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The Sacred Laws of the Âryas: Baudhâyana - Prasna I, Adhyâya 11
Kandikâ 20
1. (There are) eight marriage-rites.1
2. If (the father) gives (his daughter) to a student (who has not broken his vow of chastity and) who asks for her, after fully enquiring into his learning and character, that (is) the rite .of Brahman (brâhma).2
3. If (the father gives his daughter away) after clothing her and decking her with ornaments, (saying) 'That (is thy wife), fulfil the law (with her),' that (is) the rite of Pragâpati (prâgâpatya).3
4. If (the bridegroom) after offering the first burnt oblation of parched grain (receives the maiden) for a bull and a cow, that is the rite of the Rishis (ârsha).4
5. If (a maiden is given) to an officiating priest within the sacrificial enclosure, while the presents are being taken away, that (is) the rite of the gods (daiva).5
6. The union of a lover with a loving damsel (is called) the rite of the Gandharvas (gândharva).6
7. (If the bridegroom receives the maiden) after gladdening (the parents) by money, (that is) the rite of the Asuras (âsura).7
8. (If the maiden is wedded) after being forcibly abducted, (that is) the rite of the Râkshasas (râkshasa).8
9. If one has intercourse with (a maiden) who is sleeping, intoxicated, or out of her senses (with fear or passion and weds her afterwards, that is) the rite of the Pisâkas (paisâka).9
10. Among these (eight rites) the four first (named) are (lawful) for a Brâhmana. Among these also each earlier named is preferable.10
11. Among the (four) later (named rites) each succeeding one is more sinful (than the preceding ones).
12. Among these the sixth and the seventh agree with the law of the Kshatriyas. For power is their attribute.11
13. The fifth and the eighth (are lawful) for Vaisyas and Sûdras.12
14. For Vaisyas and Sûdras are not particular about their wives,13
15. Because they are allowed (to subsist by such low occupations as) husbandry and service.14
16. Some recommend the Gândharva rite for all (castes), because it is based on (mutual) affection.
Kandikâ 21
1. The Veda declares, The quality of the offspring depends on the quality of the marriage rite.'15
2. Now they quote also (the following verses): 'It is declared that a female who has been purchased for money is not a wife. She cannot (assist) at sacrifices offered to the gods or the manes. Kâsyapa has stated that she is a slave.'16
3. 'Those wicked men who, seduced by greed, give away a daughter for a fee, who (thus) sell themselves and commit a great crime, fall (after death) into a dreadful place of punishment and destroy their family down to the seventh (generation). Moreover they will repeatedly die and be born again. All (this) is declared (to happen), if a fee (is taken).'
4. On the day of the full moon, on the eighth day (of each half month), on the day of the new moon, on the appearance of a meteor, on the occasion of an earthquake, on visiting a burial-ground, and on the death of the king of the country, of a Srotriya or of one who has the same Guru (satîrthya), the study of the Veda must be discontinued for a day and a night.17
5. (The study of the Veda must be interrupted) while (a strong) wind (blows), a foul smell (is perceptible), or hoar-frost (lies on the ground), when dancing (is going on), and while the sounds of singing, musical instruments, weeping, or of the Sâman (melodies are audible).18
6. When thunder, lightning, and rain come together, (the interruption shall last) three days except in the rainy season.19
7. In the rainy season, too, (the reading must be interrupted) until the same hour of the (next) day or night, (if thunder and lightning come together), not on account of rain.20
8. If (he has) received anything or dined on the occasion of a sacrifice in honour of the manes, (he shall not read) during the remainder of the day,21
9. (Nor) after meals until (the food) has been digested.22
10. For the hand of a Brâhmana is his mouth.23
11. Now they quote also (the following verse): According to the revealed texts there is no difference whether one has eaten or received (a present at a Srâddha).'
12. (A student shall discontinue the study of the Veda) during three days in case his father has died.24
13. 'Of two kinds, forsooth, is the virile energy of a famous Brâhmana who is learned in the Vedas, (that which resides) above the navel and the other (that resides) below the' navel. Through that which25 (resides) above the navel, his offspring is produced when he initiates Brâhmanas, when he teaches them, when he causes them to offer sacrifices, when he makes them holy. All these are his children. But through that which resides below the navel the children of his body are produced. Therefore they never say to a Srotriya who is versed in the Vedas, 'Thou art destitute of offspring.'
14. 'Therefore a Brâhmana has two names, two mouths, two kinds of virile energy, and two births.'
15. (Let him discontinue the recitation of the Veda) as long as he is within hearing or sight of Sûdras and Apapâtras.26
16. When at night the howl of a solitary jackal is heard, he shall not study until he has slept.27
17. Let him not study in the evening and morning twilights nor on the Parva-days.28
18. He shall not eat meat nor approach his wife (on those days).29
19. It is declared in the Veda, 'For on the Parva-days the Râkshasas and the Pisâkas roam about (in order to injure men).'
20. And on (the appearance of) other omens and portents (he shall not repeat the Veda), except mentally, during a day and a night.
21. The mental recitation of the Veda must also be interrupted on births and deaths (occurring in the family).
22. Now they quote also (the following verse): 'The eighth day destroys the teacher, the fourteenth destroys the pupil, the fifteenth destroys learning; therefore let him avoid (studying the Veda) on the Parva-days.'30
Footnotes
1. Vishnu XXIV, 17.
2. Vasishtha I, 30. The word brahmakârin has, no doubt, as Govinda too contends, been used in the double sense of 'a student of the Veda' and 'chaste.'
3. Vishnu XXIV, 22.
4. Vasishtha I, 32. 'After the first of the burnt oblations of parched grain, which are prescribed for weddings, has been offered, the bridegroom shall give to him who has power over, the maiden a bull and a cow, and receive them back together with the (bride).'--Govinda.
5. Vasishtha I, 31. According to this rule the damsel is given as part of the sacrificial fee (dakshinâ) to one of the priests after a sacrifice has been completed. Govinda adds that the recipient has to accept the gift with the six mantras, 'pragâpati striyâm yasah,' Taitt. Brâhmana II, 4, 6, 5. In his commentary on the passage Sâyana makes the same statement. Govinda adds that in this case as well as in those mentioned in the following Sûtras the regular marriage ceremony must be performed later.
6. Vasishtha I, 33,
7. Vasishtha I, 35.
8. Vasishtha I, 34.
9. Vishnu XXIV, 26.
10. Vishnu XXIV, 27.
11. Vishnu XXIV, 28; Vasishtha I, 29, 34. The meaning of the last clause is that as, according to I, 10, 18, 3, Brahman placed power in the Kshatriyas, they may adopt marriage rites by which a disregard of conventionalities or strength is displayed.
12. 'I.e. the fifth for Vaisyas and the eighth for Sûdras.'--Govinda.
13. 'Those whose spouse, i.e. wife, is not restrained, i.e. not fixed by rule, are called not particular about their wives. The meaning is that there is oneness (dâreshvaikyam) with respect to wives, that fixed rules regarding them there are none (niyamas teshâm na bhavati).'--Govinda.
14. '"Husbandry" includes also trade and the like. Because those two (castes) are permitted to pursue low occupations, therefore their marriage rites are of the same description. That is what the author intends to say.'--Govinda.
15. Âpastamba II, 5, 12, 4.
16. Vasishtha I, 36-38. Govinda inserts after the words 'Now they quote also,' two Sûtras in prose: 1. 'Ten virtuous sons and daughters (spring) from a Daiva marriage, ten from a Prâgâpatya marriage. It is declared in the Veda that the son of a wife wedded according to the Brâhma rite (sanctifies) ten ancestors, ten descendants, and oneself.' 2. 'The power of learning the Veda also belongs to such sons.' None of my MSS. of the text has these words, and they are suspicious, because the phrase 'Now they quote also' usually precedes verses only. The Dekhan and Gugarât MSS., except K., omit these and the next Sûtra too.
17. Vasishtha XIII, 22, 32-35; Vishnu XXX, 23. Govinda explains agnyutpâta, 'on the appearance of meteor,' by 'if a fire breaks out in the village.'
18. Vasishtha XIII, 17, 30; Vishnu XXX, 7, 13; Âpastamba I, 3, 11, 31; I, 3, 10, 17.
19. Gautama XVI, 41.
20. Govinda takes ahorâtrayos ka tatkâlam to mean until the end of the day or night.
21. Vasishtha XIII, 15. Govinda adds that the recitation must be stopped as soon as the invitation to a Srâddha is received.
22. Vasishtha XIII, 31.
23. Vasishtha XIII, 16. The word 'for' used in this Sûtra gives the reason for the rule in Sûtra 8.
24. 'This (rule) refers to a student who has not returned home. But on one who has returned home it is obligatory to interrupt the Veda-study until he becomes pure. Here he calls the sub-teacher (upâdhyâya) "father," because he gives the Veda. For (an interruption of) twelve days' duration is prescribed on (the death of) a real father (by the Sûtra); "on the death of the mother, the father, and the teacher twelve days."'--Govinda.
25. Vasishtha II, 5. This Sûtra is intended to show how the Upâdhyâya can be called a father. Govinda states that the precise meaning of anûkâna, 'versed or learned in the Veda,' is 'one who knows the Veda, its meaning, and the Aṅgas: See also Baudhâyana Grihya-sûtra I, 10, 5.
26. Vasishtha XVIII, 12. Regarding the term Apapâtras, see Âpastamba I, 1, 3, 25 note.
27. Âpastamba I, 3, 10, 17.
28. Vasishtha XIII, 22. The explanation of the term Parvaday is given below, Sûtra 22.
29. Vishnu LXIX, 1.
30. Vishnu XXX, 29-30. In accordance with the practice usual in Vedic works the best MSS. of the text repeat the beginning of each Kandikâ at the end of the Prasna, giving the last first.
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