WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
Does this reflection console the mateless woman, left as a "child-widow" through the death of her betrothed?[1]
No doubt many widows in India are reconciled to their fate by the sainthood that the decease of a husband confers upon them. Maybe, numerous bereaved women experience pride in the honour shown to them by the traveller, who prostrates himself before them, and allows the dust of her feet to settle upon him as a benison. Our sympathy is not with these, but with the woman to whom love, a husband, and a family stand for all that is most desirable and precious in life.
Mrs. Krishnarao Bholanath Divatia, who contributes a section on "The Hindu Woman" to the volume "India," says that the condition of widows has been much misstated by foreign writers. She alludes to the happiness of Indian family life, and states that the widows are much honoured, especially if they are the mothers of sons. The re-marriage of widows is now permitted by law in the Empire of India. It is not, however, popular, though it will no doubt become so. The same writer declares that polygamy is less fashionable than it was some years
- ↑ According to Dubois ("Hindu Manners") "the bare mention of a second marriage for a Hindu woman would be considered the greatest insult. She would be hunted out of society, and no decent person would venture at any time to have the slightest intercourse with her."
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