O thou of tapering thighs, of all
forms of marriage, the Gandharva one is regarded as the first.'
"Sakuntala, hearing this, said, 'O king, my father hath gone away from
this asylum to bring fruit. Wait but a moment; he will bestow me on thee.'
"Dushmanta replied, 'O beautiful and faultless one, I desire that thou
shouldst be my life's companion. Know thou that I exist for thee, and my
heart is in thee. One is certainly one's own friend, and one certainly may
depend upon one's own self. Therefore, according to the ordinance, thou
canst certainly bestow thyself. There are, in all, eight kinds of
marriages. These are Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva,
Rakshasa, and Paisacha, the eighth. Manu, the son of the self-create, hath
spoken of the appropriateness of all these forms according to their order.
Know, O faultless one, that the first four of these are fit for Brahmanas,
and the first six for Kshatriyas. As regards kings, even the Rakshasa form
is permissible. The Asura form is permitted to Vaisyas and Sudras. Of the
first five the three are proper, the other two being improper. The
Paisacha and the Asura forms should never be practised. These are the
institutes of religion, and one should act according to them. The
Gandharva and the Rakshasa form are consistent with the practices of
Kshatriyas. Thou needst not entertain the least fear. There is not the
least doubt that either according to any one of these last-mentioned forms,
or according to a union of both of them, our wedding may take place.
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