Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c5.13

v1.c5.13

THE Mahābhārata in its present form is a composition from widely separated periods in the history of Old Indian literature, and its elements are derived from various parts of the Old Indian land. It was not written by one man, but it is the work contributed by many hands. It is a growth : one piece from here, another from there ; one from this time, another from that. Like an Indian jungle it spreads out before us in an endless wilderness of trees entwined and tangled with rank creepers, coloured and scented with manifold flowers and blossoms, and the home of every kind of living creature. Bewitching bird-song, the terrifying cries of wild beasts fall on our ears ; the poisonous snake winds its coils beside the mild dove ; the robber dwells therein, free, indeed, from the law, but often the slave of superstitions beyond belief ; and so the self-denying thinker with his eyes set above the earth, and his thoughts reaching into the depths of the world and of his soul. There lie the roots of a glowing, unbounded wealth of life, of a will strong beyond any other power ; and by their side are found the depths of dreaming, the heavy dead sleep of many thousand years, so that we should ourselves sink into it, too, were it not for the swarms of stinging flies. And so we could long go on, setting wonder against wonder, but hardly ever reaching an end to it all ! It is a “ great sea ”, to sail over which “ threefold bronze ” is needed, not, indeed, about the breast, but anyhow, about another, not so heroic part of the body.