History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.68

v2.c26.68

So we see that from about 600 B. C. to about the beginning of the Christian Era it did not matter at all if a girl was married a few months or few years after puberty. But by about 200 A. D. (when the Yāj. smṛti was composed) popular feeling had become insistent on pre-puberty marriages. The reasons for this change are not quite clear. But it is possible to hold that it was due to the following circumstances. Buddhism had spread far and wide during these centuries with its encouragement of the institution of monks and nuns. There was laxity of morals among nuns. A further reason may be adduced viz. that girls had generally ceased to study anything, though some of them certainly did study in the times of Pāṇini and Patañjali, and so society did not like girls to remain doing nothing. From the times of the Ṛgveda (X. 85. 40-41) there was a mystical belief that Soma, Gandharva and Agni were the divine guardians of a girl and the Gṛhyāsaṁgraha (quoted in the com. on Gobhila gṛ. III. 4. 6) says that Soma enjoys a girl first, then Gandharva enjoys her when her breasts develop and fire when she menstruates. Therefore, a feeling arose that a girl must be married even before she develops any distinct signs of femininity. Saṁvarta¹⁰⁵² (verses 64 and 67) gives expression to this idea. Further, since marriage came to be looked upon as the upanayana in the case of women, naturally the age for upanayana (8th year) came to be looked upon as the proper age for marriage. Vide Saṁskārakaustubha quoted below. It came to be believed that there was no hope of heaven for a woman who died unmarried.