Forms of Marriage: The Tolkappiyam states that marriage as a sacrament attended with ritual was established in the Tamil country by the Aryans. It is well-known that the earliest Dharmashastras mention eight forms of marriage as part of the Aryan code itself, the result of a blend between Aryan and pre- Aryan forms that prevailed in the North. These eight forms are mentioned in the Tolkappiyam and other works and much ingenuity is spending in accommodat- ing them to Tamil forms.