Ye dispute vainly among yourselves, O Sages! when ye say that among the four established orders of life this or that is to be preferred and deceive yourselves; our revered mother, who was herself a manifestation of virtue, has said " NO VIRTUE IS MORE EXCELLENT THAN THE VIRTUE of doMESTIC LIFE." As he protecteth from affliction the three religious states, causing them constantly to flourish in happiness, unequalled by that enjoyed by the Gods in heaven, and as he obtaineth for himself both the pleasures of this world, sorrounded by the sea, and the joys of the life to come, he who liveth in domestic felicity truely liveth; can others be said to do so? As, by the means of the domestic state, Gautamen and other Sages, who acquired and diffused various learning, having received the knowledge of the unbiassed Deity and having overcome the five organs of sense, the source of all evil, attained to a state of perfect devotion, how can it's virtue be compared with the virtue of the other estates? NOTE. The foregoing verses are by Villipácam Tán'davaraya Mudeli, formerly a Student and now a Teacher in the College of Fort St. George. The revered mother mentioned in the fifth verse is Auveiyàr, from whose work, entitled Condei-véynden, Cause, the concluding line is cited. In explanation of the allusions in the last line of the last verse,.it is to be observed, that the Puránas represent Gautamen and other primitive Sages, as living in domestic life though retired from the world and engaged in austere devotion. This practice, though contrary to the rules prescribed by the Smritis and incompatible with the feeble nature of men in after ages, was permitted to these holy persons on account of their superior virtue, by the power of which they were able effectually to control their evil inclinations. வா ழ்க்கைத்துவண நலம்On the virtuesofawife. The word here rendered "wife," is compounded of a domestic happiness and protection, safeguard, and signifies, she to whose safeguard domestic happiness is intrusted. I. மவனத்தக்க மாண்புடையளாகித்த வளத்தக்காள் வாழ்க்கைத்துணை -- காண டான (க) “House-hold duty" The word rendered ** daty" is மாண்பு excellence, of which the commentator makes two distinctions, namely good qualities and goodacts - நற்குணங்களாவன்- துறந்தாரப்பேணலும்விருந்தயாதலுமவ றி யாரமாட்டருளுடைமையுமுதலாயின் - நற்செய்கைகளாவன் - வாழ்க்கைக் குவேண்டும்பொருள றிந்துகடைப்பிடித்தலும் - அட்டிற்றொழில்வன மையுமொப்புரவுசெய்தலு முதலாயின் - இதனானிவையிரண்டுநன்மையுஞ் சிறந்தனவெனப துகூறப்பட்டது The GOOD QUALITIES of a wife are reverence to religious men, a due discharge of the rites of hospitality, compassion towards the poor, and the rest;—Her GOOD ACTS are knowing and duly providing all things necessary for her house-hold, skill in the business of the kitchen, attention to established customs, and the rest; hese two specics of excellence may be said to be particularized by this verse. The treatment of women and the rules which govern the intercourse with the sex, afford the truest creteria by which to judge of the progress that Nations have made towards perfect civilization; they mark, indeed, distinctly the boundaries between the state in which the conduct of man is regulated by fixed principles of law and morality and that in which the human brute is influenced solely by the inordinate impulses of his own will. Aristotle justly, therefore, adduces as a proof of the uncivilized condition of the ancient Greeks, the practice which existed among them in the early ages of purchasing their wives; a practice which in proportion as they advanced from barbarity to refinement fell into disuse. The present Chapter and the illustrations appended to it, exemplify the more general opinions of the Hindus with respect to woman in the marriage state: to place in a clearer light the sentiments of the Author and of the other writers whose works are quoted, I shall premise some observations, as to the several modes of marriage allowed by the law, and shall hereafter notice certain peculiar customs regarding the commerce of the sexes. The Smritis allow of eight descriptions of marriage, which are enumerated in the following verse of Menu (see the third Chapter, ш, where each are explained at length). யா 6 7 5. The BRAHMAH, Daivaн, Arshah, Práj`apatyAH, ÁSURAH, Ga'nd ̧harvah, RACSHASAH, and, the eighth and lowest, the PAIS ACHAH, 8 The four first of these, which are nearly the same, the bride in each being given to the bride-groom by the father or kinsmen, derive their names respectively from Brahmà, the Gods, the Manes and the Patriarchs, and are superior: the four last which are supposed to be practised by the Demons, the celestial Choristers, the Giants, and impure Spirits, are inferior. Of these the A'sura marriage, in which the bride is purchased, and the Pais'acha, in which she is violated when overpowered philters or intoxicating drugs, are strongly reprobated. The four first are considered the most appropriate for Brahmans, the sixth, the seventh and, according to the commentators, the fifth, also, is permitted to them. Of these the Gandharva-viváhab, wherein mutual affection supersedes all ceremony, could only have been practised by them in former ages, as by the aneient law Brahmans could then intermarry with women of inferior tribes; but, this being forbidden in the Cali-yuga, it follows that this mode of marriage is forbidden also, as the maidens of this caste must be betrothed before the age of puberty, under the penalty denounced in the following text (quoted from the Mád,baviyam), when they are, of course, too young to be capable of or inspiring love. MARI CHI-SMRÏTTI. The giver of a Gaurì (a girl of eight years of age) obtains the heaven of the celestial deities; the giver of a Rohini (of nine years) the heaven of Vishnu; the giver of a Canyà (of ten years), the heaven of Brahmà; and the giver of a Rajaswalì (above teu years, when the signs of puberty appear) sinks to hell. The Rácshasa rite, in which the bride is seized violently in war, is more appropriate to the Cshatriya than to the other tribes, but this and all the other modes are common with them to the Vais'ya and Súdra, with the exception of the two first which are peculiar to Brahmans; it being required by the Brahma rite, that the bride, adorned with jewels and clothed in wedding garments, should be given by her father to a bride-groom profoundly skilled in the Scriptures and the Law, and by the Daivarite that she should be thus given to a Priest while officiating in the Sóma, Satra, or other solemn sacrifices. Thus far Menu chiefly: by other authorities (see the second Chapter of the A chara-candam of the Mad, havíyam) the six first only are appropriate to Brahmans; the Rácshasah, Gand,brarya, A'sura, and Pais'achah, in the order in which they here occur, to Cshatriyas; and the Gandharva, Rácshasa, and Paisacha to Vaisyas and Súdras. The three last cannot from their nature be attended, in the first instance, with much ceremony; but this does not preclude the necessity of the regular solemnization of the marriage after the bride has been secured, otherwise it is not a valid marriage. This is expressly declared in the following texts, cited in the Madhaviyam, the first from the Dévala-Smriti and the second from The Rules for house-hold duties, 22, of the school of Bódláyana, one of the six Sútracáras. DE'VALAH. In the Gandharva and similarmarriages the nuptial rites should be again performed by the three castes to whom they are lawful, taking the brightly blazing fire to witness. BOD,HA'YANAH. In each of the modes of marriage, termed Gandharvah, Paisachah, and Rácshasah, possession of the bride being first obtained, the oblations should afterwards be offered (and other nuptial rites duly celebrated). Of these eight modes of conducting the nuptial ceremony, none has been abrogated in the present age, and, according to the following precept, if the marriage have been actually celebrated, the act must stand, however sinful in itself, and the parties are lawfully man and wife. 2 F S 2ND FJ SIN JO உ சதஸலுவரிஹாரொருவியிசெயாவியொவி Adoption, the appointment of a daughter to raise up a son, and the embracing either of the A's ramas: these when done cannot be set aside, all other rites are valid only by the strict observance of the rule. The term A's'rama here includes marriage, this being the initiatory rite of the second state of life; but the rule does not extend to legalize marriages within the forbidden degrees, which are annulled whenever the fact is discovered.-Of all these modes, however, those actually in practice are the first principally, the third and fourth in a less degree, and, notwithstanding it is condemned by the law-givers, the fifth very generally instances of the seventh may occasionally occur, and the sixth, the marriage of love, is the constant theme. of the Poets in India, as well as in other countries. By the Tamil writers several of these modes are explained differently from the account here given of them from the Smritis; as will appear from the following extracts and the observations made upon them.-The nuptial rite of the Grand harvas, or, as termed in Tamil, a furtive love, being one of the subjects especially treated on by the Grammarians in the third of the five branches, 6, into they have distributed the Belles Lettres, the commentators always take advantage of this circumstance to introduce a dissertation on the other seven species of the marriage ceremony; of this the following quotations are examples. The first is from the 75 617 உறயனாரபொருள A treatise on the subject-matter of Composition, attributed to the God Siven and said to have been revealed by him directly to the members of the Tamil University at Madura, ., over which he was believed to preside and occasionally to manifest his presence visibly among them. The second is from the of the ; in this, to avoid repetition, the prose explanations of the several rites have been omitted and the metric examples only retained. IREIYENAR-POrul'. الف அன்பிவணநதிவணைக்கள வென்ப்படுவதந்தனாரு மறைமன்ற லெட்டி அடகருதிருவவழக்கமெனமனார் புல்வர எட்டென்ப தவற்றது தொகை கொடுத்துச் சொன்னவாறு-அவையா வையோவெனின - பிரமம - பிரசாபத்தியம் - ஆரிடம் - தெயவம் - காந்தருவம்அகரம் - இராக்கதம் - பைசாசம எனவிவை - எனண |