Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c18.12

v2.c18.12

should into the Brahmanic strait-jacket; she is a spiritual daughter of the warrior nobility, in the beginning, judging from all appearances, like so much in the Mahābhārata, a pure creation of the Kshattriya poetry, and now plays very nasty tricks over and over again on the Brahmanic moral censors. Her kinsman Dhṛtarāṣṭra probably knew her, who was, indeed, born from the fire, very well; he says: “The daughter of Yājñasena is wholly and utterly the strength of fire” (iii, 239.9; cp. ii, 81.13). We have already been told how in the section on Kicaka she expresses herself with very scant ceremony indeed about her Guru Yudhishṭhira. When she lets strong words escape her even before him and the gambling company, he reprimands her and tells her she must not weep like an actress (before others’ eyes), and he speaks of the wife’s duty (iv, 16.40 ff.).