History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.285

v2.c24.s1.285

As regards women who are not wives of the teacher, the following rules deserve attention. The first rule is that married women, whatever their age may be, deserve honour (and so he must salute &c.) according to the ages of their husbands⁸²⁷ (Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 14. 18 and Vas. Dh. S. 13. 42). Viṣṇu Dh. S. 32. 2 gives the same rule, but restricts it to wives of the same caste. Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 14. 6 prescribes that the same honour must be shown to the mother and father as to a teacher i. e. their feet must be clasped on those occasions on which a teacher's feet are to be clasped and Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 14. 9 extends the rule to elder sisters. Gaut. (VI. 7-8) states that the feet of the wives of (elder) brothers or of one's mother-in-law need not be clasped on any occasion; and the feet of a paternal uncle's wife or of elder sisters need not be clasped except when one returns from a journey. But Manu (II. 131–132) gives different rules. A maternal or poternal aunt, a maternal uncle's wife, a mother-in-law are equal to one's teacher's wife and must be honoured like her; one's elder brother's wife's feet must be clasped every day if she is of the same caste, but the feet of the wives of one's other paternal and maternal relatives need only be clasped on one's return from a journey. Viṣṇu Dh. S. 32. 3 places a maternal or paternal aunt and the eldest sister on an equality with the teacher's wife. As already stated above in the case of all women the salutation is simply 'I salute' (abhivādaye aham)' without mentioning one's name. Devala says 'the mother, mother's mother, teacher's wife and the full brothers and sisters of one's parents, paternal grand-mother, mother-in-law, elder sister and the foster mother are women who are (to be honoured like) *gurus*'.⁸²⁸