History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.454

v4.c63.t2.454

On Yāj. III. 297 (which states that in the case of women there are three peculiarly grave sins viz. adultery with a low-caste man, killing the foetus and attempt to murder the husband) the Mit. sums up the whole position as follows: (1) total abandonment of women for the four grave sins laid down in Vas. 21. 10 takes place when they do not perform penance; (2) women guilty of adultery not of the aggravated kind mentioned in Vas. 21. 10 are to be given starving maintenance that would keep body and soul together and are to be lodged in a hut near the house and to be afforded protection (Yāj. I. 70 and III. 296), even if they do not perform the requisite penance. But the Mit. is silent as to the claim to maintenance of widows that at first led a life of incontinence (but not of the aggravated kind) and subsequently reformed their ways. But from Manu XI. 189 it may be inferred that widows not guilty of aggravated adultery that have undergone the proper prāyaścitta and that return to decent life would have been entitled to ordinary maintenance from the period they turned over a new leaf.¹⁵⁶⁹