Verse 9.69

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

यस्या म्रियेत कन्याया वाचा सत्ये कृते पतिः ।
तामनेन विधानेन निजो विन्देत देवरः ॥ ६९ ॥

yasyā mriyeta kanyāyā vācā satye kṛte patiḥ |
tāmanena vidhānena nijo vindeta devaraḥ || 69 ||

If the husband of a maiden dies after the troth has been verbally plighted,—shall her then own younger brother-in-law espouse in the following manner.—(69)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

This verse lays down a practice in connection with maidens, which has the form of ‘authorization’.

‘After the troth has been verbally plighted’—i.e., alter the accomplishment of verbal betrothal;—when she has been given away orally by one and accepted by the other party.

‘Her own younger brother-in-law shall espouse’—marry—‘her, in the following manner’—(69)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (1.69), as enunciating the view that the sanction of the ‘kṣeṭraja’ son pertains only to those cases where the bridegroom has died after the verbal betrothal;—again under 2.127, as describing the case in which alone ‘niyoga’ is permissible;—and it adds that this verse implies that the man to whom a girl has been betrothed has become her ‘husband’ even before the marriage rites have been performed.

Mitākṣarā adds the following notes:—When the ‘husband’ to whom the girl has been betrothed dies, then his ‘own’ i.e., uterine brother, elder or younger, ‘vindeta,’ shall take her, i.e., marry her. It construes ‘anena vidhānena’ with the next verse.

It is quoted in Smṛtitattva (II, p. 129), to the effect that the child born under this rule belongs to the person to whom the girl had been previously betrothed;—in Aparārka (p. 78), which also notes that this verse serves to restrict the sanction of ‘niyoga’ or of ‘marriage of widows’ to cases of mere betrothal, not of actual marriage;—in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 351), to the same effect; and it adds that for this reason the foregoing conflicting verses 59-68 should not be understood as setting forth two optional alternatives;—and in Vīramitrodaya (Saṃskāra, p. 737), to the effect that ‘niyoga’ does not mean mere intercourse, without marriage, it means marriage and then intercourse;—and again on p. 756, as laying down the marrying of the girl by her younger brother-in-law, on the death of her (betrothed) husband.

This verse is quoted also in Nṛsiṃhaprasāda (Vyavahāra, 38a).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.69-70)

Vaśiṣṭha (17.72-74).—‘If the betrothed of a maiden die after she has been promised to him verbally and by a libation of water,—but before she was married to him with the sacred texts,—she belongs to her father alone. If a damsel has been abducted by force, and not wedded with the sacred texts, she may lawfully he given to another man; she is even like a maiden. If before the death of her husband, the damsel had merely been wedded with the sacred texts, and the marriage had not been consummated, she may be married again.’

Kātyāyana (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 739).—‘If a man should die or become lost after betrothal, the girl shall wait for three menstrual periods and then marry another person.’