[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v2.c29.7.3 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c29.7.3 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c29.7.3 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c29.7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c29.7.3) 2) remarks 'all widows are in sorrow even if they have many sons.'¹³⁶⁸ The Skandapurāṇa (Kāśīkhaṇḍa, chap. 4, vv. 71-106 and III Brahmāraṇya section chap. 7, vv. 67-81) has long passages on the duties of widows, many verses from which are quoted in the Madanapārijāta (pp. 202-203), the Nirṇayasindhu, Dharmasindhu and other nibandhas. A few striking verses may be translated here. The Skandapurāṇa (III, Brahmāraṇya section chap. 7, verses 50-51) says 'The widow is more inauspicious than all other inauspicious things; at the sight of a widow no success can be had in any undertaking; excepting one's (widowed) mother all widows are void of auspiciousness; a wise man should avoid even their blessings like the poison of a snake'¹³⁶⁹. The Kāśīkhaṇḍa of the same purāṇa, chap. 4, delivers itself thus 'the tying up into a braid of the hair by the widow leads to the bondage of the husband; therefore a widow should always shave her head. She should always take one meal a day and never a second; or she may perform the observance of fast for a month or undergo the penance of cāndrāyaṇa. A widow who sleeps on a cot would make her husband fall (in hell). A widow should never wash her body with fragrant unguents nor should enjoy the fragrance of sweet smelling things; she should everyday perform \*tarpaṇa\* with sesame, water and kuśa grass for her husband, his father and grandfather after repeating their names and gotra; - [Previous: v2.c29.7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c29.7.2) - [Next: v2.c29.7.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c29.7.4) - [Up: v2.c29.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c29.7) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c29.7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v2.c29.7.3) · Pramāṇa