[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.c8.83 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c8.83 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c8.83 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c8.83](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c8.83) NOT only is the refraining from adultery a part of the fivefold dharma (xiii, 141.25), but the Epic, as does Indian literature so often, declares : "Chastity is the highest virtue" (or : the highest law, brahmacaryam paro dharmaḥ, e.g. in i, 170.71). In this passage it is not a question of the purity of the ascetic, but since Arjuna is living a chaste life—the scene belongs to the time when the brothers are going to Draupadī's choosing a husband—he can overcome the Gandharva Aṅgāraparṇa during the night. Now Arjuna, at least later on, is no very great paragon of chastity, for during the twelve years' continence he undertakes he has various erotic adventures (with Citrāṅgadā, i, 215; with Subhadrā, i, 219 ff.). The instructive either-or that the snake fairy Ulūpī then forces on his conscience does not give him much difficulty : the love-fired lady puts it before him (as happened to the young hero in Barlaam and Josaphat and to others in East and West) that by rejecting her he will also have her death on his soul; and he is at once ready to save the fair one's life (i, 214). Bhīṣma, on the other hand, who for love of his father, has renounced all the joys of love and family, takes his vow very earnestly, and will not have the slightest thing to do with anything that is woman, that is called woman, or has anything whatever in common with woman. See especially v, 172.16-20, and Nīlakaṇṭha's gloss. By Ҫiçupāla, who in this is certainly not alone, he is indeed most basely suspected because of his rare virtue (ii, 41.2, 25; 42.8). - [Previous: v1.c8.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c8.82) - [Next: v1.c8.84](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c8.84) - [Up: v1.c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.1.170) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c8.83](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v1.c8.83) · Pramāṇa