Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s9.1302

v2.c4.s9.1302

The sister stood in a close relation to her brother. If the father was dead or feeble, the sister was dependent on her brother and on his wife, as appears from the Rigveda⁴ and the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.⁵ Moreover, maidens without brothers were apt to find marriage difficult, and to degenerate into Hetairai;⁶ but it is not certain whether this was due, as Zimmer⁷ thinks, to brothers being required to arrange marriages for orphan girls, or because sonless fathers were anxious to make their daughters Putrikās, in order that they themselves, instead of the husbands, should count the daughters’ sons as their own.⁸ See also Jāmi.