The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c14.s2.t2: Women

v2.c14.s2.t2.1

As far as the position of women is concerned, early marriages of girls at the age of 10 or 11 became customary in this period. This practice was a death-blow to female education. The custom of *suttee* had begun to prevail in royal families; at the death of Rāmachandra several of his queens immolated themselves as *suttees*. The custom, however, was not popular outside Kshatriya circles, for certain writers of the age such as Vijñāneśvara argued that it was not permissible, at any rate, for Brāhman widows, since it was after all in effect a kind of suicide. A widow's right to inheritance of property had become a firmly established custom in the Deccan during our period. Widows usually put off all ornaments, but they did not as yet shave their heads. The purdah system had not yet come into existence.