History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.50

v2.c26.50

In the Ṛgveda there are no clear statements about the exact age when girls were married. But there are indications that many girls were married at a sufficiently mature age (at least they were not married at the tender age of eight). We have already seen (p. 435) that brotherless girls often remained unmarried till old age. One of the benevolent deeds¹⁰⁴¹ of the Aśvins is that they bestowed a husband on Ghoṣā who was growing old in her father's house. Vide also Ṛg. I. 124. 7, II. 17. 7, and Atharvaveda I. 17. 1. In Ṛg. X. 27. 12 it is said ‘when a bride is fine looking and well adorned, she by herself seeks her friend from among men’. That shows that girls were grown-up enough to select their husbands. Some of the verses in the marriage hymn (such as Ṛg. X. 85. 26-27, 46) indicate¹⁰⁴² that married girls could not have been child-wives, but must have been grown-up. On the other hand in Ṛg. I. 116. 1 it is said that the Nāsatyas (Aśvins) bestowed a wife on Vimada who was an *arbhaga* (of tender age).¹⁰⁴³ But all that is meant seems to be that Vimada was a mere boy as compared with his rival kings who had come as suitors. The two verses Ṛg. I. 126. 6-7 (which are rather too naive) indicate that girls were married before they had attained puberty. In Ṛg. I. 51. 13 Indra is said to have given to old Kakṣīvat a wife named Vṛcayā who is styled ‘*arbhā*’ (young). But that word is only used in contradistinction to the word ‘mahate’ (grown old) applied to Kakṣīvat and conveys no idea of her exact age.¹⁰⁴⁴ On the whole one may conclude that in the period of the Ṛgveda girls were probably married at any age (either before puberty or after puberty) and sometimes remained spinsters all their life. The other Saṁhitās and the Brāhmaṇas do not shed much light on the question of the age of marriage for girls. In the Chān. Up. Uṣasti Cākrāyaṇa is described as dwelling in the Kuru country with his wife, who is said to have been ‘āṭikī’ which Śaṁkara explains as ‘a mere undeveloped girl’.¹⁰⁴⁵