[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.c19.72 # Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.72 Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.72 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c19.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.72) ¹ Or to carry her off against her will (na ca grāhyā balāt striyaḥ). According to Bṛhaspati, xxiii, 10, 15 the man who rapes a woman shall have all his property, his member and scrotum cut off, and then be led round on an ass; if the ravisher is from a lower caste, then the woman must be killed. On the other hand Parāçara, x, 21-22 on the whole teaches that, when a woman has been enjoyed by force or by intimidation, she becomes clean again through certain fixed vows of mortification and by her monthly flow. For the ravisher of a maid Manu, viii, 364 demands death; Nārada, xii, 71, and Yājñav., ii, 288 do so only when it is the case of a maid from the highest or Brahmanic caste; the first-named also ordains the confiscation of all his property. In the case of other girls the cost is according to Yājñav. the hand, according to Nārada two fingers. This last-mentioned punishment is also in Manu, viii, 367. Besides these there are milder prescriptions. So in Manu, viii, 378 the Brahman who forces even a warded (guptā) Brāhmaṇī to his will gets off with a thousand paṇa fine, a very handsome sum, it is true, for a priest's offspring. Cp. also Kauṭilya, 357.18-20; 364.15; and addit., 364.45.—The South Slav severity against the ravisher and deflowerer has also good effects (Krauss, \*Sitte u. Brauch\*, 204-213). - [Previous: v2.c19.71](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.71) - [Next: v2.c19.73](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.73) - [Up: v2.c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19) ## Linked texts (6) - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.8.364) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Yājñavalkyasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.yajnavalkya.2.288) — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit - [Parāśarasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.parasara.10.21) — Parāśara, Sanskrit - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Bṛhaspatismṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.uddhrta.brhaspati) — Bṛhaspati, Sanskrit - [Nāradasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.narada) — Nārada, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.72](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.meyer-1915.v2.c19.72) · Pramāṇa