Saddharma Pundarika

SR No.: 007677
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: H Kern
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1884
Total Pages: 2546
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 46 MB

Page 2005

JII, 34.
HOUSEHOLDER; MARRIAGE.
81
he has addressed (the couple) with the text, ' May both of you perform together your duties,' and has shown honour (to the bridegroom), is called in the Smriti the Prâgâpatya rite.
31. When the bridegroom) receives a maiden, after having given as much wealth as he can afford, to the kinsmen and to the bride herself, according to his own will, that is called the Åsura rite.
32. The voluntary union of a maiden and her lover one must know (to be) the Gândharva rite, which springs from desire and has sexual intercourse for its purpose.
33. The forcible abduction of a maiden from her home, while she cries out and weeps, after (her kinsmen) have been slain or wounded and (their houses) broken open, is called the Rakshasa rite.
34. When (a man) by stealth seduces a girl who is sleeping, intoxicated, or disordered in intellect, that is the eighth, the most base and sinful rite of the Pisakas.
31. According to his own will,' i. e. 'not in accordance with the injunction of the sacred law, as in the case of the Arsha rite' (Medh., Gov., Kull., Nár., Nand.).
32. Gov, and Nar. here enter on a discussion of the question whether the prescribed offerings and wedding ceremonies are to be performed in the case of the Gândharva, Rakshasa, and Paisaka rites. Relying on a passage of Devala and of the Bahvrika Grihyaparisishta (Saunaka) they are of opinion that the homas must be performed, at least in the case of Aryan couples. But they hold on the strength of Manu's dictum, VIII, 226, which restricts the use of the Mantras to women, married as virgins, that the Vedic nuptial texts must not be recited. From the comment of Medh. on verse 34 it would appear that the opinions on the subject were divided, and that some held weddings with the recitation of Mantras to be permissible, while others denied the necessity of any wedding.
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