very black nor yellow complexioned, and who is not from birth a cripple or deformed. He must not marry a girl who is vicious or unhealthy, of low origin, or labouring under disease; one who has been ill brought up; one who talks improperly; one who inherits some malady from father or mother; one who has a beard, or who is of a masculine appearance; one who speaks thick or thin, or croaks like a raven; one who keeps her eyes shut, or has the eyes very prominent; one who has hairy legs, or thick ancles; or one who has dimples in her cheeks when she laughs 8. Let not a wise and prudent man marry a girl of such a description: nor let a considerate man wed a girl of a harsh skin; or one with white nails; or one with red eyes, or with very fat hands and feet; or one who is a dwarf, or who is very tall; or one whose eyebrows meet, or whose teeth are far apart, and resemble tusks. Let a householder marry a maiden who is in kin at least five degrees remote from his mother, and seven from his father, with the ceremonies enjoined by law 9.

"The forms of marriage are eight, the Brahmá, Daiva, the Ársha, Prájápatya, Asúra, Gándharba, Rákshasa, and Paiśácha; which last is the worst 10: but the caste to which either form has been enjoined as lawful by inspired sages should avoid any other mode of taking a wife. The householder who espouses a female connected with him by similarity of religious and civil obligations, and along with her discharges the duties of his condition, derives from such a wife great benefits."

Footnotes

297:1 To the Nándímukhas. The Pitris, or progenitors, are so termed here from words occurring in the prayer used on the occasion of a festive Śráddha. As. Res. VII. 270.

297:2 With the Daiva tírtha, the tips of the fingers; or with the Prájapatya tírtha, the part of the hand at the root of the little finger. Manu, II. 58, 59. The second is called by Manu the Káya tírtha, from Ka, a synonyme of Prajápati.

297:3 The Śráddha is commonly an obsequial or funeral sacrifice, but it implies offerings to the progenitors of an individual and of mankind, and always forms part of a religious ceremony on an occasion of rejoicing or an accession of prosperity, this being termed the Abhyudaya or Vriddhi Śráddha. As. Res. VII. 270.

298:4 So Manu, II. 30, 31, 32. The examples given in the comment are, Somaśarman, Indravarman, Chandragupta, and Śivadása, respectively appropriate appellations of men of the four castes.

298:5 Or Sanskáras; initiatory ceremonies, purificatory of the individual at various stages.