Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c6.54

v1.c6.54

From the Song of Nala we know already that barren marriages were to be found in Old India, too, and "in the best families", indeed, oftenest of all in them; and that this mishap was very sorely felt. And the Epic, too, has a whole set of tales of how in a particular case the evil was at last overcome. As the universal remedy, in this case likewise, asceticism, of course, is efficacious. "Sons, that bring much happiness, are won by fathers through tapas, the practise of chastity, truth, and patience. Mothers win a fruit of their body through fasting, sacrifice, vows, holding festivals, and luck-bringing things, and carry it ten months in the womb; and then these poor ones think to themselves: Will they be safely born, or keep alive, or, when they have been brought up and are strong, bring us joy in this world and the other (xii, 7.13 ff.). Cp. iii, 205.18 ff.; xii, 150.14. Among the most efficacious things, too, handed down from of old is magic of every kind; and, indeed, in India there is no essential difference between worship of the gods and witchcraft. It is significant that mantra can denote a song filled with characteristic depth of thought, or a nobility of heart truly raised above this earth, and also a magic spell, of an evil that out-devils the Devil. Spells against barrenness are to be found, for instance, in Weber's *Ind. Studien*, v, 23 f.; and a witches' ceremony in Pāraskara-Gṛihyasūtra, i, 13. Schmidt, *Erotik*, 891.