CHAPTER THE THIRD.

On Marriage; or on the Second Order.

I.

The difcipline of a ftudent in the three • Védas may be continued for thirty-fix years, in the house of his preceptor; or for half that time, ❝ or for a quarter of it, or until he perfectly comprehend them :

2. A ftudent, whofe rules have not been violated, may affume the order of a married man, after he has read in fucceffion a s'ác❜bá, or branch from each of the three, or from two, or from any one of them.

3. Being juftly applauded for the strict performance of his duty, and having received from his natural or spiritual father the facred gift of the Véda, let him fit on an elegant bed, decked with a garland of flowers, and let his father honour him before his nuptials, with a prefent of a cow. 4. Let the twice born man, having obtained the confent of his venerable guide, and having performed his ablution with stated ceremonies, on his return home, as the law directs, efpoufe a wife of the fame class with himself and endued with the marks of excellence.

5. She, who is not defcended from his pater. ⚫nal or maternal ancestors, within the fixth degree, and who is not known by her family name to be of the fame primitive stock with his father or mother,

is eligible by a twice born man for nuptials and 'holy union:

6. In connecting himself with a wife, let him • ftudiously avoid the ten following families, be they ever fo great, or ever fo rich in kine, goats, sheep, gold and grain :

7. The family which has omitted pre• fcribed acts of religion; that, which has pro⚫duced no male children; that, in which the Véda has not been read; that, which has thick hair on the body; and those, which have been fubject to hemorrhoids, to phthifis, to difpepfia, to epilepfy, to leprofy, and to elephantiafis.

8. Let him not marry a girl with reddish hair, nor with any deformed limb; nor one troubled with habitual fickness; nor one either with no hair or with too much; nor one immoderately talkative; nor one with inflamed eyes;

9. Nor one with the name of a conftellation, of a tree or of a river, of a barbarous nation, or of a mountain, of a winged creature, a fnake, or a flave; nor with any name raifing an image of

terrour.

10. Let him chufe for his wife a girl, whose • form has no defect; who has an agreeable name; who walks gracefully like a phenicopteros, or like a young elephant; whofe hair and teeth are moderate respectively in quantity and in fize; whofe body has exquifite foftnefs.

11. Her, who has no brother, or whofe father is not well known, let no fenfible man espouse, through fear left, in the former cafe, her father 'fhould take her first fon as his own to perform his obfequies; or, in the fecond cafe, left an illicit marriage fhould be contracted.

12. For

12. For the first marriage of the twice born. claffes, a woman of the fame clafs is recommended; but for fuch as are impelled by inclination to marry again, women in the direct order of the claffes are to be preferred:

13. 'A Súdra woman only must be the wife of a Súdra; fhe and a Vaisyà, of a Vailya; they two and a Chhatriya, of a Chatriya; those two and a • Brahmani of a Bráhmen.

14. A woman of the fervile clafs is not mentioned, even in the recital of any ancient ftory, as the first wife of a Brahmen or of a Chatriya, though in the greatest difficulty to find a suitable match. 15. Men of the twice born claffes, who through ⚫ weakness of intellect, irregularly marry women of the lowest class, very foon degrade their fa'milies and progeny to the state of Súdras:

16. According to ATRI and to (Go'TAMA) the son of UTAT'HYA, he who thus marries a woman of the fervile clafs, if he be a prieft, is degraded inftantly; according to SAUNACA, on the birth of a fon, if he be a warriour; and, if he ⚫ be a merchant, on the bith of a fon's fon, according to (me) BHrĭgu.

∙17. A Bráhmen, if he take a Súdra to his bed, as his first wife, finks to the regions of torment; if he beget a child by her, he lofes even his priestly rank:

18. His facrifices to the Gods, his oblations to the Manes, and his hofpitable attentions to ftrangers, must be supplied principally by her; 'but the Gods and Manes will not eat fuch offerings; nor can heaven be attained by fuch hofpitality.

19. For the crime of him, who thus illegally drinks the moisture of a Súdra's lips, who is • tainted

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tainted by her breath, and who even begets a child on her body, the law declares no ex⚫ piation.

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20. Now learn compendiously the eight forms of the nuptial ceremony, ufed by the four claffes, fome good and fome bad in this world, and in the next :

21. The ceremony of BRAHMA', of the Dévas of the Risis, of the Prajapatis, of the Afuras, of the Gandharvas, and of the Racfnafas; the eighth and baseft is that of the Pifachas.

22. Which of them is permitted by law to each class and what are the good and bad properties of each ceremony, all this I will fully declare to you, together with the qualities, good • and bad, of the offspring.

23. Let mankind know, that the fix first in direct order are by fome held valid in the cafe of 6 a prieft; the four last, in that of a warriour; and the fame four, except the Racfhafa marriage, in the cafes of a merchant and a man of the fervile clafs :

24. Some confider the four firft only as ap⚫ proved in the cafe of a prieft; one, that of Rachafas, as peculiar to a foldier; and that of Afuras, to a mercantile and a fervile man :

25. • But in this code, three of the five last are ⚫ held legal, and two illegal: the ceremonies of • Pifáchas and Afuras muft never be performed. 26. For a military man the before mentioned marriages of Gandharvas and Racfbafas, whether feparate or mixed, as when a girl is made captive • by her lover, after a victory over her kinsmen, are 6 permitted by law.

27.

The gift of a daughter, clothed only with a fingle robe, to a man learned in the Véda • whom