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Vishnu-smriti (Vishnu sutra / Vaishnava Dharmasâstra)
Women
XXIV.
1. Now a Brâhmana may take four wives in the direct order of the (four) castes;1
2. A Kshatriya, three;
3. A Vaisya, two;
4. A Sûdra, one only.
5. Among these (wives), if a man marries one of his own caste, their hands shall be joined.
6. In marriages with women of a different class, a Kshatriya bride must hold an arrow in her hand;
7. A Vaisya bride,. a whip;
8. A Sûdra bride, the skirt of a mantle.
9. No one should marry a woman belonging to the same Gotra, or descended from the same Rishi ancestors, or from the same Pravaras.2
10. Nor (should he marry) one descended from his maternal ancestors within the fifth, or from his paternal ancestors within the seventh degree;
11. Nor one of a low family (such as an agriculturer's, or an attendant of the king's family);
12. Nor one diseased;
13. Nor one with a limb too much (as e. g. having six fingers);
14. Nor one with a limb too little;
15. Nor one whose hair is decidedly red;
16. Nor one talking idly.
17. There are eight forms of marriage
18. The Brâhma, Daiva, Ârsha, Prâgâpatya, Gândharva, Âsura, Râkshasa, and Paisâka forms.
19. The gift of a damsel to a fit bridegroom, who has been invited, is called a Brâhma marriage.
20. If she is given to a Ritvig (priest), while he is officiating at a sacrifice, it is called a Daiva marriage.
21. If (the giver of the bride) receives a pair of kine in return, a is called an Ârsha marriage.
22. (If she is given to a suitor) by his demand, it is called a Prâgâpatya marriage.
23. A union between two lovers, without the consent of mother and father, is called a Gândharva marriage.
24. If the damsel is sold (to the bridegroom), it is called an Âsura marriage.
25. If he seizes her forcibly, it is called a Râkshasa marriage.
26. If he embraces her in her sleep, or while she is unconscious, it is called a Paisâka marriage.
27. Among those (eight forms of marriage), the four first forms are legitimate (for a Brâhmana);
28. And so is the Gândharva form for a Kshatriya.
29. A son procreated in a Brâhma marriage redeems (or sends into the heavenly abodes hereafter mentioned) twenty-one men (viz. ten ancestors, ten descendants, and him who gave the damsel in marriage).
30. A son procreated in a Daiva marriage, fourteen;
31. A son procreated in an Ârsha marriage, seven;
32. A son procreated in a Prâgâpatya marriage, four.
33. He who gives a damsel in marriage according to the Brâhma rite, brings her into the world of Brahman (after her death, and enters that world himself).
34. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the Daiva rite, (brings her) into Svarga (or heaven, and enters Svarga himself).
35. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the Ârsha rite, (brings her) into the world of Vishnu (and enters that world himself).
36. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the Prâgâpatya rite, (brings her) into the world of the gods (and enters that world himself).
37. (He who gives her in marriage) according to the Gândharva rite, will go to the world of Gandharvas.
38. A father, a paternal grandfather, a brother, a kinsman, a maternal grandfather, and the mother (are the persons) by whom a girl may be given in marriage.
39. On failure of the preceding one (it devolves upon) the next in order (to give her in marriage), in case he is able.3
40. When she has allowed three monthly periods to pass (without being married), let her choose a husband for herself; three monthly periods having passed, she has in every case full power to dispose of herself (as she thinks best).4
41. A damsel whose menses begin to appear (while she is living) at her father's house, before she has been betrothed to a man, has to be considered as a degraded woman: by taking her (without the consent of her kinsmen) a man commits no wrong.5
XXV.6
1. Now the duties of a woman (are as follows):
2. To live in harmony with her husband;
3. To show reverence (by embracing their feet and such-like attentions) to her mother-in-law, father-in-law, to Gurus (such as elders), to divinities, and to guests;
4. To keep household articles (such as the winnowing basket and the rest) in good array;
5. To maintain saving habits;
6. To be careful with her (pestle and mortar and other) domestic utensils;
7. Not to practise incantations with roots (or other kinds of witchcraft);
8. To observe auspicious customs;
9. Not to decorate herself with ornaments (or to partake of amusements) while her husband is absent from home;
10. Not to resort to the houses of strangers (during the absence of her husband);7
11. Not to stand near the doorway or by the windows (of her house);
12. Not to act by herself in any matter;
13. To remain subject, in her infancy, to her father; in her youth, to her husband; and in her old age, to her sons.
14. After the death of her husband, to preserve her chastity, or to ascend the pile after him.8
15. No sacrifice, no penance, and no fasting is allowed to women apart from their husbands; to pay obedience to her lord is the only means for a woman to obtain bliss in heaven.
16. A woman who keeps a fast or performs a penance in the lifetime of her lord, deprives her husband of his life, and will go to hell.
17. A good wife, who perseveres in a chaste life after the death of her lord, will go to heaven like (perpetual) students, even though she has no son.
XXVI.9
1. If a man has several wives of his own caste, he shall perform his religious duties together with the eldest (or first-married) wife.
2. (If he has several) wives of divers castes (he shall perform them) even with the youngest wife if she is of the same caste as himself.
3. On failure of a wife of his own caste (he shall perform them) with one belonging to the caste next below his own; so also in cases of distress (i.e. when the wife who is equal in caste to him happens to be absent, or when she has met with a calamity);
4. But no twice-born man ever with a Sûdra wife.
5. A union of a twice-born man with a Sûdra wife can never produce religious merit; it is from carnal desire only that he marries her, being blinded by lust.
6. Men of the three first castes, who through folly marry a woman of the lowest caste, quickly degrade their families and progeny to the state of Sûdras.
7, If his oblations to the gods and manes and (his hospitable attentions) to guests are offered principally through her hands, the gods and manes (and the guests) will not eat such offerings, and he will not go to heaven.
Footnotes
1. This chapter opens the section on Samskâras or sacraments, i. e. the ceremonies on conception and so forth. (Nand.) This section forms the second part of the division treating of Akira. See above, XIX.
2. According to Nand., the term Gotra refers to descent from one of the seven Rishis, or from Agastya as the eighth; the term Ârsha (Rishi ancestors), to descent from the Ârshtishenas or Mudgalas, {footnote p. 107} or from some other subdivision of the Bhrigus or Ângirasas, excepting the Gâmadagnas, Gautamas, and Bhâradvâgas; and the term Pravara, to the Mantrakrits of one's own race, i. e. the ancestors invoked by a Brâhmana at the commencement of a sacrifice. Nand.'s interpretation of the last term is no doubt correct; but it seems preferable to take Gotra in the sense of 'family name' (laukika gotra), and to refer the term samânârsha to descent from the same Rishi (vaidika gotra). See Dr. Bühler's notes on Âpast. II, 5, 11, 15, and Gaut. XVIII, 6; Max Müller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, pp. 379-388; Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 69-41. If ârsha were connected with pravara, the whole compound samânârshapravarâ would denote 'a woman descended from the same Rishi '= samanârshâ, Y. I, 53, and samânapravarâ, Gaut. XVIII, 6.
3. Regarding the causes effecting legal disability, such as love, anger, &c., see Nârada 3, 43.
4. Nand., arguing from a passage of Baudhâyana (see also M. IX, 90), takes ritu, 'monthly period,' as synonymous with varsha, 'year.' But ritu, which occurs in two other analogous passages also (Gaut. XVIII, 20, and Nârada XII, 24), never has that meaning.
5. Nand. observes, that the rules laid down in this and the preceding Sloka refer to young women of the lower castes only. Nowadays the custom of outcasting young women, who have not been married in the proper time, appears to be in vogue in Brahmanical families particularly. Smriti passages regarding the illegality of marriages concluded with such women have been collected by me, Über die rechtl. Stellung der Frauen, p. 9, note 17. The {footnote p. 110} custom of Svayamvara or 'self-choice,' judging from the epics, was confined to females of the kingly caste, and in reality was no doubt of very rare occurrence.
6. 1-13. Colebrooke, Dig. IV, 2, XCII.--2. M. V, 154; Y. I, 77.--3. Y. I, 83.--4-6. M. V, 150; Y. I, 83.--9, 10. M. IX, 75; Y. I, 84.--12, 13. M. V, 148; IX, 3; Y. I, 85; Gaut. XVIII, 1.--14. M. V, 158; Colebrooke, Dig. IV, 3, CXXXIII.-15. M.V, 155.--17. M.V, 160. 15 is also found in the Mârkandeya-purâna XVI, 61, and, in a modified form, in other works. See Böhtlingk, Ind. Sprüche, 3686, 3679. 16 is also found, in a modified form, in Vriddhakânakhya's Proverbs XVII, 9; and 17 in Sârngadhara's Paddhati, Sadâkâra, 10. See Böhtlingk, Ind. Sprüche, 3900, 4948.
7. 'Strangers' means any other persons than her parents-in-law, her brother, maternal uncle, and other near relatives. (Nand.)
8. Nand. states that the self-immolation of widows (Sattee) is a specially meritorious act, and not obligatory. Besides, he quotes several passages from other Smritis and from the Brihannâradîyapurâna, to the effect that in case the husband should have died abroad, a widow of his, who belongs to the Brâhmana caste, may not commit herself to the flames, unless she can reach the place, where his corpse lies, in a day; and that one who is in her courses, or pregnant, or whose pregnancy is suspected, or who has an infant child, is also forbidden to burn herself with her dead husband. English renderings of all the texts quoted by Nand. may he found in Colebrooke's Essay on the Duties of a Faithful Hindu Widow. See also above, XX, 39. Nand., arguing from a passage of Baudhâyana, takes the particle vâ, 'or,' to imply that the widow is at liberty to become a female ascetic instead of burning herself.
9. 2. M. IX, 86.--4. M. IX; 87.--1-4. Colebrooke, Dig. {footnote p. 112} IV, 1, XLIX.--5-7. M. III, 12, 14, 15, 18; Y. I, 56; Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 74.--7. Colebrooke, Dig. IV, 1, LII.
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