The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c10.s1.22

c10.s1.22

Those, who opposed the custom of Niyoga, no doubt stood for the ideal of purity and constancy in sex relations. They should have, however, realised that if Niyoga was to be forbidden, regular remarriage ought to be allowed in the case of those widows, who found the ideal of celibacy too difficult to follow. This step, however, was not taken. As we shall see in the next section, both Niyoga and remarriage were forbidden to widows at about the same time. This resulted in a great hardship, especially because by this time child marriages had come into vogue, giving rise to a large class of virgin widows. Hypnotised by the ascetic ideal, which had now become popular, leaders of society failed to afford adequate relief to the widow, when they took the undoubtedly correct step of forbidding Niyoga.