[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915) › v1.c7.78.4 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c7.78.4 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c7.78.4 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c7.78.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c7.78.4) Indeed, Vasisṭha, xxviii, 9, proclaims: Woman is pure in all her limbs, while the cow is pure only behind (cp. Meyer, \*Altind. Rechtsschr.\*, 146). Then there are views which also give other reasons for this monthly \*purgatorium terrestre et naturale\* of woman, which is generally looked on as so uncanny and fraught with evil. Mārkaṇḍeyapur., xlix, 8 ff., relates: In the beginning, women knew nothing of this contrivance of nature, but in spite of copulation they got no children. Later the passion of love (rāga) came into the world, and then, with it, both the woman's period, and offspring through the sexual union; for till then propagation had only been by means of concentrated thought (dhyānena manasā), and that very sparingly (11; cp. this book, p. 370). Cp. the already mentioned passage in Vasiṣṭha, v, 4 ff., and its source. As is clear enough from the puberty customs, savages, too, know that the monthly flow is needful for impregnation. See further \*Anthropos\*, v, p. 772 f.; vi, 703. The American Indians quoted in the last-named reference share moreover the belief that this flow is first called forth through sexual intercourse. It would thus be the holy duty of the girl to indulge in love in good time. It is no wonder that evil spirits, then, disturb and destroy this blessed monthly act. See, for instance, Mārk.-Pur., li, 42 ff.; 114 ff. Cp. also Winternitz, \*Altind. Hochzeitsrituell\*, pp. 92-95. - [Previous: v1.c7.78.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c7.78.3) - [Next: v1.c7.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c7.79) - [Up: v1.c7.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c7.78) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c7.78.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c7.78.4) · Pramāṇa