Note 68 — Chapter VI

Prevalence of widow marriage. 11. The statistics of the last Census fully illustrate the prevalence of widow marriage. To use Mr. Baillie’s summary of the figures68 “of 10,000 of the total Hindu population, 331 males and 817 females are widowed, 306 males and 747 females among Muhammadans, and no less than 639 males and 1,054 females among Jains.69 It is clear, therefore, that both males and females, but particularly the latter, re-marry more extensively amongst Muhammadans than Hindus, and very much more frequently among Hindus than amongst Jains. As regards females this is exactly what might have been expected from what is known of the social circumstances of the three religions. Muhammadans permit re-marriage alike amongst males and females, and the excess of female widowed is due to the same reasons as the excess in England. The higher proportion of widowed of both sexes as compared with England is, of course, mainly due to the higher proportion of marriages. The somewhat higher proportion of excess among Muhammadan widows over Muhammadan widowers, as compared with English figures, is probably due to the greater facilities an English widow enjoys for re-marriage. Amongst Hindus, as is well known, re-marriage is in the higher castes permitted only for males. The castes which do not permit widow marriage are roughly one-fourth of the whole,70 so that Hindus as regards female re-marriage occupy a position between Muhammadans and Jains, but nearer the former than the latter. The latter are practically, as regards such matters, Hindus of high caste, and permit no widow re-marriage: hence the high proportion of widows.”