Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c5.357

v1.c5.357

² Hardly : “while Nīla, yet, was the king of all.” We might perhaps read : Nilasyājñāsya sarveṣām, or better still : Nilasyajñāte sarveṣām “without Nīla (and) all knowing anything of it, she took him to her”. The genitive too in -sya is sometimes, however, used as an ablat. in the MBh. (i, 228.17; ii, 81.37; xii, 198.6, 11; 218.28; xiv, 24.11; espec. too x, 2.6, where daivasya = without favourable fate). See further x, 10.14; xii, 216.8. If taken so, the traditional text, “without Nīla (and) all,” would come to the same thing. That is to say, therefore : “without N. or anyone else having known of it.” Fire, moreover, must not be blown up by the mouth. Mārk.-Pur., xxxiv, 112; Manu, iv, 53; Gautama, ix, 32; Āpast., ii, 5, 15.20; Vasiṣṭha, xii, 27. Nor must the feet be warmed at fire, not put over or under it, nor must one jump over it. Viṣṇu, lxxi, 37; Yājñav, i, 137; Manu, iv, 53 f. Of course, it must not be touched with the foot (MBh., vii, 73.30; K., xiv, 108.13 ff.; Yājñav., i, 155).