Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c13.55

v2.c13.55

¹ The slaying or making away with the fruit of the womb is one of the sins that cannot be atoned for on earth (Dubois-Beauchamp ³, 197); it is equal to the murder of a Brahman and to be atoned for in the same way (Āpast., i, 9, 24.4 ; Vasisṭha, xx, 23 f. ; Gautama, xxii, 12-13 (here when it is the embryo of a Brahman); Vishṇu, xxxvi, 1; l, 1-99; nay, it is twice as wicked and allows of no atonement, but the woman must be cast out (Parāçara, iv, 18), or driven out of the city (Narāda, xii, 91 f.). Along with the murder of a husband and connexion with a man of low birth it is one of the three greatest crimes in a woman (Yājñav., iii, 298) ; stands in the same line with the most dreadful sins, and leads to loss of caste (Āpast., i, 7, 21.8 ; Vasisṭha, xxviii, 7; Gautama, xxi, 9); is the type of most dreadful sin (Mahānirvāṇat., iii, 153); and so on. Naturally awful punishments are, especially in the Purāṇas, threatened after death. This very zeal shows, however, that this sin was not an uncommon one in Old India, either. But whether it is so very common among the Hindus and particularly on the part of the widow, as some observers declare, is a matter of very great doubt.