Ancient Hindu Marriage Law and Practice/Srikanta Mishra. 1994, xxii, 284 p., map, $18.
Contents: Preface. 1. Salient features of ancient Hindu marriage. 2. Qualification and disqualification of the bride and bridegroom. 3. Guardianship of the bride and bridegroom. 4. Forms of marriage. 5. Rites and rituals of the validity of marriage. 6. Other co-related issues of marriage. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.
"in this book the learned author explains the nature, the theme and the concept of Hindu marriage law in ancient India. This book speaks of ancient Hindu marriage in the setting of the parental law and historical background. Here the author establishes the consciousness that the most modern thinking on Hindu marriage laws had its roots in the precepts of the great ancient Indian jurists like Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada and Kautilya etc., in the remote past--even before the birth of the Christ.
"All the six chapters give the original thoughts and theories propounded by the author based on his five long years of study. The comprehensive mythological approach, encompassing jurisprudential, comparative, anthropological and historical considerations raises this study considerably above legal routine exercise. Again the author's treatment of juridical literature of ancient India evinces an immense amount of study and application. This book is essentially an original writing containing discussion of the principles of law relating to Hindu marriage in ancient India. Such original thinking and writing are very much required so that the law on the subject further grows and becomes modern." (jacket)