History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c31.2.1

v2.c31.2.1

*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’;