Hindu Widow Marriage
Ishvarchandra Vidyasagar
Abstract
Before the passage of the Hindu Widow's Re-marriage Act of 1856, Hindu tradition required a woman to live as a virtual outcast after her husband's death. Widows were expected to shave their heads, discard their jewelry, live in seclusion, and undergo regular acts of penance. This book's author was the first Indian intellectual to argue successfully against these strictures. The author was a leading proponent of widow marriage in colonial India, urging his contemporaries to reject a ban that caused countless women to suffer needlessly. The author's strategy paired a rereading of Hindu scripture ... More
Keywords: Hindu, widows, widow marriage, colonial India, Hindu scripture, Hindu law, Hindu custom, Indian social reform
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 | Print ISBN-13: 9780231156332 |
| Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 | DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231156332.001.0001 |
