History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.79

v2.c26.79

These rules about the proper age for the marriage of girls affected only brāhmaṇas. Sanskrit poets and dramatists always depict that the heroines in their works are grown-up at the time of marriage and even Bhavabhūti imagines that Mālatī, the heroine of his romantic drama of Mālatīmādhava, was so grown-up that it was practically a case of love at first sight. Vaik. (VI. 12) requires a brāhmaṇa bride to be a *nagnikā* or *gaurī*, but does not prescribe the same qualification for a kṣatriya or vaiśya bride. In the Harṣacarita princess Rājyaśrī is described as quite grown-up at the time of her marriage which was consummated on the very day of marriage (vide the last para. of the 4th Ucchvāsa). The Saṁskāra-prakāśa¹⁰⁶⁰ expressly says that there is no prohibition against marrying a girl who has passed the age of puberty for kṣatriyas and others. Even in Pauranic times grown-up unmarried girls must not have been unheard of. The Gṛ. R. p. 83 quotes a passage from the Brahmapurāṇa where the injunction to observe complete celibacy for one year, 12 days, 6 days or 3 days is construed as respectively referring to girls whose ages were 8, 12, 16 or 20 at the time of marriage.¹⁰⁶¹