History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c29.51

v2.c29.51

II. 70, Nārada, ṛṇādāna, vv. 178, 190, 191), but Manu VIII. 68, 70, Yāj. II. 72, and Nārada, ṛṇādāna 155 allowed women to be witnesses in disputes between women or when no other witness could be had or in the cases of theft, adultery and other offences in which force was an element. Documents taken from or transactions (particularly gift, sale and mortgage of lands or houses) made with women were ordinarily to be treated as voidable like those brought about by force or fraud (vide Nārada, ṛṇādāna 26, 137, Yāj. II. 31). But this instead of being regarded as a disability was rather a boon owing to the general illiteracy of women. The Tristhalīsetu (of Nārāyaṇa) quotes a passage of the Bṛhan-Nāradīya purāṇa to the effect that women, those whose upanayana has not been performed and śūdras have no right to establish the images of Viṣṇu or Śiva.¹³⁹⁵