[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.c13.72 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c13.72 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c13.72 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c13.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c13.72) ² Reputable women according to this passage do not ride in Old India; for whatever goes with the army, riding on horse or ass (Çiçu-pālav., xii, 20; v, 7) is, anyhow in most cases, light goods. But probably the widow who is going to let herself be burnt with her dead husband often rides there on horseback. See Zachariae, \*Zeitschr. d. Ver. f. Volksk.\*, Bd. 14, p. 208, note 2; 209; 302; 305. She has come away from the ordinary laws. Or was the horse so often chosen by her as being a beast that frightens away the spirits, brings luck, and is prophetic? Cp. Negelein, “Das Pferd in Seelenglauben u. Seelenkult,” \*Zschr. d. Ver. f. Volksk.\*, Bd. 11, p. 406 ff.; Bd. 12, p. 14 ff.; 377 ff.; especially Bd. 11, p. 406 f.; 409 ff.; Bd. 12, p. 384; MBh., iv, 39.6; 46.25; K., 46.8; etc.; Tod, \*Rajasthan\*, i, 592 (the Rājputs to-day still see an omen in the horse’s neighing); Schroeder, \*Mysterium u. Mimus im Rigveda\*, 429 ff.; George Wilke, \*Kulturbeziehungen\*, etc. (Würzburg., 1913), p. 122; Fr. S. Krauss, \*Slav. Volkforsch.\*, 130. As widow-burning probably originated with the Kshattriyas, it may be indeed that therefore this warrior-animal kept true to the Sati. - [Previous: v2.c13.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c13.71) - [Next: v2.c13.73](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c13.73) - [Up: v2.c13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c13) ## Linked texts (2) - [Śiśupālavadha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.mahakavya.krsna.sisupalavadha.12.20) — Māgha, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.4.39.6) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c13.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c13.72) · Pramāṇa