Verse 9.4

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

कालेऽदाता पिता वाच्यो वाच्यश्चानुपयन् पतिः ।
मृते भर्तरि पुत्रस्तु वाच्यो मातुररक्षिता ॥ ४ ॥

kāle'dātā pitā vācyo vācyaścānupayan patiḥ |
mṛte bhartari putrastu vācyo māturarakṣitā || 4 ||

Censurable is the father who gives her not away at the right time; censurable the husband who approaches her not; and censurable the son who, on the death of her husband, does not take care of her—(4).

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

If, at the approach of the right time for giving her away, the father does not give her away, (he becomes censurable).

“What in the right time for the girl to be given away?”

It has been laid down that such time begins from her eighth year and extends to the time.previous to her puberty. We have indications of this in the present work also.

‘Who does not approach her’—Who does not have intercourse with her. The ‘right time’ for such approach is the period of her ‘course’.—(4).

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 412);—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 158a), which has the following notes:—‘Kāle’ at the time suitable for giving away the girl:—‘vācyam’ is to be blamed,—‘anupayan,’ not approaching.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (18.22).—‘He who neglects the marriage of girls commits sin.’

Baudhāyana (4.1.12, 17-19).—‘He who does not give away a marriageable daughter within three years of her puberty doubtlessly contracts a guilt equal to that of killing an embryo. He who does not approach, during three years, a wife who is marriageable, incurs, without doubt, a guilt equal to that of killing an embryo; but if a man does not approach his wife after she has bathed after her temporary uncleanliness, though he dwells near her,—his ancestors lie, during that month, in the menstrual excretions of the wife. They declare that the guilt of the husband who does not approach his wife in due season,—of him who approaches her during her temporary uncleanliness,—and of him who commits an unnatural crime, is equally heinous.’

Vaśiṣṭha (17.69-70).—‘They quote the following:—“If through the father’s negligence, a maiden is given away after the suitable age has passed, she, who was waiting for a husband, destroys him who gives her away............ Out of fear of the appearance of menses, let the father marry his daughter while she still goes about naked; for if she stays in the house after the age of puberty, sin falls upon the father.”’

Yājñavalkya (1.64).—‘If one does not give away the girl, he incurs the guilt of killing an embryo, at each of her menstrual periods.’

Kāśyapa (Aparārka, p. 93).—‘If a girl perceives her menstrual blood while she is still in her father’s house, unmarried, her father becomes the killer of an embryo, and the girl herself a cāṇḍālī. If any Brāhmaṇa, through folly, marries such a girl, he is to be known as the husband of a

Vṛṣali, unfit to be invited at a Śrāddha and to dine with Brāhmaṇas.’

Nārada (Do.).—‘The girl shall not ignore the appearance of her menstrual flow; she shall inform her relations of it; if after this, they do not give her away, they become equal to Brāhmaṇa-killers.’

Saṃvarta (Do.).—‘Father, mother, and brother, all these three go to hell, if they see a maiden in puberty.’

Bṛhaspati (24.3, Vivādaratnākara, p. 412).—‘If the father does not give her away in time,—or if the husband does not approach her during her periods,—or if the son does not supply his mother with food,—all these three become legally reprehensible and deserving of punishment.’