Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856
E547696
Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
colonial Indian statute
social reform legislation
women’s rights law
The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 was a landmark colonial-era Indian law that legally permitted Hindu widows to remarry, challenging orthodox social norms and advancing women’s rights.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act | 1 |
| Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5813382 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 Context triple: [Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, supported, Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856]
-
A.
Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act
The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act was a 1946 South African law that restricted land ownership and political representation for Indians, entrenching racial segregation and provoking widespread resistance.
-
B.
Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836 was a landmark UK law that established a national civil system for recording births and deaths in England and Wales, laying the foundation for modern vital registration.
-
C.
Indian Evidence Act 1872
The Indian Evidence Act 1872 is a foundational statute in Indian law that systematically sets out the rules governing the admissibility, relevance, and evaluation of evidence in courts.
-
D.
Indian Councils Act 1892
The Indian Councils Act 1892 was a British colonial law that modestly expanded legislative councils in India by increasing their size and allowing limited indirect representation and budgetary discussion, while retaining tight imperial control.
-
E.
Indian Councils Act 1861
The Indian Councils Act 1861 was a British law that restructured the governance of British India by reintroducing and expanding legislative councils, allowing limited Indian participation in lawmaking.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 Target entity description: The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 was a landmark colonial-era Indian law that legally permitted Hindu widows to remarry, challenging orthodox social norms and advancing women’s rights.
-
A.
Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act
The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act was a 1946 South African law that restricted land ownership and political representation for Indians, entrenching racial segregation and provoking widespread resistance.
-
B.
Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836
The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836 was a landmark UK law that established a national civil system for recording births and deaths in England and Wales, laying the foundation for modern vital registration.
-
C.
Indian Evidence Act 1872
The Indian Evidence Act 1872 is a foundational statute in Indian law that systematically sets out the rules governing the admissibility, relevance, and evaluation of evidence in courts.
-
D.
Indian Councils Act 1892
The Indian Councils Act 1892 was a British colonial law that modestly expanded legislative councils in India by increasing their size and allowing limited indirect representation and budgetary discussion, while retaining tight imperial control.
-
E.
Indian Councils Act 1861
The Indian Councils Act 1861 was a British law that restructured the governance of British India by reintroducing and expanding legislative councils, allowing limited Indian participation in lawmaking.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
ⓘ
colonial Indian statute ⓘ social reform legislation ⓘ women’s rights law ⓘ |
| affectedRight | inheritance rights of remarried Hindu widows ⓘ |
| aimedTo |
promote social reform among Hindus
ⓘ
protect men who married Hindu widows from legal penalties ⓘ remove legal doubts about validity of Hindu widow remarriage ⓘ |
| appliesToReligion | Hinduism ⓘ |
| codifiedAspect | validity of remarriage of Hindu widows under Anglo-Hindu law ⓘ |
| consequenceOfRemarriage | widow lost rights to deceased husband’s property ⓘ |
| considered |
landmark in the legal recognition of women’s rights in India
ⓘ
one of the earliest statutory reforms of Hindu personal law ⓘ |
| country | India ⓘ |
| enactmentDate | 1856-07-16 ⓘ |
| enactmentYear | 1856 ⓘ |
| geographicFocus |
Bengal Presidency
ⓘ
Bombay Presidency ⓘ Madras Presidency ⓘ |
| hasShortName |
Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act
ⓘ
linked to:
Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856
|
| historicalContext |
enacted before the Indian Rebellion of 1857
ⓘ
enacted during East India Company rule ⓘ |
| influenced | later Hindu personal law reforms in the 20th century ⓘ |
| inspiredBy | petitions submitted by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | British India ⓘ |
| languageOfStatute | English ⓘ |
| legalEffect |
permitted remarriage of Hindu widows
ⓘ
removed legal obstacles to Hindu widow remarriage ⓘ |
| legalSystem |
Anglo-Hindu law
ⓘ
linked to:
British Indian law
|
| modifiedRule | traditional Hindu law on widow remarriage ⓘ |
| opposedBy |
conservative sections of Hindu society
ⓘ
orthodox Hindu leaders ⓘ |
| precededBy | social reform campaigns for widow remarriage ⓘ |
| primarySubject |
Hindu widows
ⓘ
widow remarriage ⓘ |
| providedThat |
children of a remarried Hindu widow are legitimate
ⓘ
marriage of a Hindu widow shall be valid ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
19th-century Indian social reform movement
ⓘ
Bengal Renaissance ⓘ
linked to:
Bengali Renaissance
Hindu law reform in British India ⓘ |
| repealedBy | Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 ⓘ |
| socialImpact |
advanced women’s rights in colonial India
ⓘ
challenged orthodox Hindu social norms regarding widowhood ⓘ encouraged social reform movements in 19th-century India ⓘ |
| sponsor | Lord Dalhousie ⓘ |
| status | repealed ⓘ |
| supportedBy |
Hindu social reformers in Bengal
ⓘ
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar ⓘ |
| territorialExtent | territories under the East India Company ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 Description of subject: The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 was a landmark colonial-era Indian law that legally permitted Hindu widows to remarry, challenging orthodox social norms and advancing women’s rights.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856