Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.583

c7.583

The Mah.² in its didactic portion contains the rule that a man of 30 years of age should marry a girl of 10 who is still *nagnikā* (13,44,15) or that a man of 20 years should marry a girl of 7. As in the Smṛtis here too the *svayaṃvara* is allowed three years after the attainment of puberty and advice has been given not to wait longer in father's house (13,44,14—17). These ordinary *svayaṃvaras* must be distinguished from the festive *svayaṃvaras* which, along with the *gāndharva vivāha*, seems to have been a privilege of the nobles and at the present day too the daughters of the Rajput nobles are married later than the girls of other classes (§16). We must not forget in connection with the ideal maidens of the Mah. as well as of Indian poesy in general³ that we have poetical and often conventional portraits which could have corresponded but little to reality. The well-known statement of Greek authors about the attainment of puberty by Indian women at the age of seven as well as the statement about the six-year-old mothers of India, are wrong in this form, as puberty is generally attained in the twelfth year; but they may refer only to the observation of the marriage ceremonies of seven-year-old brides. Alberuni (2,154) too was astonished at the early marriages of Hindus.