[INDOLOGY] sources on markers of girls' transition to adulthood

Sat Sep 5 16:31:02 UTC 2020

Another recommendation:

Harry Falk, Die Kurus und ihre jungen Frauen. *Studia Orientalia
Electronica*, 110 (2014): 93-101.
Retrieved from https://journal.fi/store/article/view/45354

Am Sa., 5. Sept. 2020 um 18:10 Uhr schrieb Martin Straube via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info>:

>
> One small addition: On kaumārī cf. P. Thieme, "Jungfrauengatte",
> Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung, 78 (1963); reprinted
> in: Kleine Schriften, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden 1984, pp. 426ff.
>
> Regards
> Martin Straube
>
> Zitat von Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>:
>
> > Below are some additional indications that could be followed up in the
> > course of your research.
> >
> >
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > WS
> >
> >
> >
> > 1) See *Richard Schmidt* (*Beiträge zur indischen Erotik*. 3. Aufl.
> Berlin
> > 1922: 645–649) with source quotes on marriage age and also marks of
> > pubescence).
> >
> >
> >
> > 2) See moreover *Ram Gopal*, *India of Vedic Kalpasūtras*. Delhi 21983:
> 212
> > with relevant quotes (p. 220, n. 59) also on the important term *nagnikā*
> > („naked“) in the context of the ideal marriage age:
> >
> > *nagnikām* [=] *aprāptastrībhāvām* *ayauvanarasām* *upayaccheta* (“let
> him
> > approach a *nagnikā* girl for intercourse in whom the sexual
> > characteristics of a woman are not yet developed and in whom the
> menstrual
> > fluid (*yauvanarasa*) has not yet emerged.”).
> >
> > *nagnikā*, defined as the “best” (*śreṣṭhā*) in the above passage of
> > *Mānavagṛhyasūtra* as cited by Gopal, seems actually to refer to the
> > absence of pubic hair (*ajātalomnī*) as also discussed, e.g., by
> > Bhaṭṭanārāyaṇa on *Gobhilagṛhyasūtra* 2.5.7. According to the latter’s
> > testimony there were Ācāryas who stipulated intercourse with prepubescent
> > married girls lacking pubic hair, if these girls themselves desired so:
> >
> > *yady ajātalomny evātīva puruṣābhogārthinī syāt, tathā sati, *[…]
> *maithunaṃ
> > kartavyam ity eke ācāryā manyante*.
> >
> >
> >
> > 3) The Kashmirian *Kāṭhakagṛhyasūtra* determines the age of marriage of
> > girls at 10, at the very latest at 12 years (*daśavārṣikaṃ** brahmacaryaṃ
> > kumārīṇāṃ dvādaśavārṣikaṃ vā *KGS 19.2), on which Devapāla comments:
> > *varṣadaśakād
> > ūrdhvaṃ **brahmacarye kumārī **na** sthāpayitavyā pitrā **।* *agatyā **vā
> > dvādaśa **varṣāṇi nātikramaṇīyāni* ॥ (Devapālabhāṣya *ad* 19.2. ||
> >
> >
> >
> > 4) *Manusmṛti*
> >
> >
> > *triṃśadvarṣo vahet kanyāṃ hṛdyāṃ dvādaśavārṣikīm | tryaṣṭavarṣo
> 'ṣṭavarṣāṃ
> > vā dharme sīdati satvaraḥ* || MDhŚ 9.94 ||
> >
> >
> >
> > “A 30-year-old man should marry a charming girl of 12 years, or an
> > 18-year-old, *a girl of 8 years* - *sooner, if* his fulfilling the Law
> > would suffer.” (Olivelle 2005, p. 194).
> >
> >
> >
> > There is a wider range of evidence for an ideal marriage age for girls
> aged
> > 8 (*a**ṣṭ**avar**ṣ**ā*): To start with Pārvatī, Śiva’s wife, it is said
> > that she was married at the age of eight (8), i.e. before puberty, the
> > technical term for which is *gaurī* (significantly also used as an
> epithet
> > for her):
> >
> >
> >
> > 5) Jayadratha’s *Haracaritacint**ā**ma**ṇ**i*
> >
> > *dev**ī** himavata**ḥ** putr**ī** k**ā**l**ī** n**ī**lotpalacchavi**ḥ**
> | *
> >
> > *a**ṣṭ**avar**ṣ**ā** tapoyukt**ā** bhart**ā**ra**ṃ** pr**ā**pa
> dh**ū**rja*
> > *ṭ**im* || Hc 22.3 ||
> >
> > *sā krīḍantī pitṛgehe śambhunā saha pārvatī* |
> >
> > *dṛṣṭvā dṛṣṭvā vapuḥ śyāmaṃ nāhaṃ gaurīty alajjata* || Hc 22.4 ||
> >
> >
> >
> > 6) *gaurī* = *aṣṭavarṣā* = prepubescent:
> >
> > *Brhadyamasmrti* (= *Parāśarasmṛti* 7.4):
> >
> > *aṣṭavarṣā** bhaved gaurī navavarṣā ca rohiṇī |*
> >
> > *daśavarṣā bhavet kanyā  ata ūrdhvaṃ rajasvalā* || YS 182v 3.21 ||
> >
> >
> >
> > 7) *Aṣṭavarṣā* marriage in the *Revākhaṇḍa* of the *Vāyupurāṇa*:
> >
> > *puṇyāham adya saṃjātam ahaṃ tvaddarśanotsukaḥ |*
> >
> > *kanyā** madīyā rājendra hy aṣṭavarṣā vyajāyata* || RKV 142.18 ||
> > […]
> >
> >
> > *caturbhujo mama sutas triṣu lokeṣu viśrutaḥ | tasyeyaṃ dīyatāṃ kanyā
> > śiśupālasya bhīṣmaka* || RKV 142.20 ||
> >
> >
> >
> > 8) *Rāmāyaṇa*
> >
> > Sītā, too, was married before the age of puberty as a “*kaumārī*”:
> >
> > *svayaṃ tu bhāryāṃ kaumārīṃ ciram adhyuṣitāṃ satīm |*
> >
> > *śailūṣa iva māṃ rāma parebhyo dātum icchasi* || Rām 2.27.8 (CE)||
> >
> >
> >
> > The Gītā Press translates from an emic insight point of view: „who was
> > married to you before puberty”.
> >
> > The commentaries *Rāmāyaṇaśiromaṇi* und *Bhūṣaṇa* on this passage (Rām
> > 2.30,8) confirm *kaumārī* as “*kumārāvasthāyāṃ eva vivāhitā*” (“married
> > already in the period of life of a ten to twelve years old maiden”).
> >
> > *kumārī* = 1. “A young girl, one from 10 to 12 years old“ (Apte)
> >
> >
> > 9) A significant term for a a sexually mature, fully developed girl is
> > *prauḍhā* (cp., eg., *Bhāgavatapurāṇa *4.25.21 (*a-prauḍhā* – “not yet
> > fully developed”), or *ūḍhā* (cp. *nava-ūḍhā* – “having just attained
> > puberty”, as in *Brahmavaivartap*., ch. 112).
> >
> > Am Sa., 5. Sept. 2020 um 03:08 Uhr schrieb Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY
> <
> > indology at list.indology.info>:
> >
> >> Hello Sundari,
> >>
> >>      I see these quotations from various texts embedded in the
> commentary
> >> Tattvabodhinī on Bhaṭṭoji's Siddhānta-Kaumudī, on rule 3168 of SK [p.
> 531,
> >> edition of SK with Tattvabodhinī, edited by Wasudev Laxman Shastri
> >> Panshikar, 7th edition, Nirnaya Sagara press, Mumbai, 1933]:  These are
> >> comments on the word *gaurī:*
> >>
> >> "गौरी त्वसञ्जातरज:कन्याशङ्करभार्ययो:" ... इति मेदिनी ।..."अष्टवर्षा तु
> या
> >> दत्ता श्रुतशीलसमन्विते । सा गौरी तत्सुतो यस्तु स गौर: परिकीर्तित: ।।"
> इति
> >> ब्रह्माण्डवचनं श्राद्धकाण्डे हेमाद्रिणोद्धृतम् । एतेन "गौर: शुच्याचार:"
> >> इत्यादि भाष्यं व्याख्यातम् ।
> >>
> >>    The end of the above passage uses the quote fromthe Brahmāṇḍa-Purāṇa
> to
> >> argue that the word *gauraḥ *used by Patañjali in defining a Brāhmaṇa
> >> does not refer to the skin color, but it has a Dharmaśāstric
> significance
> >> as "the son of a woman who was given at her age of eight to a learned
> and
> >> righteous Brahmin."  The same quote is used by the great Nāgeśabhaṭṭa in
> >> one of his commentaries. I have cited that in one of my publications,
> and I
> >> have to hunt down that reference.  But it is exactly the same argument.
> >>    On a personal level, the history of my own family shows the gradual
> >> change from that old standard for the age of marriage.  My grandmother
> was
> >> married when she was 9.  My two paternal aunts were married at the age
> of
> >> 14 or 15, and since that was considered rather too late, they were
> married
> >> to widowers.  My own mother was married at her age of 16.  This is an
> >> interesting trajectory of history within a single family.
> >>     With best wishes,
> >>
> >> Madhav M. Deshpande
> >> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
> >> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
> >> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
> >>
> >> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
> >>
> >>
> >> On Fri, Sep 4, 2020 at 5:09 PM Olivelle, J P via INDOLOGY <
> >> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> >>
> >>> The most straightforward statement in Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra 3.3.1:
> >>>
> >>> A woman 12 years old has reached the age for legal transactions
> >>> (vyavahāra), as also
> >>> a man 16 years old.
> >>>
> >>> Best,
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Patrick
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Sep 4, 2020, at 5:23 PM, Sundari Johansen Hurwitt via INDOLOGY <
> >>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi all,
> >>>
> >>> I am looking for sources that explore the age at which a girl
> >>> traditionally becomes an adult woman (meaning, she transitions into
> defacto
> >>> adulthood by the standards of the time) in Hindu culture, prior to the
> 19th
> >>> century. I'm already aware of the Indian Penal Code setting the age of
> >>> consent for marriage for girls at 10 years old in 1860, and the history
> >>> following that.
> >>>
> >>> In particular I'm looking for primary and/or secondary literature that
> >>> mention bodily processes, rites of passage, age, or other markers of
> that
> >>> transition to adulthood.
> >>>
> >>> Many thanks!
> >>> -sundari
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>>
> >>> Sundari Johansen Hurwitt
> >>> sundari.johansen at gmail.com
> >>> sjohansen at ciis.edu
> >>> she/her
> >>>
> >>>
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> >>>
> >>>
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> >>
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>
>
> --
> Martin Straube
> Research Fellow in Pali Lexicography
> Pali Text Society
>
> Philipps-Universität Marburg
> Indologie und Tibetologie
> Deutschhausstrasse 12
> 35032 Marburg
> Germany
>
>
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