Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.529

c7.529

Of course, the festive Svayaṃvara of the epics is not found in the Smṛtis and the choice of husband is allowed to the young lady only if she is not married even after some time has passed after her attainment of puberty; in doing so however she forfeits all claim upon the inherited family jewels while on the other hand, the bridegroom too need not in such cases pay the nuptial fee to the bride's father (M. 9, 90-93); he may even kidnap the bride (see above). The motive in this is that the father loses his authority over the daughter through his delay in giving her away in marriage and from this point of view it is understandable why the Brahmans do not count the Svayaṃvara among the eight forms of marriage. The Kṣatriya Rajputs have not quite accurately observed the Brahmanical custom of child-marriage¹ and so the custom of the choice of husband attended with festivities, which presupposes a grown-up bride,—thus Sāvitrī is *yauvanasthā*, Damayantī is *praptayauvanā*—could be maintained among them. Of course, even in the Svayaṃvaras of the epics the bride is given away by the parents (*svayaṃvare dattā*) and there are indications that their choice was not a free one; it may be assumed *a priori* that in these high class matrimonial alliances politics exercised a considerable influence. See §17 for the Svayaṃvara in the Kāmasutra.²