Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.71

v2.c19.71

the house is stained, and sacrifice there is useless; for the gods and the shades will not accept anything there (xiii, 127.6 f.). In general, he who is cruel and in any way evil (nṛśaṃsa and tyaktadharma) towards women is branded as a disgraceful and criminal man (xiii, 93.122; 94.29). The ravishing of a woman¹ is forbidden to his band, indeed, even by the robber leader (xii, 135.13); true, he is a very pious one. If the king watches over the land, women can walk in the streets without being attacked, unaccompanied by a man and wearing all their finery; here probably what is thought of in the first place is the robbing of the weak (xii, 68.32). And no woman with womanly virtues shall be lied to or deceived, says king Janaka to Sulabhā (xii, 320.72-74). Want of uprightness towards a woman brings, he says, destruction, as it does when towards a more mighty ruler, or a spiritually powerful Brahman.