[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) › v2.c11.161 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c11.161 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c11.161 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c11.161](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c11.161) But love must be on both sides, and lead to the pleasures of sex; for love has, as its natural fruit, sexual pleasure (kāmoratiphalaḥ, xii, 123.6). "If a man and a woman that yearn for one another reach their goal, then that may be compared with Amṛtam; but if a lover cannot reach the goal of his wishes, then that is a misfortune which is the same as the poison-plant" (xii, 320.69, Deussen's transl.). "If a man love a woman who loves him not, then his body glows in torment; a man has then joy when he loves her who wishes for him" (Rām., v, 22.42-43). "Two kinds of human beings call forth trust from others (or: the highest trust): women that are loved and love, and folk that honour the honoured.¹ Two kinds of human beings are sharp thorns, destroying the body: he that is poor and yet loves, and he that is weak and yet is angry" (MBh., v, 33.55, 56). But he is loved who is near: "Love goes to him who is seen; there is no leaning towards him who is not seen" (Rām., v, 26.39), which is what we read as boys, in Cicero.² Cp. e.g. MBh., iii, 71.6. For the woman particularly this is true; for, like the creeper, she twines round the very nearest tree, the Indian says. Love does not at all go to the worthiest object: "We see a good woman in glorious beauty - [Previous: v2.c11.160](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c11.160) - [Next: v2.c11.162](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c11.162) - [Up: v2.c11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c11) ## Cites (3) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa*vulgate.12.123.6) — Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c11.161](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c11.161) · Pramāṇa