Niyoga

Niyoga (Sanskrit: नियोग) was a Hindu practice, primarily followed during the ancient period, in the Indian subcontinent. Niyoga permitted widows or wives, who had no child by their husband, to procreate with another man. The purpose of niyoga was to ensure the continuation of the family lineage and to mitigate the financial and social precariousness that a childless widow would have faced in society. Niyoga was forbidden in Kali Yuga by Rishi Brhaspati and other Manusmriti writers. It has been held that niyoga is not akin to polyandry. Sir Henry Maine thinks that Niyoga is of a later date than the Levirate marriage (Hebrew practice of marrying brother's widow she has no son), but J. D. Mayne justified levirate union as merely an enlarged form of Niyoga that came into effect after a man's death. The Niyoga practice enabled a woman to bear children upon union with a male with the "desirable seed".