The grubby maroon armchair, with an intricate floral pattern, standing apart from the otherwise contemporary furniture in the living room of my familial house, somehow manages to hold the same authority as the lady who occupied it, did in the house.
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Levirate marriage is a type of customary marriage that takes place in Haryana and Punjab, in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother’s widow, and the widow is obliged to marry her deceased husband’s brother.
The reason why I chose this topic was because of the personal connect with this kind of customary marriage that had taken place within my family. My Great Grandfather was forced to marry his elder brother’s widow, after whom he entered into marriage with my Great Grandmother. This was something that had been bothering me for a while as I had learnt about this recently and had found this to be an illogical practice. The objective of my research was to understand the psychological and sociological impact of this levirate marriage. The scope of the research was to investigate further into levirate marriage in context of my family to get an understanding of the sociological and psychological impact that this has on the people directly and indirectly involved in this union. Also I looked at the effect it has on relationships and how it trickles down across the generations. Remarriage of widows in Punjab-Haryana customarily has been a levirate one, in which the widow is accepted as wife by one of the younger brothers of the deceased husband; failing him the husband’s elder brother; failing him, his agnatic first cousin. In these levirate alliances, the Dewar was in many instances a lot younger than the widow. Incase he chose not to enter into this kind of alliance, the widow would spit in his presence, remove one of his shoes, and the others in the town would refer to him as ‘the one without a shoe’. It is called Latta Odhna” in the Jats of Haryana, Latta being the Haryanvi word for cloth women used to cover their heads and faces, and Odhna translating as “covering/wearing”. This is also called “Chadar Dhakna” in other parts, Chadar being Hindi for Latta, and Dhakna being Hindi for Odhna. (Levirate Marriage) There were several reasons for the prevalence of this tradition. Firstly it was a way of ensuring the well being of the widows and to provide them with security of sorts. Secondly, this kind of union also took place to provide an heir for the deceased. Thirdly and most importantly, this was done so that land or property owned by the deceased husband would continue to stay in his family. The popularity of widow remarriage in its levirate form among the landowning classes emanated out of the desire to retain landed property within the family. After the Hindu Succession At of 1956, widows were the legal owners of her deceased husband’s property. This made widows ‘hot property’ and promoted widow remarriage to acquire more land. However this actually promoted levirate marriage so that the in laws were able to retain this property. Later, it was not land alone, which promoted levirate marriage, but many other forms of inheritance, including insurance, pension and compensation claims. This was mainly due to the special allowances that the widows of war victims were given to enable them to raise the heirs of the victim. However, these allowances were terminated if the widow remarried any person outside of the victim’s family. (Chowdhery, 2004) Levirate marriages also practiced all over the world in various forms. In Judaism, Levirate marriage is the obligation of a surviving brother to marry the widow of his brother if he died without having sired children (Deut.25: 5-6). The corollary is that the widow must marry a brother-in-law rather than anyone outside the family. The oldest of the surviving brothers had the first obligation to perform this commandment, which also allowed him to inherit all of his dead brother’s property. (Jewish Encyclopedia) Levirate marriages were widespread among Central Asian nomads. Chinese historian Sima Qian (145-87 BCE) described the practices of the in his magnum opus, Records of the Grand Historian. He attested that after a man’s death, one of his relatives, usually a brother, marries his widow. The levirate custom survived in the society of Northeastern Caucasus Huns until the 7th century CE. The Armenian historian Movses Kalankatuatsi states that the Savirs, one of Hunnish tribes in the area, were usually monogamous, but sometimes a married man would take his brother’s widow as a polygamous wife. As women had a high social status, the widow had a choice whether to remarry or not. Her new husband might be a brother or a son (by another woman) of her first husband, so she could end up marrying her brother-in-law or stepson; the difference in age did not matter. In Somalia, levirate marriage is practiced, and provisions are made under Somali customary law or Xeer with regard to bride price. Among the Mambila of northern Cameroon, in regard to inheritance of wives, both levirates are practiced throughout the tribe.Among the Maragoli of western Kenya, likewise in the Luo case widows become mostly remarried to the deceased husband’s brother. In the highlands of Kenya, it is Nandi custom for a widow to be “taken over” by a brother of her deceased husband. According to customary law, it is tantamount to adultery for a widow to be sexually involved with a man other than a close agnate of her late husband. (Levirate Marriage) In English history, Levirate marriage practices have been followed for dynastic reasons, to preserve marriage alliances and to protect the social status of royal spouses and fiancées. Upon the death of Arthur, Prince of Wales, his widow Catherine of Aragon was married to his younger brother, the future Henry VIII. Upon the death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, his fiancée Mary of Teck married his younger brother, the future George V. (Levirate Marriage) Even though, levirate marriage was done essentially for the well being of the widows, they seldom took it positively. Most of the documentation for levirate marriages was done in the context of the deplorable conditions of the widows as well as the laws in the Indian Constitution that did not consider this as polygamy. Therefore, the context of my research was the not only the widows involved in this alliance but the other people involved in this. To understand the psychological and sociological impact of levirate marriage, I conducted in depth interviews with my grandparents, over the phone to get a first hand insight of the situation. Also, I recorded the narratives that my mother had to offer based on her discussions with my great grandmother, as she was closest to my mother. For supporting this context of my family, and to get more vivid data, I also spoke to Mr. Narinder Sharma who was involved in a levirate marriage, as he had to marry his deceased brother’s wife. Also, I spoke to Mr. Ashok Sharma who had recently witnessed a levirate marriage about 3 years ago, proving that this tradition still continues. The reason why I chose my grandparents was that they were the closest source I had to my great Grandparents who had experienced this levirate marriage and would be able to give me first hand information. Also, my mother was one of the closest confederates for my great grandmother, due to which her account needed to be considered too. I feel that I was able to establish a sense of comfort with my family members that I interviewed due to the personal relationship I shared with them. For Mr. Narinder Sharma, I had to take some time to develop a good rapport with him as he initially held his thoughts to himself. Mr. Ashok Sharma, however openly shared his account a levirate marriage that had taken place in his village as well as his views on this king of a custom. Throughout these interviews, I put in a lot of thought while talking to people regarding this highly sensitive topic, which would have affected them on several levels. In the case of my family members, I needed to be even more sensitive as I did not want my research to affect my relationship with my family. However, I ensured that I did not compromise on the quality of information derived from these interviews. The first interview was a narrative from my mother who was closely related to my great grandmother. In her later years, my great grandmother spoke mostly to her and confided in her, sharing her deepest feelings and thoughts. Therefore, it was important to keep what she had to say as even though she was not directly involved in this marriage. My great grandfather studied in St. Stephen’s College in the Delhi University. A native of a small village in Karnal, he was from a well to do, but traditional Jat family of Haryana. Once his elder brother passed away, he was asked to enter into a levirate marriage with his sister in law, who was 5 years older than him. He also had to adopt the children of his elder brother. This was essentially done in order to safeguard the vast property that his family owned, a major chunk of which was owned by her and her children. Also, they wanted to keep in mind the well being of the widow as well as her children. This was a duty that his family felt that he had to perform, being the only other son in the family. Due to this, his plans of completing his higher studies in order to take his civil services examinations were negated. He rebelled to a certain extent, but eventually had to succumb to the pressure. (Manchanda, 2013) As a grandchild, my mother felt rather strange, as she was unable to understand the system of his grandfather having two wives. As a possessive grandchild, she despised the idea of her grandmother touching the feet of another woman as a custom. Despite the rather strange relationship that my great grandmother was in, with her husband’s first wife, she showed immense respect towards her during various family functions. (Manchanda, 2013) On interviewing my grandfather, who was the closest source to the marriage, I was told that she even brought her kids up. After my great grandfather entered into marriage with my great grandmother, they lived separately in a relatively small house in Gurgaon, whereas his first wife stayed in the village. Their marriage was met with great disapproval, even though this practice was not considered as bigamy. Being the first child of her parents, my great grandmother was very loved by her family. She was given a fair amount of attention and care. She was educated and taught English and Math before she got married. However, this marriage was met with great disapproval from her family as my great grandfather was already involved in a levirate marriage and held the post of a Tehsildar, which made him a very influential man. However, my great grandfather only entered into this marriage after taking his first wife’s consent. (Singh C. P., 2013) My great grandfather’s wedding with my great grandmother after much delay took place in the traditional Hindu style. On the side of my great grandfather’s family, no one entirely accepted my great grandmother as a part of the family. His first wife was always considered as his only wife. All the land and property was passed down to her children as they were considered the only heirs to the property. This sort of caused the relationship to get tenser through the generations. However, my great grandfather gave up all his rights on his land and property to move away from his family into Gurgaon where he stayed in a house built solely out of his income. His first wife’s children later joined him due to better education prospects and were raised along with his own child. He chose never to stay with his wife as this custom was performed against his wishes, which was unfair to her. (Singh C. P., 2013) Little is known about the way the levirate marriage was conducted. Being an oral tradition, the levirate marriage rituals generally differed from place to place. Mr. Narinder, who was involved in a levirate marriage, had a very simple ceremony mainly in front of the village Panchayat. (Sharma N. , 2013) His brother’s widow was made to wear a “latta” which was connected to his shawl with a bunch of bangles. They then took the “pheras” in front of the Panchayat, after which she was made to wear the bangles and she was pronounced as his wife. The levirate marriage witnessed by Mr. Ashok Sharma (Sharma A. , 2013)in his village in district Aligarh, UP was about 4 years ago. In his village, this tradition is known as ‘baithana’ and is done more for the benefit of the widow rather than the property. Also, in his village incase the Dewar is already married, this ritual does not take place. However, a levirate is practiced amongst all the classes in his village. The widow and her children eventually adjust to the levirate marriage, as widows prefer to be in such a union than be without the support of a husband. The widow, after the marriage is treated with the same amount of respect in the family as she did while she was married earlier. Within a few weeks, the widow of the deceased was handed over to Dewar within a couple of weeks after her husband’s demise. In the levirate marriage he witnessed, the Dewar, with the head of his family visited the widow’s mother’s house, where the widow was staying after her husband’s demise. Then, in a temple close to her mother’s house, she was pronounced to be under his care in front of the temple priest and a few family members. In this case, the Dewar was not married and willingly accepted his sister in law as his wife, unlike in the case of my grandfather who was forced into this union. Also, he chose not to get married after this levirate marriage was done. For the ceremony, the widow was asked to change out of her white robes after the completion of the ceremony. The positives of having a low-key levirate marriage ritual is that the widow does not need to go through the agony of another marriage ceremony, after barely overcoming the loss of her husband. Also, it does not draw too much attention to the ceremony, thereby allowing the acceptance of this union within society. In the case of my family, however, the children were unable to get accustomed to this arrangement. When my grandfather was born, there was a sense of jealousy within those children who were about 15 years old and nearing attaining majority, mainly due to a sense of uncertainty in respect with their inheritance. As his child, my grandfather was very attached with his father and received the maximum attention and care. His children from his first wife were unable to share such a bond with him as they did with their father because by the time this levirate marriage took place; they were mostly over the age of 10. Therefore, he only supported those children only financially. The emotional support was either provided to them by their own mother or by my great grandmother, except the first wife was unable to reciprocate that. (Singh C. P., 2013) My great grandfather passed away at the age of 50 after which, my grandfather completed all the last rites and my great grandmother was involved in all the procedures, whereas his first wife stayed in the village and did not attend his funeral. In respect to other family occasions too she usually sent one of her children as representatives, as in the case of my grandfather’s wedding and other such functions. (Singh C. P., 2013) As a husband, my great grandfather found it rather difficult to strike a balance between both his wives as well as the children from both his wives. He was unable to share the same kind of love that he shared with my great grandmother with his first wife, however he tries to maintain a sense of equality between both. My great grandmother too, tried maintaining a cordial and respectful relationship with his first wife. There were times when she gave his first wife the gifts that she received from her in laws. (Singh C. P., 2013) (Singh C. P., 2013)In the case of the property, however, there was no struggle between the siblings as my grandfather gave up the right to all his ancestral property, which his siblings graciously accepted. Thus, this levirate marriage did reach its ultimate goal of the property staying within the family. However, the distribution of property was not entirely even and was restricted to only a certain side of the family. The relationships that existed between the two wives were somewhat tensed on a deeper level, however on the surface of it, it seemed like a respectful and cordial relationship. The tension on a deeper level was perhaps due to the fact that they were in a way sharing their husband and also due to the fact that the property would ultimately be divided amongst their children. The male in this relationship had to perform the tedious task to juggle between his two wives and was never able to share the kind of relationship that he shared with his customary wife as he did with the wife of his choice. There was an immense sense of repulsion against his first wife from my mother’s side. The relationship was too complicated for a child to understand. This managed to penetrate into her conscious to the extent that she still feels a sense of dislike towards her, even though she is old enough to understand that the levirate marriage took place as part of custom and the first wife was at no fault. Thus it can be said that the levirate marriage had a deep-rooted negative psychological impact across the generations. However in the sociological context this tradition worked out in a way that people got accustomed to it eventually. Researching on this topic, allowed me to delve deeper into this rather intriguing form of customary marriage. Even though a levirate marriage is looked down upon, it does have certain benefits and cannot be negated as a bad practice. Mr. Ashok Sharma feels that in his village at least, this custom is a good practice as this ensures the safekeeping of the widow and also gives a way for the widow to provide for herself and her children. (Sharma A. , 2013) Researching within my family allowed me to understand my roots better and researching on Mr. Narinder Sharma gave me a better understanding of this practice as a whole. I was able to look at two different levirate marriages and was able to find the similarities and differences between the two to conclude that this tradition has both positives and negatives to it rather than just the negatives I found based on my initial research. As a researcher, I learnt how to distance myself at certain points as and when required from the subject matter that was very personal to me. On a personal level I learnt how to maintain a personal connection with a scenario that had a psychological as well as a sociological impact on my family, while researching this as a researcher. Works CitedManchanda, P. C. (2013, September 11). Levirate marriage. (M. Manchanda, Interviewer) Singh, C. P. (2013, September 11). Levirate Marriage. (M. Manchanda, Interviewer) Singh, P. (2013, September 11). Levirate Marriage. (M. Manchanda, Interviewer) Sharma, A. (2013, October 20). Levirate Marriage. (M. Manchanda, Interviewer) Sharma, N. (2013, October 20). Levirate Marriage. (M. Manchanda, Interviewer) Chowdhery, P. (2004). Recasting Women. Delhi: Permanent Black. Levirate Marriage. (n.d.). Retrieved August 30, 2013, from Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levirate_marriage |