The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c8.73

c8.73

It has been observed that in several primitive societies, wives often urge the husbands to add to their number with a The main reason, however, for the occasional occurrence of polygamy even among ordinary classes was the great anxiety that was felt for the preservation and continuance of the family. For offering the prescribed oblations to ancestors so as to secure their continuance in heaven, a son was absolutely necessary, and so society permitted the husband to take a second wife, if the first one was barren. Nay, we find some writers laying down that it was the duty of the wife to urge her husband to contract a second marriage, if she had failed to present a son to him (*Kāmasūtra*, IV, 2).