History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s2.12

v2.c28.s2.12

Very detailed rules were laid down as to precedence among wives, if a man married several women. Viṣṇu Dh. S. (26. 1-4) concisely gives all the rules.¹²⁹⁹ If all the wives are of the same caste, then the wife whose marriage took place first was to be associated with the husband in all religious acts; if a man had wives of different varṇas (when inter-caste marriages were allowed) the wife of the same varṇa with the husband had precedence, though her marriage might have been later in date. If there is no wife of the same varṇa as himself, the husband may associate with himself in religious rites even a wife of the varṇa immediately next to his own; but a *dvijāti* should never associate a śūdra wife with himself in religious ceremonies. Vide Madanapārijāta p. 134 for similar rules. Vas. Dh. S. 18. 18 expressly says 'a woman belonging to the dark varṇa (i. e. śūdra) is meant only for pleasure and not for performance of religious rites'.¹³⁰⁰ Gobhila smṛti (I. 103-104) contains rules similar to those in Viṣṇu Dh. S., Yāj. I. 88 and Veda-Vyāsa II. 12 are to the same effect. Viśvarūpa on Yāj. remarks that though the eldest wife alone is entitled to take part in religious rites, all wives (except a śūdra wife) may be cremated with the śrauta fire. Vide Sm. C. I. p. 165. In the Pūrvamīmāṁsā (IX. 3. 20-21) Jaimini discusses the question whether the direction in the Darśa-pūrṇamāsa 'patnīm saṁnahya' (having girt up the wife) which employs the singular number should be modified into the dual or plural when the sacrificer (in a model sacrifice or its modifications) has two or more wives and establishes that no change is required. The Trikāṇḍamaṇḍana¹³⁰¹ (I. 43-44) says that there were three views when a man had several wives viz. some said that all should be associated with him in religious rites, others held that only the eldest wife of the same varṇa should be associated and the third view was that the husband should never associate with himself a wife whom he married for pleasure after he kindled the sacred fires. Manu (IX. 86-87) lays down that the wife of the same caste with the husband should always have precedence not only in the obligatory religious rites, but also in ministering to the physical comfort of the husband and if a brāhmaṇa husband gets these done by a wife of another caste when the wife of the same caste is near, he becomes like a cāṇḍāla.