Reet system in Himachal Pradesh

In the Shimla Hill Statee and many adjoining countries such as Mandi, Kullu and Kangra, an obnoxious custom namely Reet was prevalent since time immemorial. Reet may be defined as a form of marriage without any ritual or ceremony and was contracted by paying a price. Under this custom, girl and young women were allowed to go for sums usually ranging from rs. 100 to rs. 500 but sometimes going up to rs. 2000 by the parents or other guardians and by husband in the case of married ones. Thus the amount paid was known as Reet money. After the payment of this money the first marriage was annulled and concubinage with the second man became a marriage. There was no limit to the number of women, that one might get under Reet nor any restriction as to leaving any of them again, and in this they might change hands any number of times, Therefor the marriage under Reet could be dissolved as easily as it was contracted. From this it is clear that woman was treated as a chattel, a commodity to be brought and sold time and again.

The Reet was prevalent among Kolis, Chanals, Chamars and other tribes which formed the lowest rung in social stratification. In most of the hill states, if not at all, it was also prevalent among the Kanets. However Reet was not observed among the high caste Brahmans and Rajputs.
There were many evil results of Reet custom, domestic ties became loose and marriage came t have very insignificant position in the stability of society. Indiscriminate relations of a woman with many men often resulted in her catching syphilla ( sexual transmitted disease ) and in return, she transmitted the disease to many persons.

Various forms of Reet

Reet was practised with a dissimilar logic in different hill regions. It had an important element of marriage, no matter in what way it was practised—marriage, remarriage, or divorce— and defined the nature of conjugal relations. These conjugal relations were fundamentally different from the Brahmanical principles of ritual purity and chastity. In Kullu, cohabitation was considered equal to marriage and the son of a woman who had been received into a house and treated as a wife was considered an equal successor, just as the legitimate children. Marriages in Sirmaur differed fundamentally from the Brahmanical theory of marriage as a rite. It regarded marriage as a civil contract terminated by the mutual consent of both the parties, and the Hindu idea that the wife is one-half of her husband’s body was hardly existent. Due to these reasons, this custom regarded the women of Shimla hills as ‘lewd and prone to temptation.’

Reet: custom and law

Reet also had within it an important element of divorce, which evidently ‘shook the Hindu sentiment’. If a woman in Sirmaur ‘disliked her husband, she returned home, arranged a marriage with someone else, paid reet to her first husband, and went to live with the new one. Her first husband could not refuse to accept the reet, though he may dispute over the amount. Women could therefore change their husbands when and as often as they chose and this liberty was not considered as evil. The existence of such notions of sexuality led to the emergence of many debates relating to their legality. Although reet had customary validity in most of the native hill states, in many cases it was questioned in the court of law on the pretext of morality. It was also argued that there is no provision in the Hindu scriptures enjoining so much liberty to a woman.

Reet and morality

An appeal was made to the Superintendent Hill States to take suitable steps to uplift the people of the Shimla hills and free them from this most prevalent form of corruption, which was hindering their progress and defaming them in the eyes of the civilised world. Until June 1924, reet was questioned for its laxity of ‘public morality’.
The Shimla District Hindu Conference also passed a resolution and said that reet was the root cause of degradation of the hills. It was said to be contrary to the shastras, and responsible for depopulation, poverty, misery, and outrage. This argument of shastric invalidity added a new dimension to the opposition against reet.

Existence of Reet

The Hindu Conference held at Shimla on 28 June 1924, passed a resolution requesting the British Government to abolish reet by legislation. The efforts of the states seem to have borne little fruit. No attempt was made to see Reet in the context of customary practice. Reet was widely prevalent in almost all the hill states and was practised since ‘times immemorial’. Several hill states had put a tax on reet contracts; marriage by reet was recognised as legal and it conferred legitimacy on the children. A campaign to abolish Reet was reported to be legitimately practised in both the British and the native chief’s territories.

In 1924, another significant debate emerged regarding bardafaroshi, or traffic in girls, for the purpose of marriage in British India.
It directly related Reet with bardafaroshi, which became a tool for the moral and legal justification of the Sabha’s attempt to legislate against reet. Bardafaroshi did exist, but the attempt to relate it with reet was wrong. Reet was a traditional custom diversely perceived and practised by the majority of the people in the hill states. Bardafaroshi, on the other hand, was traffic of a different kind.

Types of Reet in Kullu and Kangra

Reet had different forms in Kullu and Kangra. In Kullu, the bridegroom as a rule was a made to give money, but this was taken to ensure some provision for the girl, should she be deserted by the husband or should she be turned out. Strictly speaking, reet was no more than harjana (compensation). Reet apparently did not exist in Kangra to the same extent. The government was also reluctant to take official action against reet. It distanced itself from these reformist proposals for the hill states, because it regarded it as a purely internal matter, which had not led to any ‘grave misrule and maladministration’. The government felt that it would be unwise to adopt a legislation for abolishing reet, since the custom was deep-rooted in the hill states. The government avoided direct participation in the organisation of the conference on the abolition of reet.

BY the turn of 20th centuary, some social reformers and public organizations of the hills were alarmed at the evil result of Reet and started vigorous propaganda for its abolition. Substantial work in creating public opinion was done by the organizations like the Rajput sthania Sabha and the Himalya Vidhya Prabandini Sabha, Shimla particularly the latter, which volunteered, its services for the cause of the people of the hills.
Dalip singh, the Rana of Bhagat, issued an order for the ‘Abolition of Reet custom’ and it wasenforced with effect from 23 July 1917. In order to discourage the custom, some states imposed tax on Reet marriage. Sirmaur, for example levied 5 % levy on the Reet money in 1855.