Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.638

c7.638

Instead of *savarṇa* frequently also the general terms *sajāti*, *samāna*, *samānajātīya*, *sadṛśa* and similar other expressions are used to express the equality of position of the parties concerned in a marriage, and it may probably be assumed that this principle applies to those narrow societies which actually appeared already very early and supplanted the great prehistoric *varṇas*. Today there is, for example, no connubium between particular Brahman sects; yet it happens specially among the Kulin Brahmans of Bengal, well-known for their polygamy, that high caste Brahmans take money for their marriage with girls of lower status; but it is in conformity with the Smṛti rule that misalliances, where the husband is of a caste higher than that of the wife, are not to be absolutely condemned. These questions are to be discussed more minutely in the State antiquities.¹