Note 79 — Chapter VI

19. From the early literature, beyond the reference in Manu, to which reference has already been made, the traces of the custom in myth are not very numerous or clear. The myth of Urvasî probably indicates the existence of some ancient rule or taboo which prevented ordinary unrestrained intercourse between husband and wife, with the inference that possibly from capture their relations were strained.79 In the Mahâbhârata the followers of Kîchika attempted to burn Draupadî with his corpse, apparently because from the fact of her capture she was assumed to have been his wife. In the same epic Bhîshma declares that the Swayamvara is the best of all modes of marriage for a Kshatriya, except one, that of carrying away the bride by force. He acquired in this way the beautiful daughters of the Râja of Kâshi as wives for his brother Vichitra Vîrya. In the Sûtras it was provided that at a certain vital stage in the marriage ceremony a strong man and the bridegroom should forcibly draw the bride and make her sit down on a red ox skin.80