Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c20.s1.76

v2.c20.s1.76

Before leaving the topic of women, it is necessary to point out, that although the laws regarding re-marriage of women, and payment of *sulka* or marriage-price are based on Indian Law-books, the latter also contain regulations of exactly opposite character, forbidding both. These are, however, entirely absent from the Javanese Law-book, showing thereby the strong hold of the customs which formerly prevailed but later fell into disfavour or disuse in India. Again, the right of a wife to divorce her husband is unknown to Manu and foreign to the spirit of Indian law and practice, though Nārada (XII. 16, 96) permits it only in the cases of certain physical disabilities of the husband. Lastly, to the general rule that pledged property vests in the holder of the pledge after the lapse of a fixed period of time, there are some notable exceptions, *viz.*, those belonging to a married or unmarried girl, to the king, and to a Paṇḍita (206). These exceptions not only give a preferential treatment to women over men, but also supply another evidence that women could own real property (206). In all these cases the divergence from Hindu law may be explained by higher conception of the status of women among the indigenous people in Java.