[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.c19.108 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.108 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.108 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.108](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.108) So that in fact Gaya Āmūrtarayasa must have been a pattern king, for he sated the gods with soma, the Brahmans with possessions, and the women with bestowals of love (kāmais, xii, 29.116). This satisfying of "excellent women" is also expressly enjoined on the horse-sacrificer (xiv, 90.13, 14), where, of course, we need not have in our minds a direct activity of the "father of the land", but the well-known Indian doctrine that a good king brings about the right conditions throughout his kingdom through his actions and the magic of his being. So a proverb declares: "Food is valued when it has been digested, the wife when her youth is gone, the hero when he has won the battle, the ascetic when he has reached the other shore" (v, 35.69); and v, 34.40 advises, like many other peoples, the woman being ill-clad as a measure of precaution. But both are suggestions of optimists. Woman is ever the very embodiment of sensuality (xii, 213.9), and as such the cause of Saṃsāra (xii, 213.7). Instability, however, is a matter of course in the woman (v, 36.58; is found again almost word for word in Rām., vi, 16.9). The wise Agastya thus enlightens Rāma: "This is the nature of women since the creation: if it goes well with the man, then they cling to him; if it goes ill with him, then they forsake him. The restlessness of lightning, the knife's sharpness, and the swiftness of the Garuḍa and the wind are imitated by women" (Rām., iii, 13.5-6). Woman does not really love at all; not him that attacks her hotly (Mahābh., ii, 5.45; cp. Rām., ii, 100.28), not the gentle man (Rām., v, 22.2); of the poor man she wants to know nothing whatever (MBh., vii, 29.42; viii, 9.19; v, 33.56). What she wants of the man is expressed in the saying: "Thieves live on the careless man, physicians on the sick, the fair on their lovers, the sacrificial priest on the sacrificers, the king on litigants, and the clever always on the stupid" (v, 33.85). Therefore, of course, women cannot and must not be trusted (i, 233.31; v, 37.57; - [Previous: v2.c19.107](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.107) - [Next: v2.c19.109](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.109) - [Up: v2.c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19) ## Linked texts (2) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.2.5.45) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki.6.16.9) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.108](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.108) · Pramāṇa