Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.560

c7.560

A marriage which is advantageous and in conformity with the laws of caste, cannot be contracted too early; in the pessimistic views of the Smṛtis with regard to the virtue of a woman, only in this way the virginity of the bride may be warranted for; the right of self-determination for the parties concerned was perfectly inconsistent with the ruling ideas about the non-independence of women and also of the sons permitting only the Gāndharva and Rākṣasa marriage recognised as an odious privilege of the Kṣatriyas. In this way the well-known Indian custom of child marriage (balavivāha) becomes quite understandable and it has parallels among various other peoples. But it still remains to be explained how and when the Vivāha which, according to its name and the Vedic marriage hymns, was originally a marriage festivity, came to be transformed into a ceremony of betrothal which was indeed legally fully binding but the bride went to the bridegroom's house—therewith the conjugal life began—only a few years later when the bride attained puberty.