186 



ON THE CASTES 



who have no male children (Putra) cannot gain heaven 

 according to the Hindu religion." The question is thus 

 answered by the great law- giver Manu : "If there are more 

 than one male child to a father, and only the eldest of them 

 begets a son, then this son is alike the son of his own father 

 as well as the brothers of the father, and is therefore sufficient 

 to perform the Sraddha of his father's brothers and deliver 

 them from the hell called Put. 11 It is upon this rule that this 

 law is based. 



Some of the other laws in connection with the same subject 

 may be noticed here — 



I. If the eldest brother has no male issue by his first 

 wife he can marry again. But this fact does not 

 allow the other brothers to marry. 



II. If the eldest brother dies before he begets a son the 

 next brother is permitted to marry. 



III. In violation to the rule that only the eldest brother 



shall marry, if a younger brother marries, this 

 marriage will not be considered invalid. 



IV. If a husband finds his wife barren he can marry 



again. 



V. If a man finds himself poor and hence unable to give 

 in marriage his daughters or sisters, as the case may 

 be, he is allowed to marry them to some family and 

 in exchange marry himself the females of the house 

 to which he marries the female members of his house. 

 If a man has already three wives he cannot marry 

 any more according to the Dharma Sastra. In such 

 a case his younger brother is allowed to marry in 

 exchange. 



These laws are observed to the present day. 



