*DECEMBER 7, 1856* - FIRST WIDOW GOT REMARRIED

 

*DECEMBER 7, 1856*

FIRST WIDOW GOT REMARRIED

SARASIJ MAJUMDER

 

 

Kalimati, a daughter of a Kulin Brahmin, living in  Palashdanga, Burdwan, was married at the age of four. During the wedding ceremony, the 58-year-old groom merely touched the bride's head with vermilion and ran to Medinipur. He did not have time to wait. The next day, he married another noble girl. As a ‘KULEEN BRAHMIN’, he had  the great responsibility of rescuing  fathers of unmarried daughters from becoming ‘FALLEN’ in the society.

This incident happened in 1850.

After this, Kalimati never had the good fortune to see her husband again. 2 years later, Kalimati's father Brahmananda Mukhopadhyay received a letter from his daughter's in-laws, and then the vermilion on Kalimati's forehead was removed. At the age of four, Kalimati did not understand why she was wearing vermilion, and even that day, the six-year-old girl did not understand why the vermilion was removed. She only saw that her father Brahmananda Mukhopadhyay died within six months of shedding tears of unknown sorrow.

The above curse of ‘Koulinyo Protha (system)’ was brought upon Bengal by King Ballal Sen. Coupled with the prevalent system of ‘POLYGAMY’—it caused havoc on young women.  Kalimati was partly lucky that ‘CURSED SATI’ system was just abolished by LAW.

Another few years have passed since that incident.

During this period, a Brahmin Pundit was spending umpteen midnight hours searching Hindu Religious Scripts in search of some support to get young widows remarried. His name was ‘Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’.

As luck smiled on him—he found the following ‘SLOKA’ in ‘PARASHAR SAMHITA”—

“नष्टे मृते प्रब्रजिते क्लीबेषु पतिते पतौ|

पञ्चस्वापत्सु पतिरण्य बिधियोते ||”

Armed with this, he fought the ‘Hindu Bengali Fundamentalists’, and could legalise re-marriage of Hindu Widows.

That day was *December 7, 1856*. At that time, 800 guests were gathered at Rajkrishna Banerjee's house in Kolkata. The house was surrounded by police guards for security. Murshidabad's Judge Saheb Pandit Shrisachandra Vidyaratna came by Palanquin,  to get married. And the bride? She was the same Kalimati,  now a 10-year-old widow, daughter of Late Brahmananda Mukhopadhyay of Palashdanga, Burdwan.

Representatives of the conservative Hindu society tried hard to stop the marriage, but they were finally forced to retreat due to the police guard.

History was created. This was the first *"widow marriage"* after the passage of the Widow Marriage Act in July, 1856. Vidyasagar Mahashay himself organized this grand ceremony at a huge expense. That date is written in golden letters in the history of India --- *December 7, 1856*.

A dark chapter of history closed forever, and a new chapter was opened, widows got a new lease of life with this religious reformation, in Bengal.

NOTE:-- I wanted to post it on 07/12. Got delayed by a few days.

Reference:-

1.0  Old publication of Bangadarshan—a Bengali newspaper, where it was reported.

2.0  PARASHAR SAMHITA.

3.0  IMAGE OF ‘VIDYASAGAR’: GOOGLE.