The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c8.8

c8.8

Such continued to be the case down to *c.* 500 B. C. We must of course allow for individual temperaments. In the days of the Buddha, when brides were still about 16 at the time of marriage, we come across some cases of daughters-in-law seeking refuge in nunneries in order to escape from the tyranny of their mothers-in-law. We sometimes find the latter striking their daughters in-law in rage with a pestle and with fatal results³. As against these cases, however, it has to be noted that we sometimes find mothers-in-law also donning monastic robes in order to escape the ill-treatment of their daughters-in-law (*Dhp*, 115; *Thg*, XLV and comm.). There is a case on record where even a father-in-law was hounded out of his house by his four energetic daughters-in-law (*Dhp*, 324 and comm). One daughter-in-law had a resourceful brain; she cunningly led her mother-in-law into a tank haunted by crocodiles, and the expected result followed (*Jātaka*, No. 432). We also come across a son resolving not to marry because of his observation that wives usually tend to domineer over their parents-in-law instead of showing due deference to them.