The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c10.s1.1

c10.s1.1

We have seen in the last chapter that widows were not permitted or required to die with their husbands on the funeral pyres down to *c.* 300 B. C. How then were they expected to lead their remaining life? There were three courses open for them. They could either pass their remaining life in widowhood, or have some children by levirate (*niyoga*), or remarry regularly. The first was of course the most honorable course, but there were many who followed the second or the third alternative. We shall consider in this section the history of the custom of Niyoga, which appears so strange and unacceptable to the modern mind.