Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.124

v2.c19.124

But it is not only of that pity which is so often exalted by the Indian as the beginning and end of all ethics that the woman is capable, nay, especially capable, but of redemption, too ; just as the despised Çūdra (and Vaiçya), who is often set alongside of her, she can enter into the Godhead for all eternity (xii, 240.34 ; 250.23 ; vi, 33.32 ; xiv, 19.61). Women, indeed, come before us quite often as teachers of men, even of the holy men, and it is the begging nun Sulabhā that teaches the famous King Janaka, him filled with the deepest wisdom (xii, 320). Since no husband who was her equal could be found for her, she was initiated into the utmost bounds of knowledge, and became a lonely ascetic (çl. 183).