Niyoga and the levirate. 8. Whether the customs known as niyoga and the levirate are or are not connected with polyandry has been the subject of [[clxxxix]]much controversy. Mr. McLennan[63] asserted that the levirate, that is the practice of marrying the widow of a deceased brother, was derived from polyandry. The niyoga, or the custom of a widow cohabiting with the brother of her deceased husband, seems to be referred to in the Veda.[64] Manu[65] allows such unions of a widow with a brother-in-law or other relative of the deceased husband to continue only till one or at the most two sons have been begotten, and declares that they must then cease. In the verses which follow he restricts such temporary unions to classes below the twice-born, or (in contradistinction to what proceeds) condemns them altogether. By the law, as stated by Gautama,[66] a woman whose husband is dead, and who desires offspring, may bear a son to her brother-in-law. “Let her obtain the permission of her gurus (husband’s relatives under whose protection she lives), and let her have intercourse during the proper season only. On failure of a brother-in-law she may obtain offspring by cohabiting with a sapinda, or sagotra, or samân-pravara, or one who belongs to the same caste. Some declare that she shall cohabit with none but her brother-in-law. She shall not bear more than two sons. The child belongs to him who begot it, except if an agreement to the contrary have been made, and the child begotten at a living husband’s request on his wife [[cxc]]belongs to the husband, but if it was begotten by a stranger, it belongs to the latter, or to both the natural father and the husband of the mother, but being reared by the husband belongs to him.”
9. The best recent opinion is in opposition to the theory that the levirate or niyoga is a survival of polyandry. “The levir,” says Mr. Mayne, “did not take his brother’s widow as his wife. He simply did for his brother or other near relation, when deceased, what the latter might have authorised him, or any other person to do during his lifetime. And this, of course, explains why the issue so raised belonged to the deceased and not to the begetter. If it were a relic of polyandry, the issue would belong to the surviving polyandrous husband, and the wife would pass over to him as his wife.”[67]
10. In modern times, in this part of India, practically all the tribes which permit widow marriage allow the levirate in the restricted form that it is only the younger son of the late husband who is allowed or expected to take the widow to wife. Whatever may have been the idea connected with this practice in early times, the fiction that the son was supposed “to raise up seed unto his brother” seems to have altogether disappeared, and no survival of this rule of affiliation has been discovered. In fact, according to common custom, the widow is regarded as a kind of property which has been purchased into the family by the payment of the bride-price; [[cxci]]and among some of the Dravidian tribes there is a rule of tribal law that if the widow goes to live with a stranger to the family, he is bound to repay the bride-price, and in some cases the costs incurred in her first marriage, to her younger brother-in-law or his father. It is noticeable that in this form of the levirate alliance with the elder brother of her late husband is rigidly prohibited: in fact all through the Hindu caste system any intercourse, even to the extent of speaking to, touching, or appearing unveiled in the presence of, her husband’s Jeth, or elder brother, is strictly guarded by a special taboo. There is a Behâr proverb—Latul bhainsur dewar barâbar—“a weak elder brother-in-law is like a younger brother-in-law, with whom you may take liberties.”
Prevalence of widow marriage. 11. The statistics of the last Census fully illustrate the prevalence of widow marriage. To use Mr. Baillie’s summary of the figures[68] “of 10,000 of the total Hindu population, 331 males and 817 females are widowed, 306 males and 747 females among Muhammadans, and no less than 639 males and 1,054 females among Jains.[69] It is clear, therefore, that both males and females, but particularly the latter, re-marry more extensively amongst Muhammadans than Hindus, and very much more frequently [[cxcii]]among Hindus than amongst Jains. As regards females this is exactly what might have been expected from what is known of the social circumstances of the three religions. Muhammadans permit re-marriage alike amongst males and females, and the excess of female widowed is due to the same reasons as the excess in England. The higher proportion of widowed of both sexes as compared with England is, of course, mainly due to the higher proportion of marriages. The somewhat higher proportion of excess among Muhammadan widows over Muhammadan widowers, as compared with English figures, is probably due to the greater facilities an English widow enjoys for re-marriage. Amongst Hindus, as is well known, re-marriage is in the higher castes permitted only for males. The castes which do not permit widow marriage are roughly one-fourth of the whole,[70] so that Hindus as regards female re-marriage occupy a position between Muhammadans and Jains, but nearer the former than the latter. The latter are practically, as regards such matters, Hindus of high caste, and permit no widow re-marriage: hence the high proportion of widows.” [[cxciii]]
12. This marriage of widows, known to the east of the Province as sagâi and to the west as karâo and dharewa, is a perfectly legal form of marriage, and when recognised by the tribal council the children are regarded as legitimate and succeed to their father’s estate. In subsequent pages will be found numerous details of the ritual in widow marriages. Among many of the lower castes the general rule appears to be that the widow is married to a widower: but this rule is subject to exceptions. The prohibited degrees for the widow are the same as for the virgin bride, with the additional limitation, as already explained, that she cannot marry her elder brother-in-law or her senior cousin. Though the marriage is quite legitimate, there is a certain amount of secrecy connected with it. It is performed at night. The bridegroom after eating with the woman’s friends invests her with a new robe and some jewelry, and withdraws with her to a private room. Next day he brings her home and procures the recognition of the union by feasting his clansmen. The rules as regards the custody of children by the first marriage are not very clearly defined. The usual course seems to be that if she has an infant she takes it with her to her new home, where it is practically adopted by its step-father. Children who have passed the stage of helplessness fall under the guardianship of their uncles, who manage their estate until they attain years of discretion, or, in the case of girls, arrange their marriages.
Age for marriage. 13. As regards the age for marriage the following table taken from the last Census Report[71] deserves re-production. [[cxciv]]
| Age periods. | Absolute number of males and females married. | Proportion to 10,000 of same sex and age periods. | ||
| Males. | Females. | Males. | Females. | |
| 0 Year | 857 | 1,114 | 10 | 13 |
| 1 Year,, | 857 | 1,172 | 24 | 31 |
| 2 Year,, | 1,883 | 2,713 | 31 | 43 |
| 3 Year,, | 3,382 | 5,504 | 47 | 73 |
| 4 Year,, | 6,097 | 10,014 | 90 | 149 |
| 0 4 Year,, | 13,076 | 20,517 | 41 | 63 |
| 5 9 Year,, | 139,773 | 291,373 | 433 | 999 |
| Total 0 9 Year,, | 152,849 | 311,890 | 238 | 506 |
| 10 14 Year,, | 684,952 | 1,221,070 | 2,417 | 5,744 |
| 15 19 Year,, | 1,020,582 | 1,507,733 | 5,014 | 9,119 |
| 20 24 Year,, | 1,443,669 | 1,911,373 | 6,923 | 9,404 |
| 25 29 Year,, | 1,654,290 | 1,856,524 | 7,849 | 9,155 |
| 30 34 Year,, | 1,778,861 | 1,747,479 | 8,206 | 8,501 |
| 35 39 Year,, | 1,135,619 | 988,812 | 8,526 | 8,040 |
| 40 44 Year,, | 1,393,582 | 1,050,977 | 8,157 | 6,438 |
| 45 49 Year,, | 661,188 | 434,907 | 7,970 | 6,002 |
| 50 54 Year,, | 885,634 | 454,625 | 7,541 | 3,891 |
| 55 59 Year,, | 263,152 | 142,643 | 7,134 | 4,216 |
| 60 and over | 746,220 | 245,005 | 6,142 | 1,688 |
| Total | 11,820,598 | 11,873,838 | 4,863 | 5,253 |
[[cxcv]]
Thus 1,971 persons are shown as married in the first year of life. What is known as the petmanganiya or “womb betrothal,” that is the engagement of unborn children should they turn out to be of different sexes, is noted in the case of Kanjars. It is remarkable that the returns show that the proportion of children married below the age of 4 is as high among Muhammadans as Hindus. Mr. Baillie believes that the custom prevails mainly among Muhammadan sweepers; but this is not quite certain. Assuming 9 to be about the age of puberty, about 2½ per cent. of boys and 5 per cent. of girls enter the state of matrimony below that age. But it must be noted that this does not imply premature consummation: these infant marriages are probably nearly all in the families of persons of some wealth and social importance, and in such cases cohabitation is practically always postponed till puberty, when the gauna or bringing home of the bride takes place. Mr. Baillie goes on to remark:—“Between 10 and 14 nearly nine-tenths of the female population pass into the married state; but considerably more than one-half of the males remain unmarried. Between 15 and 19 there are 15 married females for each one unmarried, whilst at the end of the period only 60 per cent. of the males have been married. By 24 practically the whole of the female population have been married, almost the whole of those unmarried at this and later ages being women whose avocations preclude marriage, or whose physical or mental health forbids it. Of men considerably more than a fourth are unmarried up to 24, whilst an appreciable but diminishing number [[cxcvi]]remains unmarried through all subsequent age periods.”[72]
Bachelors and old maids. 14. The census figures show, as might have been expected, that “the largest proportion of males who remain permanently unmarried is among Jâts, Râjputs, Brâhmans, Kâyasths, Khatris, and to a less extent among Banyas. It shows that marriage is latest for men in these castes also, while it is earliest for the low-caste cultivators, forest and hill tribes, Julâhas, Kumhârs, Telis, Dhobis, fishing castes, Chamârs, Pâsis and vagrant castes, the highest figure of all being for Kumhârs. The figures for women are in certain respects both more pronounced and more important than for men. For women, the largest numbers permanently unmarried among respectable Hindus are amongst Râjputs and Khatris. The high proportion among the former may have to do with the claim made by many of the dancing castes to be [[cxcvii]]Râjputs. Why it should be so high among Khatris I have been unable to understand or imagine.[73] Banjâras and vagrant Hindu castes show proportionately much higher numbers. Amongst the Muhammadans, the higher the caste, the higher the proportion of women not married at all. Female infant marriage is most extensive amongst cultivating castes, grazing castes, forest and hill tribes, Koris, Julâhas, Kumhârs, Telis, Dhobis, Chamârs, Pâsis, sweepers, and vagrant castes. Of the whole Pâsis are easily first, Kumhârs following a close second. Widows are most numerous among Brâhmans, Râjputs, Kâyasths, Banyas, Khatris and Sayyids easily, the highest proportion being among Khatris and Brâhmans. The lowest proportion of widows is among the forest and hill tribes, and after them amongst sweepers, Pâsis, Julâhas and Chamârs, in all of which castes woman is peculiarly a helpmate to man.”[74] The prenubial laxity of Dravidian girls enables the men to avoid marriage till they are well advanced in life, and desire to found homes for their old age.