No specific information on whether it is acceptable for Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka to remarry after the death of their spouse could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, an article found on Nagpur Online, a Website maintained by the Institute of Advanced Studies in Nagpur, Maharashtra, provides more general information about widow marriage and divorce:

The remarriage of widows was once strictly prohibited among the Brahmanas, it being reasoned that marriage was the only sacrament (samskara) for a woman and she could go through it only once. And even now, though legally permissible, widow-marriages are not much in vogue in 'higher' Hindu communities. Only a minority of the most advanced Brahmanas would recognise widow-remarrige, and these were once generally held to be excluded form the caste, though defaults in caste practices such as breaches of the rules against the consumption of prohibited kinds of meat, and drinking even alcoholic liquor were winked at and not visited with proper penalty...

Among Banias the remarriage of widows was nominally prohibited, but frequently occurred, and remarried widows were relegated to the inferior social groups in each sub-caste...

Many a lower caste in the district allowed both widow-remarriage and divorce. The Kunbis permitted the remarriage of widows, with the exception of Deshmukh families of the Sirole sub-caste who had forbidden it; on the death of her husband the woman returned to her father's house and he used to arrange her second marriage, which was called coli-patal or giving her new clothes. The ceremony of widow-marriage was largely governed by the idea of escaping or placating the wrath of the first husband's ghost. A bachelor who wished to marry a widow had first to go through a mock ceremony of marriage with an arka or swallow-wort plant. Divorce was permitted on sufficient grounds at the instance of either party, it being effected before the caste committee or pancayat (Mar. 1999).

The Status of Widows in 10 Countries: Seclusion and Exclusion, a report produced by the UK-based NGO Empowering Widows in Development also provides information on Hindus in India more generally:

Some castes prohibit remarriage, others allow it provided that it is within the family. If a widow marries away (going for nata), she loses all rights to her children, land and any possessions. The higher the caste the more likely it is that widow remarriage is forbidden. There are exceptions: a child widow or a young childless widow may usually remarry. If the widow is very young, her parents may arrange another marriage for her. If they are poor and cannot afford another dowry, the second marriage is often full of problems - the husband may be an elderly widower, a divorcee, or sick and handicapped.

There is an emerging trend towards prohibiting and discouraging remarriage even in the lower and middle castes as a means of achieving higher social status but most widows interviewed do not wish to remarry. They fear ill treatment in a new family, especially abuse of their children.

In some castes leviratic marriage is practised: the widow is taken in by a brother.

The overall probability that a widow will remarry is quite low, perhaps of the order of 15 to 20% in India as a whole.... It is not therefore a viable refuge for the majority of widows who have children at the time of losing their husband (n.d.).

An article in Manushi, a New Delhi-based journal which focuses on women's issues, also states that "many India women are unwilling to remarry after a divorce or widowhood if they already have children even if there is no family opposition to remarriage" (Mar.-Apr. 1997). Economic and Political Weekly, in its 1999 review of women's studies, also writes of widows in the southern state of Tamil Nadu that remarriage is rare and "those who had been widowed or separated had no choice but to remain single" (Apr. 1999).

According to a CNN report:

Even in these modern times, Hindus frown on widows who remarry. The women are often shunned by their families, blamed by their in-laws for the deaths of their husbands. Many more flee their homes voluntarily, fearing they'll be abused if they stay (16 Nov. 1997).

While not specifically addressing remarriage, a report by the Women's Education and Research Centre in Colombo includes a discussion of the situation of Tamil war widows and states that many women have found a greater sense of independence outside of their marriages, largely because they are now involved in employment outside of the home (1999).

Their sense of independence was evident in the defiance with which they wore the red pottu, the auspicious mark of the married Hindu women, despite being widows or women whose husbands had abandoned them. The demographic fact of a large number of young widows who were unwilling to take on the role of the traditional Hindu widow, who may not participate in auspicious social rituals such as wedding ceremonies and who are generally socially ostracised, indicates that there is space for redefinition of what it means to be an unmarried or widowed woman in the more orthodox Hindu tradition (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Cable News Network (CNN). 16 November 1997. "India's Widows Live Out Sentence of Shame, Poverty." http://www.hindunet.org/srh_home/1997_11/1997_11_all [Accessed 6 Oct. 2000]

Economic and Political Weekly [Mumbai]. 17-24 April 1999. "Female Autonomy in Tamil Nadu: Unravelling the Complexities." http://www.epw.org.in/34-1617/rws5.htm [Accessed 6 Oct. 2000]

Empowering Widows in Development, London, UK. Margaret Owen. n.d. The Status of Widows in 10 Countries: Seclusion and Exclusion. http://www.oneworld.org/empoweringwidows/10countries/india.html. [Accessed 5 Oct. 2000]

Manushi [New Delhi]. Madhu Kishwar. March-April 1997. "Women, Sex and Marriage: Restraint as a Feminine Strategy." http://www.freespeech.org/manushi/99/sexuality.html [Accessed 5 Oct. 2000]

Marriage and Morals: Widow Marriage and Divorce. March 1999. http://www.nagpuronline.com/people/mar_hndu.html [Accessed 10 Oct. 2000]

Women's Education and Research Centre [Colombo]. 1999. "Women, Narration and Nation-Collective Images and Multiple Identities, Part 19 or 26." (NEXIS)

IRB Databases

Sri Lanka Country File. Resource Centre.
Else Skjonsberg.

Special Caste? Tamil Women of Sri Lanka

World News Connection (WNC)

Internet Sites including:

Dalitstan.org

Global Reproductive Health Forum, South Asia

Journal of South Asian Women's Studies

South Asia Women's Network (SAWNET)

Sagar, South Asia Graduate Research Journal

The Sunday Times of Sri Lanka

The Tribune