Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.550

c7.550

The law of marriage recognises as orthodox and appropriate for Brahmans only the first four forms of marriage in the usual list. Only of those marriages pure children are said to be born who should atone for the sins of their forefathers and descendants—in case of the Brāhma Vivāha up to the 10. generation or even to the 21. generation, and the sons born of the three lower forms of marriage would atone for the sins of correspondingly fewer and fewer generations. The women married according to the Brāhma rites are said to go themselves to the heaven of Brahman after their death; if married according to other forms they would go to the heavens of Viṣṇu and other gods respectively. The husband has a claim on the Strīdhana of his wife only if he has married her according to one of the higher four forms of marriage.