The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c15.s2.22

c15.s2.22

The modern economist may perhaps regret that so much money should have been locked up in the unremunerative investment in ornaments. It is, however, to be noted that there were not many safe and productive sources of investment in the past. It may be further pointed out that from the purely woman’s point of view, the habit of investing a large part of family saving in ornaments was a desirable development. For a long time women were denied the right to have a share in the immoveable property ot the family, as shown already in Chapter VIII (*ante*, pp. 267-8). As far as the moveables like ornaments and jewelry were concerned, they were allowed to have a complete sway over them. Ornaments worn by a woman during coverture, and intended really for her alone, constituted her Strīdhana, and could not be taken away from her by coparceners¹. The more the amount invested in the ornaments, the stronger therefore became the economic position of the wife. The hardships of a scheme of inheritance under which the widow was for a long time not recognised as an heir to her husband’s immoveable property, were considerably neutralised by this habit of investing a large part of the family savings in ornaments. Ornaments in fact were in the past what an insurance policy is in modern days. The large amounts invested in them have enabled thousands of Hindu women to tide over difficult times.