The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s7.1

c7.s7.1

There is no doubt that the later Dharmaśāstra literature as a whole (200-1200 A. D.), while liberally permitting the husband to remarry during the life-time of the first wife, refuses the remedy of divorce to the wife even when completely forsaken by the husband. Like early Christianity Hinduism also held that the marriage union was indissoluble; Manu advances the extreme view that the wife's marital tie and duty do not come to an end even if the husband were to sell or abandon her¹.