________________
LAWS OF MANU.
III, 35.
35. The gift of daughters among Brâhmanas is most approved, (if it is preceded) by (a libation of) water ; but in the case of other castes (it may be performed) by (the expression of) mutual consent.
36. Listen now to me, ye Brâhmanas, while I fully declare what quality has been ascribed by Manu to each of these marriage-rites.
37. The son of a wife wedded according to the Brâhma rite, if he performs meritorious acts, liberates from sin ten ancestors, ten descendants and himself as the twenty-first.
38. The son born of a wife, wedded according to the Daiva rite, likewise (saves) seven ancestors and seven descendants, the son of a wife married by the Årsha rite three (in the ascending and descending lines), and the son of a wife married by the rite of Ka (Pragậpati) six (in either line).
39. From the four marriages, (enumerated) successively, which begin with the Brâhma rite spring sons, radiant with knowledge of the Veda and honoured by the Sishtas (good men).
40. Endowed with the qualities of beauty and goodness, possessing wealth and fame, obtaining as
35. Itaretarakâmyayâ, by (the expression of) mutual consent,' i.e. by the parents, means according to Medh. ‘in consequence of the mutual desire of the bride and the bridegroom.' He mentions, however, the other explanation too. The text refers probably to customs like the sending of a cocoa-nut, which is usually adopted by Kshatriyas.
37-42. Vi. XXIV, 29–32; Gaut. IV, 29-33; Baudh. I, 21, ; Ấp. II, 12, 4 ; Yagũ. I, 58-60, 9o.
39. Regarding the explanation of the term Sishtas, see below, XII, 109.
40. Gov. and Kull. take the first adjective differently,' endowed with beauty, goodness, and other excellent qualities. Regarding the term 'goodness' (sattva), see below, XII, 31.
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