Everything about Levirate Marriage totally explained
Levirate marriage is a
type of marriage in which a woman marries one of her husband's brothers after her husband's death, if there were no children, in order to continue the line of the dead husband. The term is a derivative of the
Latin word
levir, meaning "husband's brother".
Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong
clan structure in which
exogamous marriage, for example that outside the clan, was forbidden. It is or was known in societies including the
Punjabis,
Jats,
Israelites,
Huns (Chinese "
Xiongnu", "
Hsiong-nu", etc.),
Mongols, and
Tibetans.
In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism
In
Judaism, levirate marriage, known as
yibbum, is a marital union mandated by the
Torah in, obliging a brother to marry the widow of his childless deceased brother. This was practiced because children were extremely important to the Israelites as well other ancient near east societies. Having children led to security and was a sign of status. Without children there was no one to inherit the family's land which was considered very valuable since it was given to them by Yahweh. A barren woman or widow was often believed to be cursed by God so every possibility was exhausted in order to bear children. There is a provision known as
halizah by which one or both of the parties may choose to become free of this duty. According to some opinions in
Jewish law,
yibbum is strongly discouraged, and
halizah is preferred, although Scripture itself prescribes a curse on anyone who disobeys the practice . Examples of levirate marriage include the marriages of
Tamar and
Onan the son of
Judah, who was also cursed to death for attempting to avoid conception during the process. An extension of Levirate marriage is the idea of a kinsman redeemer as found in the book of Ruth. It holds the same idea of carrying on a lineage but instead of a brother, the duty falls to the closest kin. In the book of Ruth, Boaz acts as the kinsman redeemer.
Central Asia and Huns
Levirate marriages were widespread among
Central Asian
nomads. Chinese historian
Sima Qian (145-87
BCE) described the practices of the
Huns in his
magnum opus,
Records of the Grand Historian. He attested that after a man's death, one of his relatives, usually a brother, marries his widow.
The levirate custom survived in the society of Northeastern Caucasus Huns until the 7th century
CE.
Armenian historian Movses Kalankatuatsi states that the
Savirs, one of Hunnish tribes in the area, were usually
monogamous, but sometimes a married man would take his brother's widow as a
polygynous wife. Ludmila Gmyrya, a
Dagestani historian, asserts that the levirate survived there into "
ethnographic modernity" (from the context, probably
1950s).
Kalankatuatsi describes the form of levirate marriage practised by the Huns. As women had a high
social status, the widow had a choice whether to remarry or not. Her new husband might be a brother or a son (by another woman) of her first husband, so she could end up marrying her brother-in-law or stepson; the difference in age didn't matter.
Scythia
Soviet historian Khazanov gives economic reasons for the longevity of the levirate over two millennia of nomadic history: inheritance of a wife as a part of the deceased’s property and the necessity to support and educate children to continue the line of the deceased.
The levirate custom was revived under shaky economic conditions in the deceased’s family. Khazanov, citing [Abramzon,1968, p. 289 - 290], mentions that during
World War II the levirate was resurrected in Central Asia. In these circumstances, adult sons and brothers of the deceased man held themselves responsible to provide for his dependents. One of them would marry the widow and adopt her children, if there were any.
Africa
This type of marriage has also been practiced by many central and southern African peoples and is, to a certain degree, still in practice. In countries such as
South Africa, the obligation for a woman to enter into a levirate marriage is on the decline due to increasing awareness of
women's rights. Amongst the
Igbo of southeastern Nigeria it was a common practice for a woman to marry her widowed husband's brother if she'd children so the children can retain the family identity and inheritance and not have to deal with step families
In literature
The marriage of Queen Gertrude to her late husband's brother is the major plot point in
Shakespeare's play
Hamlet.
Further Information
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