Marriage
Marriage
Lesson 37 set out the sequence of rites. This one takes the rite that founds a household — which Lesson 18 identified as the stage the whole āśrama scheme is built around, and Lesson 36 found substituted, for women, in place of initiation.
Vivāha is glossed "leading away — of the bride from her father's house — taking a wife, marriage with", attested from the Atharvaveda onward. The lexicon then names the eight kinds and points at Manu 3.21.
Set that beside upanayana, "leading near". The two rites that structure a twice-born life are both named for a movement of a person, and the movements are opposite: the boy is brought towards a teacher; the bride is taken away from a house.
Month 1
Marriage
Month 2 · Lesson 38. The rite completes at the seventh step, and the word spoken at that step is 'friend'. The lawbook that records this also lists purchase, abduction and rape among the eight forms of marriage, and argues with itself about them.
6 min
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