History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.91

v2.c26.91

It is extremely difficult to say when exactly inter-caste marriages even between dvijātis came to be prohibited by the smṛtis and writers of digests. Viśvarūpa¹⁰⁶⁶ on Yāj. III. 283 (not later than first half of 9th century) clearly suggests that in his day a brāhmaṇa could marry a kṣatriya girl. Medhātithi on Manu III. 14 suggests that about 900 A. D. at the latest marriages of brāhmaṇas with kṣatriya and vaiśya girls took place rarely in his day, but not with śūdra women; and the Mit. on Yāj. does not at all say that though marriages among dvijātis (anuloma ones) were allowed by Manu and Yāj. they had entirely ceased to be regarded as valid by its time. Many of the medieval digests and writers like the Sm. C. and Hemādri quote verses stated to be from the Āditya-purāṇa or Brahma-purāṇa on matters forbidden in the Kali age (and so called Kalivarjya) among which inter-caste marriages are included.