Dear colleagues,

It would be helpful to know in these contexts what "marriage" means and whether attaining adulthood refers to sexual maturity, or a legal/ritual status, or whether the two are conflated in theory and/or in practice.

These are very young female bodies we are talking about. I'm sure this needs no mentioning, but I will mention it anyway.

Listening in with interest!

Amy Langenberg

On Sat, Sep 5, 2020 at 12:31 PM Walter Slaje <walter.slaje@gmail.com> wrote:

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@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@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@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@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@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@gmail.com
>>> sjohansen@ciis.edu
>>> she/her
>>>
>>>
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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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