[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.c17.13.3 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c17.13.3 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c17.13.3 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c17.13.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c17.13.3) by this win for thyself the highest virtuous merit, and for me the greatest happiness.” And her saying may here be given: “It is said, if the husband dies first, then it comes about that the wife has no worth¹: and it is before me who lead a good life that thou art gone hence, who didst walk the path of excellence” (Rām., vi, 32.9). It is worthy of remark that she so often thinks of her mother-in-law: “I pity neither Rāma nor Lakshmaṇa, the great chariot-fighter, nor myself so much as my poor mother-in-law. For she ponders ever: When Mohammedans, the Mandæans, the old Greeks and Romans, and elsewhere, and a conception which probably is the first root of the custom of wrapping or covering the face when weeping, which, indeed, is also done in the Epic (ix, 63.68 f.; xi, 15.34 f.; etc.). Sorrow itself (çoka) is magical uncleanness (açaunca), but joy and an uplifted soul are magically salutary (çaunca) (MBh., K, vii, 71.20). Food onto which a tear has fallen is nourishment for the ghostly beings (ix, 43.26 f.; Manu, iii, 230). And so on. As a counterpart the fine Buddhist saying may here be quoted: “What is united must divide; we are indeed pilgrims. Mourn not for that which is vanished; love all that is still here” (Jātaka, Bd. iii, 95). - [Previous: v2.c17.13.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c17.13.2) - [Next: v2.c17.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c17.14) - [Up: v2.c17.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c17.13) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c17.13.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c17.13.3) · Pramāṇa