History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c31.2
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c31.2
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*Remarriage of widows.*—The word *punarbhū* is generally applied to a widow that has remarried. Before going into the detailed history of the remarriage of widows it is desirable to probe into the meaning of the word ‘punarbhū’.¹⁴²⁹ Nārada (strīpuṁsa, v. 45) says that there are seven sorts of wives (mentioned in order) who have been previously married to another man (parapūrvā); among them, the punarbhū is of three kinds¹⁴³⁰ and the svairiṇī (wanton woman) is of four kinds. The three punarbhūs are: (1) a maiden whose hand was taken in marriage but whose marriage was not consummated; in her case the marriage ceremony has to be performed once more; (2) a woman who first deserts the husband of her youth, betakes herself to another man and then returns to the house of her husband; (3) a woman who is given by the husband’s relatives (when the husband dies) to a sapiṇḍa of the deceased husband or a person of the same caste, on failure of brothers-in-law (this is niyoga and no ceremony is to be performed). The four svairiṇīs are: (1) a woman, whether childless or not, who goes to live with another man through love while the husband is alive; (2) a woman who rejects after her husband's death his brothers and the like and unites herself with another through passion for him; (3) a woman, coming from a foreign country or purchased with money or oppressed by hunger or thirst, gives herself to a man saying ‘I am yours’;
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(4) a woman who is given to a stranger by the elders relying on the usages of the country, but who incurs the blame of wantonness¹⁴³¹ (as the smṛti rules about niyoga are not observed by them or her). Nārada says that each preceding one of the punarbhūs and svairiṇīs enumerated is inferior to the next in order. Yāj. (I. 67) does not give this elaborate classification; all he says is that a punarbhū is of two kinds, one whose marriage had not been consummated and another who has had sexual intercourse and that both have the marriage ceremony performed again (i. e. punarbhū is one who is 'punaḥ saṁskṛtā); a svairiṇī is one who forsakes the husband whom she married when a maiden and lives with another man of the same caste through love for the latter. Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 67 remarks that the elaborate classification of Nārada and Śaṅkha (3 punarbhūs and 4 svairiṇīs) is not of much use, that it only indicates the various degrees of blame (or sin) attaching to them and is also meant to discriminate among prāyaścittas to be performed by those women. It is the second husband and the son of the second marriage that bear the appellation 'paunarbhava' (pati or putra respectively) and not the first husband. Vide Saṁ. Pr. pp. 740-741. The Sm. C. (I. p. 75) quotes a passage from Baudhāyana and certain verses of Kaśyapa. According to Kaśyapa¹⁴³² the seven kinds of punarbhū are: (1) the girl who had been promised in marriage, (2) one who was intended to be given;
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(3) one on whose wrist the auspicious band was tied by the bride-groom, (4) whose gift had been made with water (by the father), (5) whose hand was held by the bridegroom, (6) who went round the fire, (7) who had given birth to a child after marriage. In the first five cases it is to be supposed that the bride-groom either immediately died or left the further prosecution of the marriage rites. Even such girls would be styled punarbhūs, when they married another person later on, though the first marriage was not complete because the saptapadī had not been performed. The sixth case is one of completed marriage (though it refers to only going round fire). Baudhāyana's seven varieties are slightly different, the first two being the same as Kaśyapa's: the others are (3) one who went round the fire (with the bridegroom); (4) one who took the seventh step; (5) one who has had sexual intercourse (either after marriage or even without it); (6) one who has conceived; (7) one who has borne¹⁴³³ a child. These meanings of the word punarbhū must be borne in mind when one meets with the word punarbhū in Vedic texts. That even the promise to give in marriage without the performance of any ceremonies was looked upon as tantamount in its consequences to marriage follows from the words of Sukanyā quoted above (in note 1306) from the Śat.
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Br., where she had been only offered to the sage Cyavana by her father, but where no ceremonies had been performed as none are described or referred to therein. Manu (IX. 69–70) confines the rules of niyoga to a girl who was only promised (vāgdattā); while Vas. Dh. S. XVII. 72 speaks of the vāgdattā and one given with water as still a maiden, if no Vedic mantras have been repeated.¹⁴³⁴ Vas. Dh. S. XVII. 74 refers to the 4th variety of Baudhāyana. Yāj. I. 67 when he speaks of *akṣatā* refers to all the six varieties of Kaśyapa or the first four varieties of Baudhāyana and when he speaks of 'kṣatā' he refers to the seventh variety of Kaśyapa and the last three of Baudhāyana. Vas. Dh. S.¹⁴³⁵ 17 19–20 describes *paunarbhava* as the son of a woman, who leaves the husband of her youth and after having lived with another person, re-enters the house of the husband or as the son of a woman who takes another husband after leaving an impotent, outcast or lunatic husband or after the death of the first husband. Baud. Dh. S. II. 2. 31 describes paunarbhava as the son of a woman who after abandoning an impotent or outcast husband goes to another husband. Nārada (strīpuṁsa, v. 97), Parāśara IV. 30 and Agnipurāṇa 154. 5–6 have the same verse 'another husband is ordained for women in five calamities viz. when the husband is lost (unheard of), is dead, has become a saṁnyāsin, is impotent or is *patita*.'¹⁴³⁶ Great controversies have raged round this verse. Some like the Par. M. (II. part I. p.
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53) give the easy explanation (always given about inconvenient texts) that this verse refers to the state of society in another *yuga* (age) and has no application to the Kali age. Others like Medhātithi (on Manu V. 157) explain that the word *pati* means only '*pālaka*' (guardian). Medhātithi¹⁴³⁷ (on Manu III. 10 and V. 163) is not dead against niyoga, but he is opposed to the remarriage of widows. Even the Smṛtyarthasāra (which belongs to about 1150 to 1200 A. D.) mentions several views viz. some hold that a girl may be married to another if the bride-groom dies before saptapadī, others hold that she may be remarried if the first husband dies before consummating the marriage, while still others are of opinion that if after marriage the husband dies before she begins to menstruate she may be remarried and some hold that remarriage is allowed before conception.¹⁴³⁸