Page:History of India Vol 9.djvu/125

TREATMENT OF HINDU WIDOWS 93 there? And this also aideth much herein that the wives, if they survive and are not burnt, are a shame and scandal in the sight of the world. Their hair is shorn off, they may eat no betel, they may wear no jewelry, nor may they marry again. In short, every vexation and indignity that could be imagined is put upon them, so that the wives, who have but scant spirit and cour- age, would not refuse such a thing; since, more than this, they are bereft of all honour and reverence, and the possession of their goods is taken from them. For when the husband dyeth, then the widow abideth not in possession of the means which the husband hath left; but the sons, and es- A BETEL - BOX - pecially the eldest, enter into their father's place. Here, then, the mother may be subordinate and may provide for the training of the children. Nevertheless, if no sons, but only daughters, survive, then cometh the brother of the deceased and entereth into the full pos- session of all; and he oweth the widow and daughters no more than their maintenance. So that these women lose much in their husbands, and have naught else to expect save indignity and distress. It may readily be presumed that ofttimes they are reproached their whole lives long by the dullards who have come into their