Inbreeding

सगोत्र-विवाह-निषेधः

सगोत्र-विवाहे जनितुर् एव दोष उक्तो बोधायनेन -

३७ सगोत्रां चेद् अमत्योपगच्छेन् मातृवद् एनांबिभृयात्।
३८ प्रजाता चेत् कृच्छ्राब्दपादं चरित्वा । यन् म आत्मनो मिन्दाभूत् । पुनर् अग्निश् चक्षुर् अदाद् इति । एताभ्यांजुहुयात् ॥

आपस्तम्बोऽपि कन्यापितुर् दोषम् आह -

सगोत्राय दुहितरं न प्रयच्छेत् १५

अबुद्धि-पूर्वकता

तत्र प्रायश्चित्तानि भिन्नान्य् उक्तानि - बुद्धि-पूर्वकाबुद्धि-पूर्वक-गमनयोः।
आधुनिकैस् तु शास्त्र-शिक्षा-रहितैर् यद् आचर्यते बुद्धिपूर्वकम् इव,
तत् प्रायेण +अबुद्धिपूर्वकम् एव मन्तुम् उचितम् - शास्त्राबुद्धेर् बहुमात्रया वर्तमानत्वात्।

अपत्य-पापम्?

स वेचारो ऽन्यत्र - TW ।

sa-piNDa rather than sa-gotra

Considering potential adRShTa-prayojana-s of antar-gotra vivAha, it should be attempted as a first option. To do this, there are other constraints to relax. Such as geographical location, language/ ethnicity and even sagotra-barrier.

However, in some contexts (such as the modern one), one should not hold sa-gotra-vivAha-s as a unredeemable violation (eg. “child becomes a chaNDAla”). Rather, people should be more bothered about constraints such as

• the general “dhArmikatA inclination
• consanguinity

mahAmahopAdhyAya PV kANe, author of the “History of dharmashAstra” and others (of the तत्त्वनिष्ठ-परिवर्तनवादिपरिषद् aka Dharmanirṇaya maṇḍala which included a prominent shankarAchArya) proposed this reform:

marriages of spouses of the same gotra and pravara should be allowed provided there is no bar on the ground of sapiṇḍa relationship ( vide Hindu Marriage Act, 25 of 1955, sec. 5 items 4 and 5 ) +++(ie 3-5-depth ancestry)+++

Hindu Marriage Act, 25 of 1955 definitions (द्रष्टुं नोद्यम्)

(i) “sapinda relationship” with reference to any person extends as far as the third generation(inclusive) in the line of ascent through the mother, and the fifth (inclusive) in the line of ascent through the father, the line being traced upwards in each case from the person concerned, who is to be counted as the first generation; (ii) two persons are said to be “sapindas” of each other if one is a lineal ascendant of the other within the limits of sapinda relationship, or if they have a common lineal ascendant who is within the limits of sapinda relationship with reference to each of them;

(g) “degrees of prohibited relationship”-two persons are said to be within the “degrees of prohibited relationship”—
(i) if one is a lineal ascendant of the other; or
(ii) if one was the wife or husband of a lineal ascendant or descendant of the other; or
(iii) if one was the wife of the brother or of the father’s or mother’s brother or of the grandfather’s or grandmother’s brother of the other; or
(iv) if the two are brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, or children of brother and sister or of two brothers or of two sisters;

Reasoning:

• The significant dRShTa-prayojana behind this ancient-approximation (barring sagotra + sApiNDya marriages) is now quite clear. So, even if there is adRShTa-prayojana, we suppose that it is of relatively minor importance.
• Consider the behavior of shiShTa-s, which have deviated from the shAstra in times of Apat and otherwise.
  • Southern Indian shiShTa-s have infamously resorted to uncle-marriage in the name of deshAchAra, even when there were abundant options.
  • It is clear from genetic studies that shiShTa-s have transgressed vivAha restrictions throughout India. This must have appened in cases of population bottlenecks arising from migrations.
• bhAradvAja-s and jAmadagnya-s have a tough time in south India.

श्राद्धे

श्राद्धेषु भोक्तारः सगोत्रा न स्युर् इति नियमानुसारं योग्यानाम् अभावे,
सापिण्ड्य-दोषरहितान् सगोत्रान् अप्य् आमन्त्रयन्ते शिष्टाः।

धर्मशास्त्रेष्व् अभिप्रायः

असपिण्डा च या मातुर्
असगोत्रा च या पितुः ।
सा प्रशस्ता द्विजातीनां
दारकर्मणि मैथुने ॥

इति मनुः। विस्तारो ऽत्र।

Gautama (4. 2-5).—‘Marriage should be performed with persons not belonging to the same Pravara;—above the Seventh grade among his paternal relations;—also beyond persons of the same seed;—and above the fifth grade among maternal relations.’

Vaśiṣṭḥa (8. 1, 2).—‘He should marry a girl who has no common Ṛṣi (as her ancestor)………; nor one who is in the seventh grade among his paternal and in the fifth grade among his maternal relations.’

Bodhāyana (2. 1. 38).—‘If he unknowingly marries a girl who is of the same gotra as his mother, he should maintain her as his mother; if he has got a child from her, he should perform the following expiation………’

Viṣṇu (24.9-10).—‘He should obtain a wife who is not the same gotra as himself nor with the same Pravara-ṛṣis; and who is beyond the fifth grade of his maternal, and beyond the seventh grade of his paternal relations.’

Viṣṇu (Aparārka, p. 82).—‘Those who marry within the seventh and fifth grades, and the children of such marriages, become outcasts and Śūdras.’

Yājñavalkya (1.53).—‘The girl who is free from disease, has a brother, and does not belong to the same gotra or the same Ṛṣis, and who is above the fifth and seventh grades of relationship on the maternal and paternal sides respectively.’

Gobhila Gṛhyasūtra (3.4.4,5).—‘The girl who does not belong to the same gotra, and who is not his mother’s sapiṇḍa.’

Laghu-Śātātapa (37).—[Reproduces Manu.]

Śātātapa (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 590).—‘First of all there should be purity regarding gotra and pravara, and then that regarding the fifth and seventh grades of relationship.’

Baudhāyana (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 590).—‘One born of a woman of the same gotra as her husband is a Caṇḍāla.’

Śātātapa (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 683).—‘If one marries the daughter of his maternal uncle, or a girl who is of the same gotra as his mother, or of the same pravara,—he should renounce her and perform the Cāndrāyaṇa penance.’

Sumanta (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 683, Aparārka, p. 80).—‘Having married the daughter of his father’s sister, or that of his mother’s sister, or one who is of the same gotra as his mother, or of the same pravara,—one should perform the Cāndrāyaṇa; he shall give her up, but support her.’

Sumanta (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 702).—‘Girls are unmarriageable up to the seventh grade on the father’s side, and up to the fifth grade on the other sides.’

Vyāsa (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 683).—‘Some people hold that one should not marry a girl who has the same gotra as his mother.’

Kāṭhaka Gṛhya (Vīra-Saṃskāra, p. 683).—‘One should not marry a girl who has the same gotra and the same pravara as his father, nor one who is of the same gotra as his mother.’

Kātyāyana (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 684).—‘One should avoid a girl who, as regards his father, is of the same gotra or of the same pravara; but as regards his mother, only one who has the same gotra (the sameness of pravara in this latter case does not matter).’

Pāraskara (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 702).—‘Jñāti-relationship extends to the seventh grade, or to the tenth.’

Yājñavalkya (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 702).—‘From the seventh or the tenth grade extends the Jñāti-relationship.’

Devala (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 703).—‘On the father’s and on the mother’s side, the sapiṇḍatā (consanguinity) ceases beyond the seventh and the fifth grades of relationship respectively.’

Paiṭhīnasi (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, 703).—‘One should select a girl who has no pravara- sage in common with him,—avoiding seven grades on the father’s and five on the mother’s side.’

Paiṭhīnasi (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 704).—‘In marriage one should avoid three grades on the mother’s side and five grades on the father’s.’

Hārīta (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 704).—‘One shall select a girl who has been found to be endowed with the three qualifications, and he should avoid seven grades on his father’s, and five on his mother’s side.’

Nārada (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, 407).—‘Within the seventh and the fifth grades of relationship from the father and the mother respectively—a girl is unmarriageable; as also one who has the same gotra or pravara.’

Vaśiṣṭha (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 703).—‘The householder shall marry a girl who is in the fifth grade on his mother’s side and in the seventh on the father’s.’

Ślokavaśiṣṭha (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 703).—‘One should marry the girl who is the seventh on his father’s side and fifth on his mother’s side.’

Viṣṇu-purāṇa (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 703).—‘O king, the householder shall marry, in the proper form, a girl who is fifth on his mother’s side and seventh on his father’s side.’

Śaṅkha (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 704),—‘One shall acquire rightfully a wife, who is not born of the same gotra or the same pravara as himself,—and who happens to he the fifth on mother’s and seventh on the father’s side.’

Manu and Viṣṇu (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, p. 704).—‘Sapiṇḍatā ceases in the seventh grade.’

Chaturviṁshatimata (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, 704).—‘On both sides, one should marry the girl in the third and the fourth grades.’

Saṭtṛṁshanmata (Vīramitrodaya-Saṃskāra, 704). —‘Manu has declared that one may marry the girl who is in the third grade on the mother’s side and in the third grade on the father’s side.’

मातुलादि-विवाहः

वेदोल्लेखः

Mādhavācārya in his commentary on Parāśarasmṛti cites statements from Vedas documenting the practice of marrying Mātula’s daughter and grandfather’s sister’s daughter. (Seek “मातुल” in AchAra/02)

पौराणिकम्

• Subhadrā was daughter of mātula of Arjuna.
• Further, Pradyumna, son of śrīkṛṣṇa also married to daughter of rukmī, i.e. his own mātula.