The Litigious Widow
Inheritance Disputes in Colonial North India, 1875–1911
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20048729 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nita Verma Prasad (University of Manchester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Pages | 161-190 |
| Publication date | 2008-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Behind the Veil (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/9780230583672_7 |
| OpenAlex | W2499593998 |
| ISBN | 9780230583672 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Historical scholarship on the Hindu widow in colonial India tends to focus on several well-known issues that were embodied in legislative reforms during the nineteenth century. These include the abolition of widow-burning or sati (1829), the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act (1856), and the Age of Consent Act (1891).1 Reform of the widow’s condition was indeed hotly debated in the nineteenth century, and the ensuing legislation is doubtless worthy of historiographical scrutiny. But too narrow a focus on the reform of textual law and its abuses (many of which occurred mainly among the higher castes) gives us very little insight into how widows actually lived their lives. Moreover, much of this literature is suffused with a victimology approach, stressing crimes committed against widows as opposed to actions taken by the widows themselves. What we are left with, then, is an overly simplistic story of dwindling rights and freedoms. We know all about the prohibitions and restrictions placed on the widow during the colonial period, but very little has been said about how she adjusted to her losses. This essay will forgo long discussions of nineteenth-century reform efforts and will attempt to look at women, the law, and property rights from the perspective of the Hindu widow: how did she adapt and respond to the changing social, economic, and legal context of her time? How did she, in the words of Charles Tilly, live the big changes
Colonialism · Context (archaeology) · Hinduism · Historiography · Legislation · Legislature · Political science · Remarriage · Scholarship · Scrutiny · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Feminism, Gender, and Sexuality Studies · History · Law · Legal and cultural studies analysis · Religious studies
| Citations per year | 0.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2014 - 2025 (12) |
| Highly cited | No |