History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c31.28.4

v2.c31.28.4

The same idea is referred to by the verse 'iyam nārī', but the latter half appears to refer to the practice of niyoga when it calls upon the departed to bestow on the wife offspring and wealth. It is possible to argue that Ṛg. X. 18. 8 also impliedly has niyoga in view. But both these verses do not expressly refer to the parctice of *satī* at all. They at the most might lead to the inference that the woman had either to marry the deceased husband's brother or go in for niyoga because the husband died sonless. The latter appears to me to be the more probable of the two hypotheses, if those are the only explanations. The symbolic use made in the gṛhyasūtras and in the Bṛhad-devatā of Ṛg. X. 18. 8 shows that they practically are against the burning of widows. It is probable that these authors knew of the custom of niyoga, that it was not then much approved of and so they are silent about it, while the Ṛgvidhāna which appears to be comparatively a late work takes the verse 'udīrṣva' as referring to niyoga (which is most probably referred to in Ṛg. X. 40. 2 ko vām śayutrā vidhaveva devaram). The consideration of the practice of widow burning naturally arises here from the above discussion and will be dealt with in a separate chapter.