Part 8: Polygamy

Under polygamy one man marries more than one woman at a time. It is likely that the family happiness is destroyed in polygamy, for jealousy exists between wives and sets of children are separated from each other. Accession between them is also more wholesome. Under monogamy, however, the old parents receive favoring care by their children. Although, the writer mentions in many a place that there was another wife of Prabhākaravardhana besides Yaśomatī through the word sapatnī;^[1] but, through the relation with Yaśomatī, Bāṇa depicts that their conjugal life was very happy. Therefore, Bāṇabhaṭṭa describes that Yaśomatī occupied the position of lakṣmī in her husband’s mind,^[2] and she was the best and greatest among all his wives, so she was known as mahādevī.^[3] Bāṇa also describes that the innerapartment was decked with thousands of crowned queens.^[4]

From the above discussions, it is found that, women had been getting the respectable position in family and society in the times of Bāṇabhaṭṭa as reflected in the Harṣacarita and other sources discussed herein.