The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s2.13

c17.s2.13

During the first half of this period widow remarriages and Niyoga continued to be permitted, but the volume of public opinion against these customs was increasing, and they came to be eventually interdicted at about 500 A. D. Marriage was regarded as a religious sacrament in the Vedic period also, and yet society was permitting divorce and remarriage in exceptional cases. During the period under review, marriage became an irrevocable union, irrevocable, however, only so far as the wife was concerned. The husband could discard his wife for the grave offence of not being sufficiently submissive. The wife however could not take a similar step and marry a second time, even if her husband had taken to vicious ways and completely abandoned her. This differential treatment was due to the simple fact that women were no longer able to effectively oppose these absurd theories and claims, most of them being uneducated and quite ignorant of their former status and privileges.