The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c8.80

c8.80

Unfortunately, however, this condemnation of the second marriage did not produce the result desired. Supersession of the first wife began to become commoner in well-to-do families from the beginning of the Christian era. The lowering of the marriageable age, that took place at this time, helped this undesirable tendency. Husbands would not always like to be bound down by the choices made by their parents, when they had not even entered their teens. Wives too were not cultured or educated enough to succeed in rivetting their husbands' affections and dissuading them from the contemplated second marriage. The inevitable result followed. Supersessions on flimsy grounds began to become common in some sections of society. What pains one most is that they should have been justified by some Smṛiti writers. We have seen above that some of our early thinkers tried their best to discourage this tendency by condemning it in no uncertain terms. Even when they allowed a second marriage for the continuation of the family, they laid it down that it should be performed only with the consent of the first wife¹. The husband was further required to look after her in the proper manner, and give her a suitable allowance if she desired to live separately.