Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c7.9

v1.c7.9

Cp. xiii, 104.45. It is even asserted that the mother's origin casts no slur (mātridosho na vidyate, K., i, 99.6). On the other hand we are also told that the father stands above the mother. According to xii, 297.² the father is the highest godhead for men, and is above the mother. “The mother is the wallet (for the father's seed), to the father belongs the son; he is his by whom he has been begotten” (i, 74.110).¹ But we have already seen that the mother is the field, and thus the important thing, the seed can be thrown in by anyone; and while the man might wed a woman from a lower caste, it was most strictly forbidden for a woman to lower herself.