The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c8.76

c8.76

A concession that was intended to be given only in exceptional cases came soon to be regarded as the normal right of the husband. Leaders of society, however, tried to nip this tendency in the bud. One of them grows eloquent in describing the inequity of the procedure, if a husband abandons his wife with whom he has solemnly promised to live for ever¹. Another expressly prohibits a second marriage, if the first wife had already given birth to a son². A third one declares that a man who marries a second wife without a just cause, will be guilty of a sin, which can never be atoned³. A fourth one grows so indignant that he pronounces such a person as unfit even to become a witness in a court of law (*Nārada*, 1,180).