Hindu Widows Remarriage Act 1856

On July 26, 1856, the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, also known as Act XV, 1856, was approved, allowing Hindu widows to remarry in all East India Company-ruled jurisdictions in India. Before the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it was written by Lord Dalhousie and passed by Lord Canning. It was the first significant social reform law after Lord William Bentinck abolished Sati. Upper-caste Hindu culture had long prohibited the remarriage of widows, including a child and teenage widows, in order to safeguard what it deemed, family honour and property. All widows were supposed to live a life of austerity and abnegation.

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856 offered legal protection against the loss of some types of inheritance when a Hindu widow remarried, albeit the widow forsook any inheritance due her from her late husband under the Act. The legislation specifically targeted Hindu child widows whose husbands died before the marriage was consummated. The most famous activist was Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He petitioned the Legislative Council, but Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha responded with a counter-petition with nearly four times the number of signatures. Despite the resistance and the fact that it was regarded as a gross violation of Hindu traditions at the time, Lord Dalhousie himself finalized the law.

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What were the Conditions before the Introduction of the Act?

• Widows, particularly upper caste Hindu widows, were expected to live a life of austerity and extremities, according to local norms in various regions of India. Even though she was a kid and the marriage was not completed, widows were not allowed to remarry. 

• Widows were required to wear a coarse white saree. 

• She had to chop her hair in several situations and wasn't even permitted to wear a blouse.

• They have been boycotted from fairs or even avoided via way of means of individuals of the own circle of relatives and society.

Ishwar Chandra quoted Hindu texts to show that widow remarriage was acceptable in Hinduism's folds. Lord Canning was responsible for enacting the Widow Remarriage Act in British India at some point.

What was Sati Pratha?

Sati, also known as suttee, is an ancient Hindu tradition in which a widow sacrificed herself by sitting atop her late husband's funeral pyre. It is possible that this activity originated as a symbolic practice in Indo-European culture and religion. Sati is mentioned in Greek sources about 300 BCE, but it most likely evolved into a real fire sacrifice within the northwestern Rajput Kshatriya (warrior) varna, to whom it stayed confined, and became regular until around 500 CE, to become more widespread throughout the Muslim-era. 

India's Governor-General Lord William Bentinck established the Bengal Sati Regulation, or Regulation XVII, in 1829, making the voluntary and involuntary burning or burial alive of Hindu widows punishable by criminal courts. The prohibition, which was extended across the entire country, is credited with putting a stop to Sati tradition in India. It was the British's first significant social reform law in India. The most famous opponents of sati were British Christian preachers such as William Carey and Hindu reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy. Conservative Hindus headed by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha opposed the prohibition, seeing it as a meddling in Hindu religious issues and a breach of George III's Statute 37. This legislation guaranteed Hindus that no one would meddle with their faith.

What were the Major Changes Brought by the Act?

According to the law: “No marriage contracted between Hindus shall be invalid, and the issue of no such marriage shall be illegitimate, by reason of the woman having been previously married or betrothed to another person who was dead at the time of such marriage, any custom and any interpretation of Hindu Law to the contrary notwithstanding.”

• The law conjointly commands that widows who marry were entitled to any or all the rights and inheritances that a lady who marries for the primary time would have.

• As per the act, the widow forfeits any inheritance that she might have obtained from her deceased husband.

• The act also provided legal safeguards to men who married widows.

• Widow remarriage was, however, commonplace among individuals of the lower castes.

• This act was a watershed within the social reformation of Indian society throughout the nineteenth century.

• The primary widow remarriage that came about when the law was enforced took place on 7th December 1856 in North Calcutta. The groom was the son of Ishwar Chandra’s close friend.

Conclusion

The widow remarriage act was passed in the year 1856. Before this act was introduced, in some parts of India widows have to live like saints, they were not allowed to live like ordinary people, they were expected to live a life of rigour and limb, like no makeup, no new clothes, no good food, a boycott of festivals and even ranting from all members of the family and society. Widows had to wear a white saree made of coarse fabric and the widow was considered the unhappy person for the whole family. Remarriage was not allowed even if the widow was a girl and the marriage was not even consummated. In this article, we have covered what is the Hindu widows remarriage act 1856, how were women treated before the act and what changes were brought by this act.