[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s21.197 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.197 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.197 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s21.197](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.197) Widow Remarriage. — The remarriage of a widow was apparently permitted. This seems originally to have taken the form of the marriage of the widow to the brother or other nearest kinsman of the dead man in order to produce children. At any rate, the ceremony is apparently alluded to in a funeral hymn of the Rigveda;²² for the alternative explanation, which sees in the verse a reference to the ritual of the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’), although accepted by Hillebrandt²³ and Delbrück,²⁴ is not at all probable, while the ordinary view is supported by the Sūtra evidence.²⁵ Moreover, another passage of the Rigveda²⁶ clearly refers to the marriage of the widow and the husband's brother (devṛ), which constitutes what the Indians later knew as Niyoga.²⁷ This custom was probably not followed except in cases where no son was already born. This custom was hardly remarriage in the strict sense, since the brother might—so far as appears—be already married himself. In the Atharvaveda,²⁸ a verse refers to a charm which would secure the reunion, in the next world, of a wife and her second husband. Though, as Delbrück²⁹ thinks, this very possibly refers to a case in which the first husband was still alive,³⁰ but was impotent or had lost caste (patita),³¹ still it is certain that the later Dharma Sūtras³² began to recognize ordinary remarriage in case of the death of the first husband. - [Previous: v1.c3.s21.196](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.196) - [Next: v1.c3.s21.198](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.198) - [Up: v1.c3.s21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.197](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.197) · Pramāṇa