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SOCIAL CONDITIONS
353
The kidnapping and purchasing of girls were not done for pushing the girls in to slavery or extracting any inhuman service from them. Srīvardhita kidnapped the daughter of Srikānta and married her. She became his dear wife and there was no resentment from her (77.8597). Kharadūşana kidnapped Candranakhā and married her. He gave her the due respect a wife should expect (9.12: 44.9-11). The position of girls is undermined when they are enjoyed and left in lurch. But when they are married and given the rights of legally married wives, they are not the losers. It becomes disparaging when the married girls are intentionally put to sufferings by the behaviour of their husbands or the society. Here it will be interesting to note that in some cases the boys of Ksatriya landlords are still kidnapped and married to the Ksatriya girls to escape the burden of dowry and get good bridegrooms. In that case the marriage is regarded as binding by custom and it is given legality. This is just the opposite of kidnapping a girl and then marrying her. The dowry system of today is just like the purchasing of a bridegroom. Now a days that type of marriage is not regarded as illegal. So to say the importance is of particular custom and not the way in which the marriage is performed.
Generally marriages of girls were happy. There is no case on record in the PCV to note that any girl was forcibly married by her parents or that the marriage of a daughter performed by her parents proved unhappy afterwards on account of dissension, quarrel or disunion between the husband and the wife or culminated into the complete ruining of the life of a girl.
Thus the PCV reveals that a girl enjoyed equal status with a boy in the matters of nourishment, education and marriage. Along with the boys the girls also enjoyed the special privilege of immunity from murder even if they committed some offence.
Wife :--The wife was the mistress of the house (ghariņi 48.64, gehiņi 8.61=grhini). It indicates her highest authority in managing the the domestic affairs. Patti - Patni (14.14) denotes her capacity of partnership with the lord husband and Bhāryā=Bhajjā (103. 7) signifies the right of being maintained by her husband, Pai= Pati (46. 18) means the guardian of the wife and Bhattāra=Bharts (8. 33) denotes the maintainer. These terms indicate that the wife and husband were complementary to each other. The responsibilities of
1. This custom is prevalent in some parts of the Jodhpur Division of Rājasthān. 2. Samaņā ya Bambhaņā vi ya, go pasu itthi ya bālayā vuddha /
Jai vi hu kunanti dosari taha vi ya ee na hantavvā //- 35.15.
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