Note 19 — Chapter III · MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT HINDUS
Reading edition
The original system seems to have been very lax in this respect, and each caste might take wives from the caste or castes below them, as well as their own. “A Sudra woman only, must be the wife of a Sudra; she and a Vaisya of a Vaisya; they too and a Kshattriya of a Kshattriya; those too and a Brahmani of a Brahman.” Manu, iii. 13. And although it was a sin for a Brahman to marry a Sudra woman, yet such things did happen.