Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.580

c7.580

The Kāmasūtra too is important for the history of *vivāha*, for it describes in detail the course of an Indian betrothal and marriage from a viewpoint quite different from that of the Smṛtis however, it often agrees fully with the Gṛhyasūtras. Thus the passage (193 f.) about the girls who should be avoided in choosing a bride is almost literally identical with Āp. Gṛ. 1, 3, 10—13. Now here too a *rākā*, i. e. an already grown-up girl is called unacceptable and, at least according to the commentary, the epithet *phalinī* too has a similar meaning, and moreover according to Kāmasūtra p. 190 the bride must be at least three years younger than the bridegroom.¹ Nevertheless in the following often grown-up brides are talked of; thus on p. 200 a mature bride (*nigādhajauvanā*) is mentioned, i. e. one who, as the commentator remarks, has found a husband on account of her other good qualities inspite of this comparatively unimportant defect. If a suitor's courting is rejected, he should try to enter into a love-intrigue (*gāndharvavivāha*) with the girl or to take possession of her through one of the three lower forms of marriage (207—232). Here too apparently the girls are assumed to be grown up as well as in p. 222 where the bridegroom hunting of a *prāptayauvanā* is referred to i.e., one who has remained unmarried because she found no suitor on account of her low origin or her poverty or because she was an orphan formerly. Accordingly, at the time of the composition of this ancient work¹ the demands of the Brahmanical customery law were already well-known which however raised too many difficulties in practical life; the standpoint of the *Kāmasūtra*, which declares the *gāndharva vivāha* to be the best form of marriage (§ 16) is of course quite opposed to the austere views of the Dharmaśāstra.