298:6 Or the vow or pledge he has taken, that he will follow for life the observances of the student or ascetic; both of which are enumerated in the Nirńaya Sindhu, as acts prohibited in the Kali age; a man is not to continue a student or Brahmáchári, i. e. a cænobite, for life; nor is he to become a mendicant without previously passing through the order of householder. In practice, however, the prohibition is not unfrequently disregarded.

298:7 By this is to be understood, according to the commentator, merely a young girl, but at the same time one not immature; for otherwise, he observes, a man of thirty, by which age he completes his sacred studies, would espouse a girl of but ten years of age. According to Manu, however, the period of religious study does not terminate until thirty-six; and in the East a girl of twelve would be marriageable. The text of Yájnawalkya has merely the word Yavíyasí, 'a very young woman.' It is worthy of remark here, that neither that text, nor the text of Manu, nor the interpretation of our text, authorizes the present practice of the nuptials of children. The obligation imposed upon a man of a life of perfect continence until he is more than thirty is singularly Malthusian.

299:8 For the credit of Hindu taste it is to be noticed that the commentator observes the hemistich in which this last clause occurs is not found in all copies of the text.

299:9 See Manu, III. 5, &c.

299:10 These different modes of marriage a described by Manu, III. 27, &c.

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Hinduism

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