The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c10.s2.33

c10.s2.33

Leaders of thought of the Hindu society in the medieval period were the writers of law digests and the saints of the Bhakti school. The former were too much under the influence of later Smṛitis to recommend a course opposed to their injunctions. The latter could hardly have championed the cause of the widow remarriage, as they were completely under the influence of the ascetic ideal. The prejudice of Hindu society against widow remarriage began to become deeper and deeper. Nay, it could never conceive the possibility of a respectable widow embarking on a course of remarriage. Tragic cases of girls being widowed at the age of 8 or 9 were often happening in society ; but people regarded them as decrees of an unscrutable Providence and bowed down to them. Parshurambhau Patwardhan, one of the Peshwa generals, had the misfortune of his daughter being widowed at the age of 8 ; contemporary documents show that he thought it extremely unreasonble that such girl widows should not be allowed to remarry. But he could not break away from the tradition and get his daughter remarried.