The second remedy is to enforce widowhood on her for the rest of her
life. So far as the objective results are concerned, burning is a
better solution than enforcing widowhood. Burning the widow eliminates
all the three evils that a _surplus woman_ is fraught with. Being dead
and gone she creates no problem of remarriage either inside or outside
the Caste. But compulsory widowhood is superior to burning because it
is more practicable. Besides being comparatively humane it also guards
against the evils of remarriage as does burning: but it fails to guard
the morals of the group. No doubt under compulsory widowhood the woman
remains, and just because she is deprived of her natural right of being
a legitimate wife in future, the incentive to immoral conduct is
increased. But [pg 86] this is by no means an insuperable difficulty.
She can be degraded to a condition in which she is no longer a source of
allurement.
The problem of _surplus man_ (= widower) is much more important and
much more difficult than that of the _surplus woman_ in a group that
desires to make itself into a Caste. From time immemorial man as
compared with woman has had the upper hand. He is a dominant figure in
every group and of the two sexes has greater prestige. With this
traditional superiority of man over woman his wishes have always been
consulted. Woman, on the other hand, has been an easy prey to all kinds
of iniquitous injunctions, religious, social or economic. But man as a
maker of injunctions is most often above them all. Such being the case,
you cannot accord the same kind of treatment to a _surplus man_ as you
can to a _surplus woman_ in a Caste.
The project of burning him with his deceased wife is hazardous in two
ways: first of all it cannot be done, simply because he is a man.
Secondly, if done, a sturdy soul is lost to the Caste. There remain
then only two solutions which can conveniently dispose of him. I say
conveniently, because he is an asset to the group.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account