History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.85

v2.c26.85

Turning to the dharma and gṛhya sūtras, the matter stands thus. Some of the gṛhya sūtras (like Āśv., Āp.) do not expressly say anything about the varṇa of the bride. The Āp. Dh. S.¹⁰⁶³ (II. 6. 13. 1 and 3) requires that one should marry a girl of the same varṇa, who was not given before to another and marriage with whom is in accordance with śāstra and says that by contravening these rules sin is incurred. So he condemns mixed marriages. The Mānava gṛ. I. 7. 8 and Gaut. IV. 1 require that one should marry a girl of the same varṇa and are silent about marriages with a bride of another varṇa. But Gautama knew of such marriages and enumerates the names of several sub-castes due to mixed marriages (IV. 14-17) and he includes among those who are unfit to be invited at a śrāddha dinner a brāhmaṇa who is the husband of a woman of the śūdra caste (15. 18). Manu (III. 12), Śaṅkha and Nārada¹⁰⁶⁴ (strīpuṁsa, v. 4) say that the best course is to marry a girl of one's own caste. This is said to be *pūrva kalpa* (the foremost or the best procedure). Many also speak of a less advisable course (*anukalpa*, as it is called) viz. that a brāhmaṇa may take as wife a woman of any caste, a kṣatriya may marry a woman of his own caste or a vaiśya or a śūdra woman, a vaiśya may marry a vaiśya or śūdra woman and a śūdra only a śūdra woman. This is stated by Baud. Dh. S. I. 8. 2, Śaṅkha, Manu III. 13, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 24. 1-4. Pār. gṛ. I. 4 and Vas. Dh. S.¹⁰⁶⁵ I. 25 inform us that some teachers allowed a dvija to marry a śūdra woman but without Vedic mantras. But Vasiṣṭha himself condemns it severely by saying 'one should not do so (i. e. marry a śūdra girl), for by doing so the degradation of the family is certain and loss of heaven after death'. Though the Viṣṇu Dh. S. and Manusmṛti state that a dvijāti may marry a śūdra girl, that is not their own view, but they simply voice practices and sentiments prevalent in their time, since both denounce the marriage of a brāhmaṇa with a śūdra girl in the most un-measured terms. Viṣṇu Dh. S. 26. 5-6 (S. B. E. vol. 7 p. 112) says that the union of a dvijāti with a śūdra woman can never produce religious merit; it is from carnal desire alone that he marries her being blinded by lust; and that dvijāti men who thus marry śūdra women quickly degrade their families and progeny to the status of śūdras'. The ancient editor of the Manusmṛti did not tolerate such marriages (though he gave expression to the common trend of view in III. 12-13) and condemns a dvijāti's marriage with a śūdra woman in the strongest language (III. 15-19, Manu III. 15 being the same as Viṣṇu Dh. S. 26. 5) 'a brāhmaṇa by having intercourse with a śūdra woman goes to hell and by procreating a son on her he loses his status as a brāhmaṇa'. Yāj. I. 57 allowed a brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya to marry a girl of his own varṇa or of the varṇas next in order, but laid it down as his emphatic opinion that 'a dvijāti should not marry a śūdra girl'. It appears however that prevailing public opinion and practice was too much for both Manu and Yāj.; for, both declare (Yāj. II. 125 and Manu IX. 152-153) that when a brāhmaṇa has sons from wives of the four varṇas, the son of a brāhmaṇa wife takes four shares (out of 10 in which his wealth is to be divided), the son of a kṣatriya wife takes three, of a vaiśya wife two and of a śūdra wife one. Yāj. (I. 91-92) recognises the marriage of a brāhmaṇa with a śūdra and says that the son of such a union is a pāraśava'. Manu III. 44 also recognises the marriage of a śūdra girl with one of a higher class by saying that she holds the hem of the garment of a bridegroom of a higher class.