Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.628

c7.628

The necessity of equality in birth is pronounced already in the marriage rules of the Gṛhyasūtras² and the Kāmasūtra and it is particularly emphasised in all the Smṛtis as well as in the Mah.³ Of course in this respect too the gradual progress into harder rules cannot be mistaken. Thus it was an ancient topic of dispute whether the marriage between a man of a higher caste and a Śūdra woman may be allowed or not and, not infrequently, both the views are found one immediately after the other, as, e. g., Baudh. 1, 16, 2, M. 3, 13, Nār. 12, 5, f. and Vi. 24, 1 allow the Brahman to marry women out of the four classes in the order, but on the other hand Baudh. 2, 2, 7 and 4, 1, 5, M. 3, 14 f., Nār. 12, 108, Vi. 26, 4 ff. etc. decisively condemn connections with Śūdra women. Also Āp. 1, 26 7, Vas. 1, 25 f., Y. 1, 56, Pārask. 1, 4, 11 etc. unequivocally declare themselves against the permissibility of such marriages even if they are performed without the usual marriage Mantras, and other ancient authors such as Uśanas, Hārita, Gautama etc. (cf. M. 3,16, §§ 3, 4 above), fell out only over the question whether in such cases the