gá¹›hÄrthÄ« sadṛśīṠbhÄryÄm
udvahed ajugupsitÄm
yavÄ«yasÄ«á¹ tu vayasÄ
yaá¹ sa-varṇÄm anu kramÄt
gá¹›ha - household; arthÄ« - one who desires; sadṛśīm - possessing similar characteristics; bhÄryÄm - a wife; udvahet - one should marry; ajugupsitÄm - beyond reproach; yavÄ«yasÄ«m - younger; tu - indeed; vayasÄ - by age; yÄm - another wife; sa-varṇÄm - the first wife who is of the same caste; anu - after; kramÄt - in succession.
One who desires to establish family life should marry a wife of his own caste, who is beyond reproach and younger in age. If one desires to accept many wives he must marry them after the first marriage, and each wife should be of a successively lower caste.
As stated in the Vedic literature,
tisro varṇÄnupÅ«rvyeṇa
dve tathaikÄ yathÄ-kramam
brÄhmaṇa-ká¹£atriya-viÅ›Äá¹
bhÄryÄḥ svÄḥ śūdra-janmanaḥ
The purport of this verse is that one’s first wife must always be sadṛśīm, or similar to oneself. In other words, an intellectual man should marry an intellectual wife, a heroic man should marry a heroic wife, a business minded man should marry a woman who can encourage him in such activities, and a śūdra should marry a less intelligent woman. The wife must be beyond reproach in terms of her background and character and should always be younger than oneself, ideally five to ten years younger. If one desires to marry a second wife, then, as stated in this verse by the word varṇÄnupÅ«rvyeṇa and in the verse spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa by the word anukramÄt, one must wait until the first marriage is established and then select a second wife from the next-lower caste. If one marries a third time the wife must be, again, from the next-lower caste. For example, a brÄhmaṇa’s first wife will be a brÄhmaṇī, his second wife will be from the ká¹£atriya community, his third wife from the vaiÅ›ya community and fourth wife from the śūdra community. A ká¹£atriya may first marry a ká¹£atriya lady and then vaiÅ›ya and śūdra ladies. A vaiÅ›ya can accept wives from two classes, and a śūdra will accept a wife only from the śūdra class. By this progression of marriages there will be relative peace in the family. These Vedic marriage injunctions, as mentioned in the previous verse, are especially for those who are not pure devotees of the Lord.
