Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c11.98

v2.c11.98

Mimus, p. 60 ff.; 309 f.; 324; Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Up., vi, 4.19; Divyāvadana, p. 1; Crooke, Pop. Rel., i, 243, 264; Garnett, The Women of Turkey, etc., ii, 92 ff.; 378 ff.; Dunlop-Liebrecht, 68, 468, n. 126; Revue des trad. popul., 14, p. 480; Basset, Contes popul. d’Afrique, 151 ff.; Ploss-Bartels 4, i, 391 ff.; Meyer, Isoldes Gottesurteil, note No. 214; Altind. Rechtsschr., 373; Reitzenstein, Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., vol. 41, p. 657 f. The woman belongs first to Soma, Gandharva, and Agni, and only afterwards to her husband. Thus she can never be sullied; Soma (the moon) gives her purity (çauca), Gandharva (probably a genius of fertilization) her sweet voice, and the fire god gives her the stainlessness (to be taken actively and passively, “cleanness,” sarva-medhyatva) in her whole body and being. Rigveda, x, 85.40-41; Pāraskara’s Gṛhyasūtra, i, 4.16; Hirany-Gṛhyas., i, 20.2; Vasisṭha, xxviii, 5-6; Yājñav., i, 71; Baudh., ii, 2.4.5; Jolly’s note to Nārada, xii, 28, in SBE, vol. xxxiii; Agnipur., 165.9, 19-21a; Meyer, Altind. Rechtsschr., 22 f.; 229; 373-375; Winternitz, Die Frau in d. ind. Religionen, i, p. 33 [7]. Probably this belief that the spirits feel thus drawn to earthly women is not without its influence on the origin of the widespread Tobias nights, and the tale in the Biblical book is therefore worthy of all attention. On these nights see e.g. Weber, Indische Studien, v, 325 f.; 330 f.; 347; 359 f.; 368; 375; 377; of the Gṛhyasūtras: Ҫāṅkhy., i, 17.5; Āçval., i, 8.10 f.; Gobh., ii, 3.15; Pārask., i, 8.21; Hir., i, 23.10; Āpast., iii, 8.8; Meyer, Altind. Rechtsschr., 373; Garnett, The Women of Turkey, i, 240; Schmidt, Jus primae noctis, p. 149 ff.; Mantegazza, Geschlechtsverhältnisse, 252, 289-90; Henne am Rhyn, 28; McLennan, Primitive Marriage, 181; L. von Schroeder, Die Hochzeitsgebräuche d. Esten, 192 ff.; and of course Ploss and Westermarck. An interesting case is found in the Tavola ritonda, ed. Polidori (Bologna, 1864), p. 93. At a feast at the court of King Marco the lovely Donzella dell’Aigua della Spina and Tristano ogle one another and fall in love. As a typical lady of the Middle Ages, after leaving the table the stricken lady goes at once to the hero, offers herself to him, and then by a message sends for him to come by night to her chamber. Then it goes on: Tristano entra nel letto con lei, e sollazono e dánnosi piacere e diletto. Vero è che la donzella avea preso marito di sedici giorni dinanzi, non che ancora si fossero congiunti insieme: imperò ch’egli era usanza a quel tempo, che quando gli cavalieri prendeano dama (a wife) egli stavano trenta giorni inanzi ch’eglino si congiugnessono insieme; e ciascuno giorno insieme udivano messa; acciò che Iddio perdonasse loro l’offense, e anche perchè perdeano la loro verginitade e venivano al conoscimento carnale; e pregavano Iddio che di lor