand, the Rākṣasa Vivāha is said to consist of forcible abduction of the young lady by pouncing upon her when she is journeying or is in another village or a garden and to put her guards to flight or to kill them. Whether connections formed in this way could afterwards be legalised by the celebration of the nuptial ceremony, is a controversial point. Otherwise capture of women is considered to be a crime punishable by death (M. 8, 323) at least when the abducted woman is of a caste higher than that of the ravisher (Y. 2,287); only she who has not been married off by her father at the proper time may be seduced with impunity (Vi. 24,41; M. 9, 93).