more about post 256. original texts say this.
when duShmanta met shakuntalA, he was immediately stricken by her beauty. However, before he proposed for her hand in marriage, he requested her to reveal all about her and explicitly asked about her birth. She then recited the whole family history which she had heard from her foster-father kaNva.
Now, once the king knew shakuntalA to be a kShatriya-born, the daughter of great vishvAmitra, he proposed to marry her.
shakuntalA, a noble daughter, gently declined the proposal, saying although she approved of him, she would let her foster-father take the decision and that the king should await till her father returns.
Upon this, the king explained to her about the eight types of marriages as described in shAstras - bramha, deva, ArSha, prajApatya, asura, gandharva, rAkShasa and paishAcha marriages. he then stated that for them, the kShatriya-s, the gandharva-marriage (->aka love-marriage) was declared the best, wheras for brAhmaNa-s only the first four types were allowed. for kShatriya-s although first 6 are allowed, but for kings even the seventh the rAkshasa type is also ok. vaishya and sUdra-s can go upto the 7th type too, whereas conducting the last one, paishAcha, is prohibited to all the Arya-s.
He again reiterated that their marriage, considering the kula-s and absence of her fathers approval etc, was still entirely in accordance to the rules of marriages declared in shAstras, and he convinced her properly in an argument.
So, even their love-marriage, was not blind to shAstrik injunctions!
when duShmanta met shakuntalA, he was immediately stricken by her beauty. However, before he proposed for her hand in marriage, he requested her to reveal all about her and explicitly asked about her birth. She then recited the whole family history which she had heard from her foster-father kaNva.
Now, once the king knew shakuntalA to be a kShatriya-born, the daughter of great vishvAmitra, he proposed to marry her.
shakuntalA, a noble daughter, gently declined the proposal, saying although she approved of him, she would let her foster-father take the decision and that the king should await till her father returns.
Upon this, the king explained to her about the eight types of marriages as described in shAstras - bramha, deva, ArSha, prajApatya, asura, gandharva, rAkShasa and paishAcha marriages. he then stated that for them, the kShatriya-s, the gandharva-marriage (->aka love-marriage) was declared the best, wheras for brAhmaNa-s only the first four types were allowed. for kShatriya-s although first 6 are allowed, but for kings even the seventh the rAkshasa type is also ok. vaishya and sUdra-s can go upto the 7th type too, whereas conducting the last one, paishAcha, is prohibited to all the Arya-s.
He again reiterated that their marriage, considering the kula-s and absence of her fathers approval etc, was still entirely in accordance to the rules of marriages declared in shAstras, and he convinced her properly in an argument.
So, even their love-marriage, was not blind to shAstrik injunctions!