Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c8.62

v1.c8.62

is according to Nārada, xii, 49 ff. of four kinds: (1) the woman who leaves her husband, and for love lives with another man; (2) she who after her husband's death rejects her brothers-in-law and other kinsmen of her husband, and for love unites herself with a stranger; (3) she who through want, or, being bought for money, gives herself to a man; (4) she who after a lawful marriage is made the wife of another by force. The earlier one among these four is always worse than the one following. Elsewhere the analyses of the concepts are less detailed. Yājñav., i, 67 says that her lover must be of the same caste if the name svairiṇī is to hold. And the nearer determination of what adultery really is leaves nothing to wish for on the score of severity. Especially detailed are Manu, viii, 354-363; Nārada, xii, 62-69; Yājñav., ii, 283 ff.; Bṛhaspati, xxiii, 2 ff. He that is together anywhere with the wife of another, as for instance at the junction of streams, at bathing-places, in gardens, in forests, speaks with her, sports with her, sends her all kinds of gifts; kisses her, winks or smiles at her, touches her on the clothes or ornaments or body, particularly at unseemly places, or lets himself be touched by her there, sits on a bed with her, takes her by the hand, the hair, or the hem of her garment, and so forth, such a one by this commits adultery, although not of equally serious kind in each case. So, too, belong here the sending of a procures, of a letter, and like actions. Indeed, if a man from vanity, blindness, or boastfulness himself says: "I have enjoyed this woman," then he is guilty of adultery (saṃgrahaṇa) according to the holy tradition (Nārada, xii, 69). Maithuna (copulation), indeed, is according to old Indian teaching eightfold: smaraṇa (thinking of it), kīrtana (speaking of it), keli (dallying), prekṣaṇa (viewing), guhyabhāṣaṇa (secret converse), saṃkalpa (firm will to copulate), adhyavasāya (resolve to do it), kriyānishpatti (the actual accomplishment). Each part is in itself maithuna.