NIYOG

Niyoga literally means “without union".

Ni means without, and Yoga means
union.
 a woman (whose husband is either
incapable of fatherhood or has died
without having a child) would request and
appoint a man for helping her bear a child.

According to this tradition, the man who

was appointed must be or would most
likely be a revered person. Niyoga, a literal
meaning of the term would be ‘delegation’.
Niyoga (नियोग).—During the Vedic
period there prevailed a system or
custom which permitted either the
husband or the wife who had no
child by his wife or her husband to
procreate a child in another woman
or beget children by another man.
(Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 256).
In Niyog, a childless widow is asked to
do intercourse with the brother or any
near kinsman of her deceased husband
to raise up issue to him, the son so
born being called क्षेत्रज (kṣetraja);
cf. Ms.9.59.:-देवराद्वा सपिण्डाद्वा स्त्रिया सम्यङ् नियुक्तया । प्रजे-
प्सिताधिगन्तव्या सन्तानस्य परिक्षये
(devarādvā sapiṇḍādvā striyā samyaṅ niyuktayā | praje-
psitādhigantavyā santānasya parikṣaye) ||; see 6, 65 also.
(Vyāsa begot pāṇḍu and dhṛtarāṣṭra
on the widows of Vicitravīrya in this way).
In Manu Samhita, Niyog is mentioned
as a practice for continuing the
progeny, but it is described that in
Kaliyuga, people are too lusty, and
often the focus is on the sexual act,
far away from procreation. A woman
can have Niyog with maximum 11
men and vice versa
 The following were some of the Rules to be adhered
to before entering into Niyoga:-

a) The woman would agree to this only for the sake of legitimately begetting a
child; but not for sexual orgasm or promiscuity.

b) The act will be construed as constituting ‘Dharma’ and when entering into
sexual intercourse, there would be no place for voluptuousness or venereal
pleasure.

c) To obviate the misuse, a man was permitted to have niyoga three times in
his lifetime in the future.
 The following were some of the Rules to be adhered
to before entering into Niyoga:-

d) The man so chosen would not be allowed to stake any claim for paternal
relationship or attachment to this child in the future.

e) Niyoga would be allowed only in the eventuality of the husband pre-

deceasing his wife or when he is unable to procreate a child.

f) The appointed man would carry out this purely as a hel to the woman in the
name of God and the woman will accept it only to beget the child for herself
and her husband.
 The following were some of the Rules to be adhered
to before entering into Niyoga:-

g) There would be no foreplay or contact of any kind with the upper parts of
the body. The bodies of both the man and the woman are smeared with
ghee. There is a curtain between the male and the female so that none
could see each other’s faces so that passion does not sneak into their
minds.

h) Only the legs of the woman are kept uncovered. The male penetrates and
ejaculates inside the vagina and the process is completed.
167. He who was begotten according to the peculiar law (of the Niyoga)
on the appointed wife of a dead man, of a eunuch, or of one diseased, is
called a son begotten on a wife (Kshetraga).
In the Manusmriti,, niyoga is described as
59. On failure of the issue (by her husband) a woman who
has been authorized, may obtain, (in the) proper (manner
prescribed), the desired offspring by (cohabitation with) a
brother-in-law or (with some other) Sapinda (of the
husband).
60. He (who is) appointed to (cohabit with) the widow shall
(approach her) at night anointed with clarified butter and
silent, (and) beget one son, by no means a second.
62. But when the purpose of the appointment to (cohabit
with) the widow bas been attained in accordance with the
law, those two shall behave towards each other like a
father and a daughter-in-law.

63. If those two (being thus) appointed deviate from the

rule and act from carnal desire, they will both become
outcasts, (as men) who defile the bed of a daughter-in-law
or of a Guru.
 According to ManuSmriti
Nioyga is not a sin or a crime because it is not done under the
cover of darkness or in secrecy.

167. He who was begotten according to the peculiar

law (of the Niyoga) on the appointed wife of a dead
man, of a eunuch, or of one diseased, is called a son
begotten on a wife (Kshetraga).
Niyoga is sanctioned by Hindu scriptures. Swami Vivekananda
writes about Niyoga,
“…Another cause was instrumental in bringing this about — the change in the system
of marriage. The earliest system was a matriarchal one; that is, one in which the
mother was the center, and in which the girls acceded to her station. This led to the
curious system of the Polianders [polyandrous], where five and six brothers often
married one wife. Even the Vedas contain a trace of it in the provision, that when a
man died without leaving any children, his widow was permitted to live with another
man until she became a mother; but the children she bore did not belong to their
father, but to her dead husband…” By Swami Vivekananda, Ideals of Womanhood,
(BrooklynStandard Union, January 21, 1895)
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volum
e_2/Reports_in_American_Newspapers/Ideals_of_Womanhood
 Gautama Dharma Shastra 18.4-6 “A woman whose husband is dead and who
desires offspring (may bear a son) to her brother-in-law… (On failure of a
brother-in-law she may obtain offspring) by (cohabiting with) a Sapinda, a
Sagotra, a Samanapravara, or one who belongs to the same caste.”

Baudhyana Dharma Shastra Prasna II, Adhyaya 2, Kandika 4, verses 7-9 “widow
shall avoid during a year (the use of) honey, meat spirituous liquor, and salt,
and sleep on the ground. Maudgalya (declares that she shall do so) during six
months. After (the expiration of) that (time) she may, with the permission of
her Gurus, bear a son to her brother in law, in case she has no son.”
 Garuda Purana chapter 95 ”The younger brother of a husband, may go unto a
childless wife of his elder brother for the purpose of begetting an offspring on
her person with the permission of his elders, first had and obtained in that
behalf, and with his body annointed with clarified butter.” Tr. M.N. Dutt

Garuda Purana I.95.16-17 “For producing a son and a heir in the family the
brother-in-law or a cousin or a person of the same clan can have intercourse
with an issueless widow till she conceives. If he touches her after that he
becomes degraded. The son born thus is the legitimate son of the deceased
husband.” Tr. J.L. Shastri
 Kurma Purana 2.22.98 ”…a son born of the Niyoga rite should perform
Sraddha to his progenitor as well as the dead husband of his mother. Then he
shall be the true heir. If a son is born out of the semen virile without the
sanction of Niyoga, the son should offer Pindas to the progenitor. However, he
may perform Sraddha to the Ksetrin (mother’s husbands).” Tr. G.V. Tagare

Yajnavalkya Smriti, Book 1 Achara Adhyaya, chapter 3, verse 68 ”The younger

brother of the husband, a Sapinda or a Sagotra, being anointed with clarified
butter, and with the permission of the Guru, may go to sonless widows, when in
season, with the desire of raising a son.” Tr. R.B.S. Chandra Vidyarnava