Writ, the results of such a union are the acquisition of Dharma and Artha, offspring, affinity,
increase of friends, and untarnished love. For this reason a man should fix his affections upon a
girl who is of good family, whose parents are alive, and who is three years or younger than
himself. She should be born of a highly respectable family, possessed of wealth, well connected,
and with many relations and friends. She should also be beautiful, of a good disposition, with
lucky marks on her body, and with good hair, nails, teeth, ears, eyes and breasts, neither more
nor less than they ought to be, and no one of them entirely wanting, and not troubled with a sickly
body. The man should, of course, also possess these qualities himself. But at all events, a girl
who has been already joined with others (i.e. no longer a maiden) should never be loved, for it
would be reproachable to do such a thing. Now in order to bring about a marriage with such a girl
as described above, thee parents and relations of the man should exert themselves, as also such
friends on both sides as may be desired to assist in the matter. These friends should bring to the
notice of the girl's parents, the faults, both present and future, of all the other men that may wish
to marry her, and should at the same time extol even to exaggeration all the excellencies,
ancestral, and paternal, of their friend, so as to endear him to them, and particularly to those that
may be liked by the girl's mother. One of the friends should also disguise himself as an
astrologer, and declare the future good fortune and wealth of his friend by showing the existence
of all the lucky omens and signs, the good influence of planets, the auspicious entrance of the
sun into a sign of the Zodiac, propitious stars and fortunate marks on his body. Others again
should rouse the jealousy of the girl's mother by telling her that their friend has a chance of
getting from some other quarter even a better girl than hers. A girl should be taken as a wife, as
also given in marriage, when fortune, signs, omens, and the words of others are favourable, for, a
man should not marry at any time he likes. A girl who is asleep, crying, or gone out of the house
when sought in marriage, or who is betrothed to another, should not be married. The following
also should be avoided:
It must also be remembered that the basis of marriage must never be beauty or sexual
love alone, rather it should be the character of the woman that matters, since love wanes
away in 500 days, you will live with the character for life.
One who is kept concealed
One who has an ill-sounding name
One who has her nose depressed
One who has her nostril turned up
One who is formed like a male
One who is bent down
One who has crooked thighs
One who has a projecting forehead
One who has a bald head
One who does not like purity
One who has been polluted by another
One who is affected with the Gulma
One who is disfigured in any way
One who is a friend
One who is a younger sister
When a girl becomes marriageable her parents should dress her smartly, and should place her
where she can be easily seen by all. Every afternoon, having dressed her and decorated her in a
becoming manner, they should send her with her female companions to sports, sacrifices, and
marriage ceremonies, and thus show her to advantage in society, because she is a kind of
merchandise. They should also receive with kind words and signs of friendliness those of an
auspicious appearance who may come accompanied by their friends and relations for the
purpose of marrying their daughter, and under some pretext or other having first dressed her
becomingly, should then present her to them. After this they should await the pleasure of fortune,
and with this object should appoint a future day on which a determination could be come to with
regard to their daughter's marriage. On this occasion when the persons have come, the parents
of the girl should ask them to bathe and dine, and should say, 'Everything will take place at the
proper time', and should not then comply with the request, but should settle the matter later.
When a girl is thus acquired, either according to the custom of the country, or according to his
own desire, the man should marry her in accordance with the precepts of the Holy Writ, according
to one of the four kinds of marriage. Thus ends marriage. There are also some verses on the
subject as follows: 'Amusement in society, such as completing verses begun by others,
marriages, and auspicious ceremonies should be carried on neither with superiors, nor
inferiors, but with our equals. That should be known as a high connection when a man, after
marrying a girl, has to serve her and her relations afterwards like a servant, and such a
connection is censured by the good. On the other hand, that reproachable connection, where a
man, together with his relations, lords it over his wife, is called a low connection by the wise. But
when both the man and the woman afford mutual pleasure to each other, and when the relatives
on both sides pay respect to one another, such is called a connection in the proper sense of the
word. Therefore a man should contract neither a high connection by which he is obliged to bow
downafterwards t his kinsmen, nor a low connection, which is universally reprehended by all.'
