The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c17.s3.6

c17.s3.6

Down to *c.* 500 a. d. permission was granted to child widows to remarry, though the widow marriage in general had come to be tabooed. This permission came to be gradually withdrawn durring this period. From about 1,000 a. d. no widow in a respectable family could remarry, whatever her age may have been at the time of her husband's death. In the beginning only widows in the higher sections of society suffered from this disability, but in course of time it came to be extended to those lower classes also, which were anxious to be considered respectable. The prohibition of widow remarriage came to be regarded as the most important criterion of the respectability of a class down to the beginning of the present century. The prejudice against the widow remarriage was so deep-rooted, that the permissive legislation passed in the matter in 1856 a. d., had no appreciable effect on the situation for more than half a century.