History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.451

v2.c26.451

*Maṅgalasūtra-bandhana:* (tying a string having golden and other beads on it round the neck of the bride). This is now regarded as the most important ornament which no woman will part with as long as her husband is alive. But the sūtras are entirely silent about it. Among the earliest references is one from Śaunaka smṛti¹²⁴² (ms. in Bombay University Library, folio 39 b). The Laghu-Āśvalāyana smṛti 15. 33 also prescribes it and the mantra to be employed when doing so. Gadādhara on Pār. gṛ. I. 8 says that maṅgala-sūtra should be worn and garlands be placed round their necks by the bride and bride-groom, though the sūtra of Pāraskara is silent on the point. The Baud. gṛ. śeṣa sūtra V. 5 in describing 'arkavivāha' speaks of māṅgalya sūtra to be tied to the plant. It is not clear whether it means the same as the maṅgalasūtra now tied by married women round their necks. About the nose-ring or nose ornament to which all women whose husbands are living attach the greatest importance in modern times, the sūtras, smṛtis and even the early digests are entirely silent. Dr. Altekar in his recent work 'Position of Hindu women in Hindu Civilization' pp. 362-64 holds from the evidence of the sculptures throughout India that the 'nose-ring was unknown throughout the whole of India during the entire Hindu period' (i. e. till about 1000 A. D.). Mr. P. K. Gode in Annals of B. O. R. I. vol. XIX (for 1939) pp. 313-34 adduces evidence to show that a nose-ornament was known to literary works from at least about 1000 A. D.