manusmriti

LAWS OF MANU
62. But when the purpose of the appointment to (cohabit with) the widow bas
been attained in accordance with the law, those two shall behave towards each other
like a father and a daughter-in-law.
63. If those two (being thus) appointed deviate from the rule and act from carnal
desire, they will both become outcasts, (as men) who defile the bed of a daughter-inlaw
or of a Guru.
64. By twice-born men a widow must not be appointed to (cohabit with) any other
(than her husband); for they who appoint (her) to another (man), will violate the
eternal law.
65. In the sacred texts which refer to marriage the appointment (of widows) is
nowhere mentioned, nor is the re-marriage of widows prescribed in the rules
concerning marriage.
66. This practice which is reprehended by the learned of the twice-born castes as
fit for cattle is said (to have occurred) even among men, while Vena ruled.
67. That chief of royal sages who formerly possessed the whole world, caused a
confusion of the castes (varna), his intellect being destroyed by lust.
68. Since that (time) the virtuous censure that (man) who in his folly appoints a
woman, whose husband died, to (bear) children (to another man).
69. If the (future) husband of a maiden dies after troth verbally plighted, her
brother-in-law shall wed her according to the following rule.
70. Having, according to the rule, espoused her (who must be) clad in white
garments and be intent on purity, he shall approach her once in each proper season
until issue (be had).
71. Let no prudent man, after giving his daughter to one (man), give her again to
another; for he who gives (his daughter) whom he had before given, incurs (the guilt
of) speaking falsely regarding a human being.
72. Though (a man) may have accepted a damsel in due form, he may abandon
(her if she be) blemished, diseased, or deflowered, and (if she have been) given with
fraud.
73. If anybody gives away a maiden possessing blemishes without declaring
them, (the bridegroom) may annul that (contract) with the evil-minded giver.
74. A man who has business (abroad) may depart after securing a maintenance
for his wife; for a wife, even though virtuous, may be corrupted if she be distressed by
want of subsistence.
75. If (the husband) went on a journey after providing (for her), the wife shall
subject herself to restraints in her daily life; but if he departed without providing (for
her), she may subsist by blameless manual work.
76. If the husband went abroad for some sacred duty, (she) must wait for him
eight years, if (he went) to (acquire) learning or fame six (years), if (he went) for
pleasure three years.
77. For one year let a husband bear with a wife who hates him; but after (the
lapse of) a year let him deprive her of her property and cease to cohabit with her.
78. She who shows disrespect to (a husband) who is addicted to (some evil)
passion, is a drunkard, or diseased, shall be deserted for three months (and be)
deprived of her ornaments and furniture.
79. But she who shows aversion towards a mad or outcast (husband), a eunuch,
one destitute of manly strength, or one afflicted with such diseases as punish crimes,
shall neither be cast off nor be deprived of her property.
80. She who drinks spirituous liquor, is of bad conduct, rebellious, diseased,
mischievous, or wasteful, may at any time be superseded (by another wife).
81. A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year, she whose children (all)
die in the tenth, she who bears only daughters in the eleventh, but she who is
quarrelsome without delay.
82. But a sick wife who is kind (to her husband) and virtuous in her conduct, may
be superseded (only) with her own consent and must never be disgraced.
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