The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c10.s2.5

c10.s2.5

In the passage of the Atharvaveda referred to above, there is no suggestion to the effect that the widow in question is to marry her brother-in-law. It would therefore appear that some widows in the Vedic age used to marry outside the circle of their late husbands' families. The usual procedure for the widow, however, seems to have been to marry a younger brother-in-law, who was very often unmarried at the time. It is therefore difficult to determine whether in a particular place the reference is to a regular remarriage with an unmarried brother-in-law, or to merely a Niyoga relation with him. References like those in Ṛigveda X, 40, 2 seem to contemplate Niyoga rather than a regular marriage with the brother-in-law¹. References to regular remarriages of widows in Vedic literature are few, probably because Niyoga was then more popular than remarriage. At this period, however, a widow could get as many as three sons by Niyoga ; so the Niyoga relationship practically amounted to a remarriage.