Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c12.s1.89

c12.s1.89

*Divorce.* For instance, while divorce is unthinkable in the Smṛitis, Kauṭilya allows it under certain circumstances. No doubt, Manu allows the husband to divorce his wife and re-marry, but the woman is denied this privilege. According to Manu, "a wife who drinks spirituous liquors, who acts immorally, who shows hatred to her husband, who suffers from an incurable disease, who is mischievously inclined, or who wastes his property, may be divorced by her husband who may replace her by another wife" [IX. 80]. Manu also mentions certain conditions under which the husband can desert his wife for a temporary period. But the above Smṛitikāras are unanimous in confining these rights of divorce and desertion to husband and denying them to woman who is enjoined to offer unquestioning and unconditional obedience and fidelity to her husband in both life and death [Manu, V, 151, 154; IX, 77-78; V, 148; Yājñavalkya, I. 75, 77]. Kauṭilya, however, is more rational and human by allowing women equal rights with men. He allows the woman to divorce her husband under specified conditions. One of these is that both must consent to a divorce on the ground of their standing mutual enmity (*Parasparaṁ dveshāt mokshaḥ*) [III. 3], so that they may start afresh in their matrimonial career. But Kauṭilya does not allow divorce when either party is against it. According to him, a woman, even if she is full of hostility against her husband, cannot seek divorce unless he consents to it. Nor can a husband seek it against his unwilling wife, however much he may dislike her.