DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49827#0095
80
HINDU FAMILY SYSTEM
dead husband into his heavenly abode, observing the ancient
custom (Dharmampuranam anupalayanti).1 2
The degraded position thus assigned to women in the
Smritis presents a strange contrast with the charming and
delicately delineated portraits of the heroines of the classical
poets of India. But a close examination of the law-books
shows that the Smritis themselves contain many traces of
a different tendency in regard to the position of women,
in which, as it were, the voice of the living law manifests
itself. Take, for instance, the case of Sati. It has been
said that the oldest law-books do not refer to this shocking
practice at all. Some of those writers who do refer to it,
ffotably Vishnu and Brihaspati, advocate at the same
time the widow’s right to succeed to the property of her
husband on failure of sons. Now this shows clearly that
the self-immolation of widows, to say the least, was not
meant as a universally binding precept by these writers.
Even in regard to remarriage of widows, which is so
' strongly opposed to modern usage, there are in the Smritis
numerous traces of a more liberal view of the law.3 The
ancient custom of Niyoga or appointment of a widow to
raise offspring to her deceased husband affords evidence in
the same direction. The truth about Sati appears to be this.
The immolation of widows is an archaic institution, once
spread over the whole world, and originating in the notion
that a man, in order to feel happy in a future state,must have
with him what he had cherished most in this life. In India,
as everywhere, this custom was practised chiefly in the fami-
lies of Kings and warlike Chiefs. The numerous memorials
of Sati that have been found in India, especially in
the Northern Provinces, 'relate mostly to the widows of
Kshatriyas, seldom to the widows of Vaigyas.3 Before
its abolition by the British Legislation, Sati was specially
common, among the Rajputs. The later Smriti writers,
1 See Zimmer, Altind. Leben. 331.
2 See particularly Narada, XII, 97 ; Parapara, IV, 28 : Mann, IX, 115,
and the other texts regarding- the son of a Punarbhu. These texts show
that marriage with another than a virginwasnot considered as illegal,
but that the offspring of such unions was not considered as equal to
legitimate children.
3 Buhler, MS. ; Burnell, South Indian Palseogr. 2. ed., 120. The Digest
writers are not agreed about the praiseworthiness of Sati. Thus it is
highly extolled in the Mitakshara (Acharadhyaya),, and in Cridhar-
acharya’s Smrityarthasara, but the Smritichandrika (Vyavaharakanda)
declares the performance of Sati to be less meritorious than a chaste
life.
Lecture
IV.
The posi-
tion of wo-
men in
Indian
fiction.
The truth
about sati.
HINDU FAMILY SYSTEM
dead husband into his heavenly abode, observing the ancient
custom (Dharmampuranam anupalayanti).1 2
The degraded position thus assigned to women in the
Smritis presents a strange contrast with the charming and
delicately delineated portraits of the heroines of the classical
poets of India. But a close examination of the law-books
shows that the Smritis themselves contain many traces of
a different tendency in regard to the position of women,
in which, as it were, the voice of the living law manifests
itself. Take, for instance, the case of Sati. It has been
said that the oldest law-books do not refer to this shocking
practice at all. Some of those writers who do refer to it,
ffotably Vishnu and Brihaspati, advocate at the same
time the widow’s right to succeed to the property of her
husband on failure of sons. Now this shows clearly that
the self-immolation of widows, to say the least, was not
meant as a universally binding precept by these writers.
Even in regard to remarriage of widows, which is so
' strongly opposed to modern usage, there are in the Smritis
numerous traces of a more liberal view of the law.3 The
ancient custom of Niyoga or appointment of a widow to
raise offspring to her deceased husband affords evidence in
the same direction. The truth about Sati appears to be this.
The immolation of widows is an archaic institution, once
spread over the whole world, and originating in the notion
that a man, in order to feel happy in a future state,must have
with him what he had cherished most in this life. In India,
as everywhere, this custom was practised chiefly in the fami-
lies of Kings and warlike Chiefs. The numerous memorials
of Sati that have been found in India, especially in
the Northern Provinces, 'relate mostly to the widows of
Kshatriyas, seldom to the widows of Vaigyas.3 Before
its abolition by the British Legislation, Sati was specially
common, among the Rajputs. The later Smriti writers,
1 See Zimmer, Altind. Leben. 331.
2 See particularly Narada, XII, 97 ; Parapara, IV, 28 : Mann, IX, 115,
and the other texts regarding- the son of a Punarbhu. These texts show
that marriage with another than a virginwasnot considered as illegal,
but that the offspring of such unions was not considered as equal to
legitimate children.
3 Buhler, MS. ; Burnell, South Indian Palseogr. 2. ed., 120. The Digest
writers are not agreed about the praiseworthiness of Sati. Thus it is
highly extolled in the Mitakshara (Acharadhyaya),, and in Cridhar-
acharya’s Smrityarthasara, but the Smritichandrika (Vyavaharakanda)
declares the performance of Sati to be less meritorious than a chaste
life.
Lecture
IV.
The posi-
tion of wo-
men in
Indian
fiction.
The truth
about sati.