History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.450

v4.c63.t2.450

Another important question is what is the effect of unchastity on the right to maintenance? As regards the wife's right to maintenance and the effect of unchastity thereon during the husband's lifetime, vide H. of Dh. vol. II pp. 571-73 above. Manu XI. 176 says that a wife guilty of adultery should be confined by the husband in the same house and should be made to undergo the same penance as a man guilty of adultery has to undergo; Yāj. I. 70 also says that a wife guilty of adultery should be deprived of her status as a wife as to wealth and religious observances, should be given bare maintenance and should be confined to a part of the house. Unchastity on the part of a Hindu widow disentitles her to maintenance under certain circumstances Vas. 21. 10 provides that four classes of wives must be abandoned viz. one who yields herself to her husband's pupil or to his *guru* and especially one who attempts the life of her husband or who commits adultery with a man of a degraded caste and in 21. 12 Vasiṣṭha states that the wives of brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas and vaiśyas, who commit adultery with a śūdra, may be purified by penance if no child is born (of the adulterous intercourse) but not otherwise'. It is provided by Yāj. I. 72 that if a woman (of the three higher castes) conceives through adultery with a śūdra or kills her foetus or attempts the death of her husband or is guilty of grave sins (such as brāhmaṇa-murder) she shall be abandoned.