Male and female, without the intervention of the matchmaker, do not know each other's name. Unless the marriage presents have been received, there should be no communication nor affection between them. 37. Hence the day and month (of the marriage) should be announced to the ruler, and to the spirits (of ancestors) with purification and fasting; and (the bridegroom) should make a feast, and invite (his friends) in the district and neighbourhood, and his fellow-officers:—thus giving its due importance to the separate position (of male and female). 38. One must not marry a wife of the same surname with himself. Hence, in buying a concubine, if he do not know her surname, he must consult the tortoise-shell about it[1]. 39. With the son of a widow, unless he be of acknowledged distinction, one should not associate himself as a friend.
7. 40. When one congratulates (a friend) on his marrying, his messenger says, "So and So has sent me. Having heard that you are having guests, he has sent me with this present."
8. 41. Goods and wealth are not to be expected from the poor in their discharge of the rules of propriety; nor the display of sinews and strength from the old.
9. 42. In giving a name to a son, it should not be that of a state, nor of a day or a month, nor of any hidden ailment, nor of a hill or river[2].
43.
- ↑ Not to find out what her surname is, but to determine whether it be the same as that of the gentleman or not.
- ↑ Such names were so common, that if it became necessary to avoid them, as it might be, through the death of the party or on other grounds, it would be difficult and inconvenient to do so.
