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children of such marriage, in the case of the two marriages
under consideration as they are regular savar峁嘺 marriages
with Vedic rites. Further, there is absolutely no idea of
the right of divorce in these old marriages. The idea is
quite foreign, and we may say repugnant to the nature of
either of the above princesses or their husbands in
particular, and to the society of that period in general.
Looking to the character and description of the
princesses, we are inclined to think that they were quite
grown up and that there were no child marriages in those
days. In fact, as we have seen, the practice of child marriage
is of quite a late origin in India. At the time of V膩tsy膩yana,
marriages both before or after puberty were equally
common. Polygamy was then, as it is even now, a
fashion among kings and rich persons. Monogamy seems
to be generally prevalent among the commoners. There
is to be found no reference to remarriages of widows
or to divorce, and hence we cannot say anything about
the view of the society in these matters at that time.
2 High ideals of the life of a husband and a wife are
placed before us in the characters of the Svapnav膩savadatta,
Pratima. Carudatta, etc. Both husband and wife
respected each other. The husband was the lord and
protector of the wife, and the wife was half his body to
the husband, the mistress of his household. It was the
prime duty of a wife to follow her lord through thick and
thin in spite of any defects in him, just as T膩r膩 follows the
Moon in spite of its eclipse by R膩hu, or as a creeper
falls to the ground when its supporting tree tumbles down,
or as the female elephant who does not abandon her mate
though stuck into
e mire.* Attendance on elders,
especially the parents of the husband also comprised one
of the duties of his wife. Her sole aim was the happiness
of the husband and for the sake of ensuring it she sacrificed
her personal likes and dislikes. She even consented to
his marriage with another lady if that contributed to his
good in the end." Vasavadatta and Padmavat墨, as
already observed, supply us with the ideals of polygamy
where the co-wives act as sisters and vie with each other in
PP.
1 Cf. Vasavadatta, Kurangi and Padmavati. 2 Chakladar, Social Life,
125, 126.
'啶多ぐ啷�啶班ぞ啶班�嵿ぇ啷囙�� [艣补谤墨谤腻谤诲丑别苍补] '; Bal, p. 10. '啶椸�囙す啶侧�曕�嵿し啷嵿ぎ啷� [驳别丑补濒补办峁�m墨] ' 4 Prat, 1.25.
3 Prat, I. 10
Prat, p. 33; Pratii帽a, p. 9. Cf. Vasavadatta in the Svapna.