Polygamy conveys no stigma among Brahmans, but is uncommon. Divorce
is not recognised, a woman who is put away by her husband being turned
out of the caste. The remarriage of widows is strictly prohibited. It
is said that marriage is the only sacrament (Sanskar) for a woman,
and she can only go through it once. The holy nuptial texts may not
be repeated except for a virgin. The prohibition of the remarriage
of widows has become a most firmly rooted prejudice among the higher
classes of Hindus, and is the last to give way before the inroads of
liberal reform. Only a small minority of the most advanced Brahmans
have recognised widow-remarriage, and these are generally held to
be excluded from the caste, though breaches of the rules against the
consumption of prohibited kinds of meat, and the drinking of aerated
waters and even alcoholic liquor, are now winked at and not visited
with the proper penalty. Nevertheless, many classes of Brahmans,
who live in the country and have taken to cultivation, allow widows
to live with men without putting the family out of caste. Where
this is not permitted, surreptitious intercourse may occasionally
take place with members of the family. The treatment of widows is
also becoming more humane. Only Maratha and Khedawal Brahmans in
the Central Provinces still force them to shave their heads, and
these will permit a child-widow to retain her hair until she grows
up, though they regard her as impure while she has it. A widow is
usually forbidden to have a cot or bed, and must sleep on the ground
or on a plank. She may not chew betel-leaves, should eat only once
a day, and must rigorously observe all the prescribed fasts. She
wears white clothes only, no glass bangles, and no ornaments on her
feet. She is subject to other restrictions and is a general drudge
in the family. It is probable that the original reason for such
treatment of a widow was that she was considered impure through being
perpetually haunted by her husband's ghost. Hindus say that a widow
is half-dead. She should not be allowed to cook the household food,
because while cooking it she will remember her husband and the food
will become like a corpse. The smell of such food will offend the gods,
and it cannot be offered to them. A widow is not permitted to worship
the household god or the ancestors of the family. It was no doubt an
advantage under the joint family system that a widow should not claim
any life-interest in her husband's property. The modern tendency of
widows, who are left in possession, to try and alienate the property
from the husband's relatives has been a fruitful cause of litigation
and the ruin of many old landed families. The severe treatment of
widows was further calculated to suppress any tendency on the part
of wives to poison their husbands. These secondary grounds may have
contributed something to the preservation and enforcement of an idea
based originally on superstitious motives.