Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c5.34

v1.c5.34

good men.” For no one knows how things will go, whether the bride will lead a good life, or bring happiness.¹ What, indeed, shows itself most is the anxiety whether a bridegroom will be found who will do honour through his blood, character, and so forth. This is what we often find in the Mahābhārata, and so, for instance, Rām., vii, 9.10-11 : “To be the father of a daughter is an affliction for him that seeks after honour, and no one knows who will (or shall) take a maiden to his house ; thus it is, O daughter. The mother’s kindred, the father’s, and they to whom she goes in marriage—three families are brought ever into danger by a daughter.” Essentially the same thought is uttered by a harassed father who goes about trying to find a husband for his daughter, in the 12th sarga, çl. 11-12. It is well known that in India often the whole family will ruin itself in the endeavour to find a thoroughly good match for the daughter, and give her a wedding befitting its standing.² Having regard to all the evils brought down by a daughter, we very easily understand why the Hindu often hails her without much joy. But the love for children, which is so strong in the Indian, is also felt towards her, and so Bāṇa very finely declares that the parents are saddened at the birth of a girl, as they think of the day when a bridegroom will rob them of the loved one.³ And little light as the Epic throws on