Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.558

c7.558

§ 17. Child marriage. Marriage is a necessity; celibacy is allowed only to the monk (naiṣṭhika brahmacārin) and the nun (parivrājikā), who however are hardly ever mentioned in the Smṛtis. Therefore, care must be taken particularly for girls, that they early enter the estate of matrimony,¹ because a marriageable daughter who, without being married, continues to remain in her father's house, becomes a Śūdrā (Vṛṣalī) and her father who did not take care to get her married at the proper time commits a great sin thereby. As the result of this sin he forfeits the nuptial fee for the bride as well as his authority over his family; the daughter, who now has to get herself married independently as Svayaṃvarā, suffers loss of wealth and can even be abducted with impunity (§ 16), and her husband, at least according to the later writers, should be an outcast as a Vṛṣalīpati and avoided in society.