Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c16.7

v2.c16.7

¹ That is to say, this is the view which governs both Epics. In the higher castes, at least in the noble and the Brahmanic caste, this was also what was demanded by the higher rule of conduct at the time when the Epic was built up. Besides this it still reflects here and there other and probably older conditions, where in these circles also, or at least among the Kshattriyas, a fresh marriage of the widow or of an outcast woman was the custom. Thus it appears a matter of course for Damayantī to take another husband, when Nala has disappeared (iii, 70 f.). In this case they had been parted only three years in all (iii, 76.37, 51). The course of development here set forth is still going on to-day: so soon as a caste begins to rise in our day, it sees the first token of its rise in the marriage of widows being forbidden. Billington, p. 113 ff.; Crooke, *The North-Western Provinces of India*, 211; Fuller, *Studies*, etc., 162.