Cameron Miranda
The term concubine refers to a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him. In India, the term has been used in the context of Hindu law to describe a woman who is a secondary wife or surrogate mother, often of lower social status than the married wife. The practice of concubinage, or keeping a concubine, has been addressed by various courts in India, including the Madras High Court, Bombay High Court, and the Rajasthan Human Rights Commission. The legal status of concubines and their rights, particularly in terms of maintenance and succession, has been a subject of discussion in these court cases.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Definition | A concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him. |
| Etymology | The word 'concubine' comes from the Latin verb 'cubare', meaning 'to lie down'. |
| History | The term emerged in the 13th or 14th century. |
| Concubine vs. Wife | Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. |
| Social Status | Concubines typically have a lower social status than the married party or homeowner. |
| Reasons for Concubinage | Practical impediments or social disincentives for marriage, such as differences in social status, existing marriage, laws against bigamy, religious or professional prohibitions, or lack of recognition by authorities. |
| Children | Children from a concubine are considered legitimate, while children from a mistress are considered illegitimate. |
| Maintenance | In Hindu Law, a permanently kept concubine is entitled to maintenance. |
| Human Rights Concerns | In 2019, the Rajasthan Human Rights Commission in India expressed concerns that women in live-in relationships could be treated as concubines and face harm to their dignity and fundamental rights. |
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What You'll Learn
Concubine vs mistress
The term "concubine" comes from the Latin verb "cubare", meaning "to lie down". It emerged in the 13th century as an English term for a woman who cohabits with a man she is not married to and has a lower social rank than his wife or wives. In other words, a concubine is a secondary wife, usually of inferior rank. In the 21st century, the term typically refers to extramarital affection, either to a mistress or a sex slave.
A mistress, on the other hand, is a woman who has an extramarital relationship with a man, but who does not have the same social status implications as a concubine. In some cultures, a mistress is an outsider with no family status, while a concubine is recognised as part of the family and a potential heir. In societies that accepted polygyny, there were advantages to having a concubine over a mistress, as children from a concubine were legitimate, while children from a mistress were considered illegitimate.
In historical terms, a concubine is a subtype of a mistress, as a concubine has a lower social status than their partner, while a mistress could have a higher or lower status. In Judaism, a concubine is a marital companion of inferior status to a wife, and in Roman law, a concubine was a woman who lived unmarried with a married man or woman. In pre-modern to modern law, concubinage has been used in certain jurisdictions to describe cohabitation, such as in France, where it was formalised in 1999 as the equivalent of a civil union.
In Louisiana and former French territories, a system of concubinage called plaçage developed, where European men took enslaved or free women of colour as mistresses after making arrangements to give them a dowry, a house, or other property, and sometimes freedom and education for their children. This created a third class of free people of colour, who combined French and African-American culture.
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Concubine's rights
The term "concubine" comes from the Latin verb "cubare", which means "to lie down". In the 21st century, it typically refers to a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him, often as a mistress or a sex slave. In some societies, a concubine is a woman who lives and has sex with a man she is not married to, and has a lower social rank than his wife or wives. In other words, a concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not legally married, and is often regarded as socially or sexually subservient. In polygamous societies, a concubine is a secondary wife, usually of inferior rank.
In India, Anglo-Indians are a result of marriages and concubinage between European men and Indian women. Before the independence of India, in Gujarat, the Bhil women were concubines for the Koli landlords. In medieval Rajasthan, the ruling Rajput family often had certain women called paswan, khawaas, or pardayat, who were kept by the ruler if they impressed him, without formal marriage. Sometimes, they were given rights to income collected from a particular village, similar to queens. Their children were socially accepted but did not receive a share in the ruling family's property and married others of the same status as them. Concubinage was practised in elite Rajput households between the 16th and 20th centuries.
In Hindu law, a permanently kept concubine has been held entitled to maintenance. In the case of 'Amireddi Raja Gopala Rao Vs Amireddi Sitharamamma', the Supreme Court held that a concubine could claim maintenance for her lifetime against the estate of her paramour. This was based on the express text of Mitakshara, Ch.2;, Vs 27 and 28 read with V.7.
In Roman law, concubinage was expected to be monogamous, and the relationship was identical to marriage except for the lack of marital affection from one or both parties. This lack of affection conferred rights related to property, inheritance, and social rank. By contrast, in parts of Asia and the Middle East, powerful men kept as many concubines as they could financially support. In such cases, concubinage served as a status symbol and for the production of sons. Children from a concubine were considered legitimate, while children from a mistress were considered "bastards".
In China, until the 20th century, concubinage was a formal and institutionalized practice that upheld concubines' rights and obligations. A concubine could be freeborn or of slave origin, and her experience varied according to her master's whim.
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Concubinage in Hindu law
The term "concubine" emerged in the 14th century, derived from the Latin terms "concubina" (female) and "concubinus" (male), which referred to "one who lives unmarried with a married man or woman". In the 21st century, the term typically refers to extramarital affection, either to a mistress or a sex slave.
In the context of Hindu law, concubinage refers to the practice of a man having a long-term sexual relationship with a woman to whom he is not married and who is of lower social status. In Hindu society, concubinage was practiced with women from upper castes or Brahmin women, with whom marriage was undesirable. Children born of such relationships followed the caste categorization of the mother and were socially accepted, but they did not receive a share of the family's property.
In terms of legal rights, a permanently kept Hindu concubine has been held entitled to maintenance under Hindu Law. For example, in the case of 'Amireddi Raja Gopala Rao Vs Amireddi Sitharamamma', it was held that a married woman who left her husband and lived as a permanently kept mistress could claim the status of an "Avaruddha Stree" and was entitled to maintenance as long as she remained faithful to her paramour.
In ancient India, polygamy and concubinage were prevalent among rulers and kings. Before India's independence, Bhil women were concubines to Koli landlords in Gujarat, and in medieval Rajasthan, the ruling Rajput family kept certain women as concubines if they impressed the ruler with their beauty. These women were sometimes given rights to income, similar to queens, but their children did not inherit ruling family property.
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Concubinage in Roman law
The term "concubine" emerged in the 14th century, derived from the Latin terms "concubina" (female) and "concubinus" (male), which were used in Roman law to refer to a person who cohabits with a married person of the opposite sex. The Latin terms are derived from the verb "concumbere", meaning "to lie with, to lie together, to cohabit".
In Roman law, monogamy was expected, and a concubine relationship was identical to marriage except for the lack of marital affection from one or both parties. This lack of affection conferred rights related to property, inheritance, and social rank. Concubinage was often preferred to marriage due to practical impediments or social disincentives such as differences in social status, existing marriages, laws against bigamy, religious or professional prohibitions, or a lack of recognition by authorities. For example, Roman soldiers were forbidden to marry, and so concubinage served as a viable alternative. Additionally, a quasi-marital relationship involving a Roman citizen and a foreigner was not considered concubinage but a non-Roman marriage based on international law, without legal consequences.
In Roman society, the concubine was often of a lower social status than the married party or homeowner. She could be an "alien" in a society that did not recognize marriages between foreigners and citizens, a slave, or a person from a poor family interested in a union with a man from the nobility. The law prescribed that a man could kill another man caught attempting a relationship with his concubine. By the mid-fourth century, concubines could inherit property but were treated as sexual property. While concubinage was most often practiced when one partner, usually the man, belonged to a higher social rank, it was also common for a freed slave to enter into concubinage with a former master or mistress.
In the Roman Empire, concubinage was a socially and legally recognized alternative to marriage. It was distinguished from contubernium, a de facto marriage between slaves or a freed slave and a slave. Concubinage became a legal concern in response to Augustan moral legislation that criminalized adultery and imposed penalties on some consensual sexual behaviors outside of marriage. While concubinage was not a legal institution, it raised questions in relation to marriage and occupied an entire chapter in the 6th-century compilation of Roman law known as the Digest. The ad hoc nature of concubinage is reflected in the varied and conflicting legal reasoning of Roman jurists.
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Concubinage in modern times
The term "concubine" emerged in the 13th century and comes from the Latin verb "cubare", meaning "to lie down". In the 21st century, it typically refers explicitly to extramarital affection, either to a mistress or a sex slave. The term "concubinage" emerged in the 14th century to mean the "state of being a concubine; act or practice of cohabiting in intimacy without legal marriage".
In modern times, concubinage is used in some Western countries as a gender-neutral legal term to refer to cohabitation, including between same-sex partners. In France, it was formalized in 1999 as the French equivalent of a civil union. In the US, the term was previously used in reference to cohabitation but is now considered outdated.
In India, concubinage was practiced in elite Rajput households between the 16th and 20th centuries. Female slave-servants or slave-performers could be elevated to the rank of concubine if a ruler found them attractive. Before India's independence, in Gujarat, the Bhil women were concubines for the Koli landlords. In medieval Rajasthan, the ruling Rajput family often had certain women called paswan, khawaas, or pardayat, who were kept by the ruler if they impressed him, without formal marriage.
During the early stages of European colonialism, administrators encouraged European men to practice concubinage to discourage them from paying prostitutes for sex and from homosexuality. Colonial administrators believed that having an intimate relationship with a native woman would enhance white men's understanding of native culture and provide them with essential domestic labor. However, when these relationships resulted in mixed-race offspring who threatened colonial rule, administrators began to discourage the practice and instead encouraged white women to travel to the colonies.
In modern colonial India, the family was at the center of debates about identity, community, and nation. Emerging ideas about love, marriage, and desire were linked to caste politics, the colonial economy, and nationalist agitation. Concubinage was never officially put a stop to in India, and native women negotiated with the modern law brought by the East India Company, appealing over issues such as rape, property being bequeathed to them, and speaking out as witnesses and midwives.
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Frequently asked questions
A concubine is a woman who cohabits with a man without being married to him. The term is derived from the Latin word 'concubinus', which means "one who lives unmarried with a married man or woman".
A concubine does not have the same status as a wife, and is usually of inferior rank. In the past, concubinage was preferred to marriage due to differences in social class, ethnicity, religion, or to avoid legal and financial complications.
In Roman law, concubines were entitled to property and inheritance rights, similar to wives. In Hindu law, a permanently kept concubine is entitled to maintenance.
Concubinage is not explicitly mentioned in Indian law. However, the Rajasthan Human Rights Commission has stated that women in live-in relationships can be treated as concubines, which is against their human rights and dignity. The Commission has called for a separate law to protect women in such relationships.
