Situating widows in early north India Punarbhu Niyoga and Sati C 1500 BCE to C 500 CE

Abstract

The Present research is an interdisciplinary effort to analyse the condition of widows, which has been surprisingly invisible in previous scholarship, in the early North Indian societies. In this study, previously unexplored aspects of widowhood, i.e., the punarbhu (remarriage), the niyoga (levirate), the sati, life in widowhood, social status of widows, and their property rights are investigated. To examine these aspects, this enquiry utilises multidisciplinary approaches while obtaining insights from the sources belonging to early India as well as from the modern day social and anthropological studies. It covers a period from the beginning of the Vedic age (c. 1500 BCE) until the decline of the Guptas (c. 500 CE). This research contributes in the field of gender studies towards developing insights into the functioning of gender relations and ascertaining the status of women in the early North India. Its findings reveal that despite being women, widows had a drastically different life from several other categories of women. However, this does not mean that the fate of widows was completely separate from other women. In fact, widowhood influenced the status of all women throughout the early period of Indian history. For various reasons, because of certain problems faced by widows, tendencies such as dislike for the birth of a girl child, female infanticide, disapproval of remarriage, satand#299;, reduced age for marriage etc. gained a foothold in the Indian societies. newline