312 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [Sept. 1914. 



the widowed fiancee, and it seems that all commerce is to 

 cease after the first pregnancy. 



The leverite among the Hebrews is twice alluded to in the 



Bible.* 



It was a sort of obligatory and fictitious adoption of a 

 nephew by the deceased uncle. It was rather a moral than 

 a legal obligation with them, and a brother-in-law could even 

 refuse it, but in doing so, he had to submit to a degrading 

 ceremony. And if the man did not take his brother's wife, 

 the latter would go up to the elders, and say that the husband 

 refused to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, and that 

 he would not perform the duty of her husband's brethren 

 unto her. Then the elders would call him and speak to him 

 about the matter, and then in the presence of the elders, 

 would remove his shoe from his foot and spit in his face. The 

 elders would then approve of her act, and the matter would be 

 made known among the people. The principal object of the 

 Hindu leverite was to furnish the dead man with a fictitious 

 son, who could perform for him the offerings of the manes, 

 while the Hebrew leverite had only an earthly object of keep- 

 ing up the name or family of the deceased and all that belong 

 to it. 3 



Among the Izhuvans, Thandans, Valans, Kaniyans, 

 Panans, Pulayans and Parayans the custom of leverite is still 

 in vogue. The woman after the death of her husband mates 

 with the brother-in-law next to him. Leverite is undoubtedly 

 a widespread custom, and some sociologists too much given to 

 theorize, say that the leverite was a remnant of polyandry; 

 and that they tried to prove that it was practised under a 

 polyandric regime, but polyandry has never been more than an 

 exceptional mode of marriage among the Hindus, Hebrews, 

 and other nations. Where women were regarded as property, 

 they were of course inherited like other possessions. In many 

 cases the brother, or in default of him the nearest male relation, 

 wag expressly stated to be entitled to have the widow, and if 

 he did not marry her, he had the guardianship over her, and 

 he might give her away or even sell her to anybody. 



Marriag 



mans 



Malayali castes there is no such restriction. It prevails in a 

 few Tamul castes. The ceremony relating to the performance 

 of a widow marriage is never so elaborate as that of a first 

 marriage. It is generally celebrated at night. The widow 

 neatly dressed in her best, remains in her house, and the hus- 



with 



A Code of Manu, chap, ix, page 69. 

 9 Genesis, chap, xxviii, verse 8 



pages 



