Verse 9.85 [Seniority among Co-wives]

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

यदि स्वाश्चापराश्चैव विन्देरन् योषितो द्विजाः ।
तासां वर्णक्रमेण स्याज् ज्येष्ठ्यं पूजा च वेश्म च ॥ ८५ ॥

yadi svāścāparāścaiva vinderan yoṣito dvijāḥ |
tāsāṃ varṇakrameṇa syāj jyeṣṭhyaṃ pūjā ca veśma ca || 85 ||

When twice-born men wed women of their own as well as other castes, their seniority, honour and habitation shall be according to the order of their castes.—(85)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

If urged by carnal desire, men should wed women belonging to the same caste as themselves, or those belonging to other castes, then their ‘seniority’ shall depend upon ‘the order of their castes,’— and not upon age, nor upon the order of their age.

‘Honour’—consisting in the presenting of fruits and other things.

‘The order of the caste’ is that the Brāhmaṇa-wife comes first, then the Kṣatriya, then the Vaiśya.

‘Habitation’—i.e., the principal apartments. This belongs to the Brāhmaṇa-wife.

Among wives of the same caste, all this is governed by the order of their marriage.—(85)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Cf. the Mahābhārata 13.47.31.

This verse is quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Ācāra, p. 509), as laying down the order in which the several wives of a man are to be honoured;—in Smṛtitattva (p. 298) as declaring who is to be regarded as the ‘Senior’ wife,

‘Jyesṭhā’;—also in Vol. II, p. 191;—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 419), which explains ‘svāḥ’ as ‘belonging to the same caste as her husband,’ and ‘svāvarāḥ’ (which is its reading for ‘aparāḥ’) as ‘belonging to a different caste’;—in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 198a);—and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 257), which says that the wife of one’s own caste, even though married later, would be the Senior and hence entitled to associate with the husband in his religious acts.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.85-87)

Viṣṇu (26.1-4).—‘If a man has several wives of his own caste, he shall perform his religious duties with the eldest wife. If he has several wives of diverse castes, he shall perform them, even with the youngest wife, if she is of the same caste as himself. On failure of a wife of his own caste, be shall perform them with one belonging to the caste next below his own; so also in cases of distress;—but no twice-born man shall ever do it with a Śūdra wife.’

Yājñavalkya (1.88).—‘So long as a wife of the same caste as himself is alive, he shall not have his religious acts done by another; and among several wives of the same caste, the younger one shall not be employed in religious acts, except along with the eldest.’

Kātyāyana (Vivādaratnākara, p. 420).—‘If a man has several wives, he should have his religious acts, such as the tending of the Sacrificial Fire, done by one who belongs to the same caste as himself; if there are several of the same caste as himself, then by the eldest among them, if she is not defective; or by one who has given birth to a heroic son and is most obedient to him, skilful, sweet-speaking and pure.’