Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c19.99.3

v2.c19.99.3

And yet we have been told that these creatures are virtuous. What man could watch over them? . . .” Bhīshma gives this recital of woman’s wickedness his strongest assent, and tells an old legend: In times gone by men were so virtuous that they became gods of their own accord. Then a great fear came over the gods. They went in their distress to the father of the world, and he now made the witch-like women, so that they should mislead the men; for in the beginning there were only good women on earth. The bad ones, the evil magical beings, came into being through this creation, and Brahma gave them as their inheritance these roaming wishes, a bed, a seat, ornament, base nature, an evil tongue, and lust.¹ Then Bhīshma tells him the old legend of Vipula and his teacher's wife, and makes the very reasonable conclusion: “Both things can be seen in them : good and bad. The good women, the so glorious ones, are deemed the mothers of the world, and it is they who keep our earth in being with its forests and groves.” The wicked and evil-bringing ones, however, can be known by marks. They love no man, not even him with whom they unite,² and are evil witches. Them a man must shun (xiii, 38-43).