According to Dr. Buhler, Manu, Gautama, and Baudhayana, though they recommend early mar riages, allow the father to keep his daughter at home up to the age of thirteen, after which age daughters were permitted to choose husbands for themselves. The Smartta Brahmans admit that this is the more ancient rule, and some of the Grihya Sutra show that marriages with women as well under as of more than full age were per mitted by law, and, indeed, that infant marriages were not in force during the Vedic age of the Aryans. It is in the Smriti Shastras that infant marriages are enjoined, and one class of these works, to which the Samvarta, Angirasa, and Parasara belong, limit the marriage age much more than Menu. The Rig Veda seems opposed to infant marriage. Amongst the Riffs which are recited at the marriage ceremony, there are some which express the belief that the bride belongs to the three gods of the Vedic times,— Soma, the moon ; Gandharva ; and Agni, the fire god,—bef ore she passes into the possession of mortal man. The bridegroom prays to Agni and Gandharva to cede the bride to him, and after wards proclaims aloud that Agni has freed her, —Agni has given up his right of possession. A Hindu author, Gobhila-putra, asserts this to be an allegory, and that a girl falls into the power of Soma when inguen pube contegitur ; into the power of Gandharva when maximize ejus intu mescunt ; and into that of Agni on the occurrence of the Kara/Any/a vs 7:pc7rroy. But Gobhila-putra's suggestion is not reconcilable with the fact of the existing ceremonial at marriage, also that, amongst the present Hindus, married women can always be pointed out, fair and comely, but childless, who are supposed never to have been released from the deity, and others whose offspring are supposed to have been begotten under celestial influence. These are current beliefs. In Vedic times, then, every bride, Must' have been grown up. With the bridegroom, though they too, but not so invariably, are married while still boys, the existing laws, though now wholly neglected, plainly preclude marriage till maturity ; for a Hindu can only enter on his student life when seven or eight years of age, and as this term lasts nine years at the shortest, a Hindu lad cannot by law marry till 17 years of age at least, which is absolute manhood. With the Dravida races, though the bride is almost invariably under age, often a mere child, and may reside from time to time with her husband's parents, there is no association till she have been a second time unwell.
Ritual.—The minute ceremonials of marriage considerably vary. The Brahman and the five artisan classes are not permitted by the social customs to ride on horseback when in procession, Sudra Hindus and thO non-Aryans asserting their exclusive right to that honour. The artisan races do not acknowledge Brahmans, 'do not permit them to perform their marriage ceremonies, but they are not allowed to use the plantain for ornament.
When seated, the girl is formally given to the husband (Kania-danam), literally spinster-giving. A priest blesses some water in a small vessel, and the father of the girl, taking this and his daughter's right hand, places them together in the bride groom's right hand, saying, I do this that my father, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers may attain Swarga. The bridegroom then rising, and standing before the bride, amidst the deafening din of tom-toms, ties round her neck the mangala sutram, a thread coloured with turmeric, to which a golden jewel, called bottu or talai, is attached.
Sandal-wood paste, perfume, and flowers are pre sented to the guests ; betel-nut is offered to all relatives and friends, and money presents are made. The married couple receive Asir-vadam, benedictions and congratulations from the as sembly, and as they prostrate themselves at their parents' feet their parents bless them. In Northern India part of the marriage ceremony consists in tying a string or thread round the wrist of the bride ; and with many of the races in India, whether of Aryan or Turanian descent, part of the marriage ceremonial consists in tying the corners of the bride and bridegroom's cloths together (Phylu bandhna), and causing them to circumambulate the village deity. There is also the ceremony of Sat-pheri, or seven turns round the sacrificial fire.
A marriage procession in the north-west of India has many elements different from those in Bengal. The Basanti, spring months of April amid May, being •onsidered as the most auspicious season, hymeneal processions may then be daily witnessed in any of the great cities. In the north west, the bridegroom, instead of being carried in a palanquin, and followed quietly by a crowd of guests, proceeds on horseback, with musicians playing right and left, and a band of female songstresses singing songs suited to the occasion.
The married Ilinduani of Bengal during their husbands' lifetime wear an iron bracelet or a bit of iron twined round with a piece of gold wire. The wives of the agricultural Od-chasa race in Orissa wear bracelets so long as their husbands live ; but. the Naliinti and other Uriya tribes throw off their brass kharu or bracelets as soon as they can afford to purchase ornaments of the more precious metals. The pote or bead necklace is tied on the Hindu and Muhammadan bride of Northern India. Wedding tinge of stones are erected by Baluch nomades as a memorial. Sakhisungbad and Biraha are love songs sung by Brahman women on the first occasion of a bridegroom and bride being left together.
Marriage in Hindu law is indissoluble, and it is to be of one wife ; except that if a wife be barren for eight years, or for eleven yule have no male offspring, or be drunken, or immoral, or extrava gant, or bear malice to their husbands, a second wife may he taken; but the first wife is always the head of the house. A wife who quits her husband's house, or neglects him for a twelvemonth, may be deserted altogether.
There are five things considered essential to the Hindu marriage ceremony, viz. the betrothal, the gift of the virgin, the acceptance, the seizure of the hand, and the seven steps or Sapta-padi. in giving away the virgin, the girl's father or guardian must say, in the presence of the Brahmans, to the father of the bridegroom : I give you, for your son, my beautiful virgin daughter ; accept her therefore.' The father of the youth replies : With my mind, with my voice, and with my body I joyfully accept thy daughter for my son, and religiously receive her among myown kindred.' The girl's father then declares his gotmm (tribe), and gives grains of rice tinged with red and betel leaves to the bridegroom, declaring again that he gives him his daughter, and promises to defray all the expenses of the marriage. With the girl there should be given one or more cows, some laud, and a mlagram stone.