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Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c20: XXI. Woman is a Chattel

Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c20

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XXI. Woman is a Chattel

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As our old, splendid Freidank says, in woman the greatest and the loveliest and the ugliest are found side by side; no man can be so good as the woman, but then, too, none so bad as she.¹ In somewhat these words the views as a whole of the Old Indian Epic, too, might be summed up. But no matter how high or how low the various sayings, discussions, and tales set women, and no matter how important a meaning women may have had in the life and the business of life of the Indian world of those days—the fundamental view, even as yet seldom outlived, in the history of human development throughout the world, is not found lacking in the Old Indian Epic either: Woman is a Chattel (e.g. iv, 68.32; 72.26).² As the booty of war woman has an attraction, indeed, in all times and ages.³ Therefore xii, 131.8 advises:

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¹ Cp. Wirnt von Grafenberg, *Wigalois*, 5393 f.; Thiselton-Dyer, *Folklore of Women*, p. 3.

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² Here the Kaffirs, for instance, are quite logical. Among them the son inherits also his father's widows; his mother he does not touch, but may sell her. Usually he lets children be produced for him by her "as everyone's wife". Post, *Einleit. i. d. Studium d. ethnol. Jurisprudenz*, p. 38. So, too, the wives of the dead father fall to the son, and he takes them to wife, among the Batamba in East Africa (*Anthropos*, vi, 378); among the old Persians, Egyptians, and Israelites (Ed. Meyer, *Gesch. d. Altertums*, i, I³, p. 28); among the pre-Mohammedan Arabs (Welhausen, *Gött. Nachr.*, 1893, p. 455); etc. The woman is currency, indeed, in many places in the world; *vasu*, thing, valuable object, she is called times beyond reckoning in the Epic also. The Rājput's wergild is land or a daughter to wife (Tod, *Rajasthan*, i, 194).

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³ Cp. the already named passages, Richter, v, 30; Manu, vii, 96; as also Tod, *Rajasthan*, i, 74: "I possess numerous inscriptions (on stone and brass), which record as the first token of victory the captive wives of the foeman."

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“Let the king who is sore pressed by the foe yield up his harem. For why should he have pity for the possessions of his foe?” The wives of him that is conquered fall as a matter of course to the conqueror. Treasures and maidens the famous hero Arjuna brings home with him from his victorious campaign (iii, 80.27). King Virāṭa speaks: “I give well-decked maids, and various possessions, and what the heart yearns after in the fight” (iv, 34.5). Beautiful women as gifts to some man are found time and again in the Epic. Truly we have here in most cases probably slave-girls, as indeed is often expressly stated. But it is always remarkable that withal the bestowal of bondmen as human wares is relatively seldom to be found. There was, indeed, no so precious a thing, with which to bring honour and joy to a man, as enchanting maidens in the bloom of youth; and the men of the priestly caste above all, even the penitents and holy men, know how to value such treasures, and weary not in proclaiming the meritoriousness of this kind of open-handedness. Karṇa shouts out in the battle that to him who shows him Arjuna he will give a hundred cows that will constantly yield a brass pail of milk, a hundred fine villages, as also a chariot harnessed with white, black-maned, she-mules; and if he be not satisfied therewith, then he will give him a golden chariot with six elephants, and also a hundred decked, dark women with a golden breast-ornament round the neck, and skilled in song and the playing of musical instruments (viii, 38.4 ff.). When Drupada marries his daughter to the Pāṇḍavas, he makes over to them along with other wedding-gifts a hundred slave-girls in the first bloom of youth, and dight in handsome clothes, ornaments, and wreaths (i, 198.16); and so, too, Kṛṣṇa sends them on this occasion fair-decked waiting-maids from various places, who have the gifts of beauty, youth, and skill. At the wedding of Abhimanyu to Uttarā, Kṛṣṇa also bestows on the Pāṇḍavas women, jewels, clothing, etc. (iv, 72.26), and on Arjuna, as already mentioned, at his wedding with Subhadrā, a thousand girls to be made use of at drinking and bathing festivals (i, 221.49-50). Dhṛtarāṣṭra wishes to give Kṛṣṇa a hundred lovely slave-girls that have not yet borne children (v, 86.8). As messenger’s fee, Bharata,

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among other things, gives Hanumant, who brings him the news of Rāma’s home-coming, sixteen well conducted, ear-ring-decked girls to wife, golden-hued women with lovely noses and thighs, with moon-sweet faces, favoured with every kind of ornament, and with birth from noble families (Rām., vi, 125.43 ff.). Also beautiful women or girls are brought as tribute to the rulers ; so to Yudhishṭhira a hundred thousand slave-girls wearing cotton garb, dark, slender, long-haired, decked with gold (ii, 51.8, 9 ; cp. 52.11, 29) ; at his horse-sacrifice, among the treasures brought him by the other rulers are women, too (xiv, 85.18) ; and on his side he treats the rulers with the like delicate attention (89.32). So, too, on other sacrificial occasions they always make up a part of the more or less rich flood of treasures poured out by the holder of the sacrifice. Yudhishṭhira at his kingly sacrifice bestowed hundreds of thousands of young beauties (ii, 33.52), and Çaçabindu a huge number at his horse-sacrifice (vii, 65.6)—on the priests and Brahmans, of course. Lovely women are always being mentioned as the dakshiṇā, or sacrificial fee. King Bhagīratha so gives thousands and thousands of gold-decked maidens, each standing on a chariot drawn by four horses (xii, 29.65 f. = vii, 60.1, 2). Cp. xii, 29.32, 133; vii, 57.5-7; etc.

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Thus, too, lovely maidens, splendid women, and slave-girls are particularly advised as gifts to the Brahmans at the çrāddha or festivals of the dead, and are bestowed even by the hundred thousand (xv, 14.4 ; 39.20 ; xvii, 1.14 ; xviii, 6.12-13). It is, however, to the Brahmans that such sweet things must in general be dealt out most plentifully, and the king that does not do so is an accursed ruler (rājakali, xii, 12.30 f.). King Sagara makes over to the Brahmans a palace all of gold, filled with lotus-eyed women and with beds (xii, 29.133). King Vainya gives a thousand lovely slave-girls to Atri, who has sung his praises (iii, 185.34). So the holy Cyavana lets women be bestowed on him (xiii, 63.39 ff.). They are the natural gift for Brahmans (iii, 315.2, 6). Cp. iii, 233.43 ; iv, 18.21 ; xiii, 102.11 ; 103.10-12 ; etc. Even a young widow is made over to the pious Çabara ; he keeps her as his wife (xii, 168.33 ; 171.5 ; 173.16 ff.). A penance is given in xiii, 136.6-7, for when a Brahman has let a woman be bestowed on himself: he is to murmur a prayer, and hold bare iron in his hand.¹ Judging by the context, however, a woman is meant whom he has received from a bestower who is unclean for him. Whoever shows his piety through open-handedness of this kind is naturally magnificently rewarded with lavish joys in heaven (with Apsarases, etc.). So e.g. xiii, 145.2 ff. And the man must make the woman helpful in every way to his own profit *here on earth*.

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Where he himself is concerned, let him without hesitation sacrifice daughter and wife, like everything else; this is often advised in the Mahābh., too, a teaching with which on the other hand, we find, of course, associated its opposite, often and powerfully glorified in maxim and tale. From the accounts we have had set before us we have seen over and over again how a princess is put by her father into the arms of any Brahman that comes, though, it is true, he is very holy, because the father is afraid of the Brahman’s curse, and so on. This must have seemed the more natural in the case of Sukanyā: The Brahman Cyavana, mortifying himself strictly, kept in one place like a tree-stump. The ants built a hill around him, and completely covered him. Then Sukanyā, the only daughter of King Çaryāti, came that way; together with her girl-friends she went wandering this way and that in play. With wanton hand she broke off the boughs from the trees, laden with glorious flowers. She went off from her play-fellows, and came to the spot where the holy man was doing penance. When he saw the wonderfully fair, magnificently decked young girl, he was filled with joy, and spoke unto her. But she did not hear his weakened voice, and saw in the ant-hill only his glowing eyes, which looked like two fire-flies. Full of curiosity, she thrust a thorn into these things she could not understand.

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The already very hot-tempered chastener of his senses took his revenge by bringing a stoppage of urine and of the bowels on the king’s army. In vain the ruler tried in his need to find out who had injured the old penitent; it was on him he threw the responsibility for the mysterious disaster. When the good daughter saw her father thus troubled, she told him of what had befallen her. At once Çaryāti hastened to the

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¹ This is well known to be very efficacious against all kinds of evil.

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ant-hill; but Cyavana inveighed against the maiden, who, he said, was blinded by his beauty, and finally let it be understood that he would only grant forgiveness, if he was given her as his wife. The king at once gave her to him, and the king’s daughter, once so full of youthful high spirits, clad in wretched garb served the old and ugly Yogi as a loving, obedient, ungrudging wife, and quickly won his utmost content (iii, 122).

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It is, first of all, highly meritorious to give of one’s free will one’s own daughter, above all if it is a question of honouring or gladdening a Brahman, a penitent, or a holy man. It has been already seen in the discussion of the different kinds of marriage that under the “Brahmanic” form of marriage the father gives the daughter for nothing; and this method has been put at the head and distinguished with its name by the priesthood, of course not on moral, but on very selfish grounds. The quite gratuitous marriage of a princess with a Brahman, a holy man, or a penitent is found, too, in many of the tales in the Epic; and in the Brahmanic view a very great honour is done to a ruler when the pious man accepts such a gift. That the proud nobility, however, in reality often even looked down with contempt on the begging pack of Brahmans, is put on record by the Mahābh. in various places, as already indicated; and we are told of King Duryodhana: “The prince would not give his daughter to the Brahman, for he said: ‘He is poor, and is not equal to me in caste’” (asavarṇa, xiii, 2.22). It is no wonder that a whole set of pious kings of the fabled earliest times have their praises trumpeted as having thought otherwise and given their daughters to the Brahmans, and as a reward gone into the worlds of the blest together with all their kinsfolk. So xii, 234; xiii, 137.¹ Such a shining contrast to rulers of Duryodhana’s kind is the pious King Yayāti, who at once assigns his daughter Mādhavī to the Brahman Gālava, so that the Brahman, like a kind of better master of hetæræ, can even hand her over to one ruler after another, and so through her acquire his wonderful steeds (v, 106.19 ff.).

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¹ Such pattern kings also give sons to the members of the priestly caste. But there is less demand for them.

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Just as high, nay, still higher, stands the giving up of the wife. Thus King Mitrasaha gives his beloved wife to the Rishi Vasistha, and thus comes together with her into heaven (xii, 234.32; xiii, 137.18); on Yuvanāçva Vṛishādarbhi bestows, besides “his beloved wives”, all his jewels, and a most delightful dwelling, and is then, of course, rewarded in the same way (xii, 234.25).¹

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¹ Cp. Oman, *The Great Indian Epics*, p. 205 (a later Rajah gives a Brahman one of his own wives).

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Women for the temporary use of the guest, or as a definitive gift to him, have been already alluded to (allusion to Kṛishṇa in v, 85.13, 14; 86.8). Yudhishṭhira keeps hundreds of thousands of young girls (dāsī), wearing shell bracelets and most splendid ornaments, sprinkled with sandal, skilled in the sixty-four arts, and in dancing and singing songs, that they may hospitably wait on the Brahmans (snātaka), ministers, and kings, and he then stakes this valuable property at the game (ii, 61.8 ff.). To give fitting pleasure to the newcomer, even with a man’s own daughter or wife, is, as is well known, a thing that is demanded by good manners, and therefore by morality, in very many places in the world.² But beyond any doubt this “virtue” has nowhere found a greater glorification than in the Mahābh. For here we find the following tale of the man that overcame death (xiii, 2.34 ff.). Agni who as a Brahman sought the hand of Sudarçanā, the king’s daughter, and was given her after some difficulties, had by her a splendid son, Sudarçana, who in very childhood “took for his own the whole of the most high and everlasting word of God”. Now there was a prince, by name Oghavant, the grandfather of Nṛiga. He had a girl Oghavatī and a son Ogharatha. This daughter Oghavatī, her with the godlike stature, Oghavant gave of his own will to this wise Sudarçana to wife. In union with this Oghavatī Sudarçana dwelt in Kurukshetra, devoting himself gladly to a life as father of the house.

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‘As father of the house I will overcome Death,’¹ this vow was undertaken by him so rich in insight, him that blazed with flames. To Oghavatī spoke the son of fire : ‘Unto a guest thou must nowise do anything that might displease him. Whatever it be whereby a guest would be gladdened, be it even the giving of thyself—thou must never harbour hesitation or scruple. This pious rule (vrata) is ever astir in my heart. For him that dwells in the house, O thou of the lovely hips, there is nothing higher than the guest. If my word is to thee as a guiding thread, thou of the lovely thighs, thou shining one, then do thou keep this speech of mine ever fast in thine heart with mind firm-set. Whether I happen to have gone away, or to be here, O sweet one, O blameless one, thou must not disregard the guest, if I have to decide for thee.’ To him spoke Oghavatī, her hands folded humbly on her forehead : ‘For me there is nought that I would not do without question at thy bidding.’ But since Death now wished to overcome Sudarçana in his house, he, ever following, went after him into it, and sought a bare spot on him.

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When the son of fire had now gone out to fetch firewood, there spoke as a guest to Oghavatī a glorious Brahman : ‘I would have thee, O thou of the lovely face, show me hospitality to-day, if indeed the law laid down for the estate of father of the house is unto thee a guiding rule.’ Thus addressed by the Brahman, the glorious daughter of the king welcomed him according to the precept made known in the Veda. When Oghavatī had given him a seat and water for the feet, she spoke to the Brahman : ‘What is thy business? What shall I give thee?’ To the lovely daughter of the king then spoke the Brahman : ‘It is with thee I have business, O lovely one. Do thou carry it out without hesitation or thought. If unto thee the law laid down for the estate of father of the house is a rule of conduct, then show me an act of love, O princess, by giving thyself to me.’ The royal maiden offered him anything else he might wish, but the Brahman wanted nothing of her but that she should give herself. The princess, however, bethought herself from the very first of the words of her husband, and filled with shame said ‘Yes’ to the Brahman bull. Then laughed the Brahman Rishi, and he and she sat themselves down,¹ she remembering her husband’s bidding, who as he strove was ever mindful of his headship of the household. Then the son of fire came there with the firewood, on whom followed always, as on a kinsman, Death in dreadful shape.

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When he begotten by the fire god had come into the hermitage he called out repeatedly to Oghavatī: ‘Whither art thou gone?’ But she made no answer, because she had been touched by the Brahman with his hands, and was a faithful wife. She thought to herself: ‘I am only what another man has left over,’ and was ashamed before her husband; the good woman kept silent, and spoke no word in answer. Then spoke Sudarçana again to her²: ‘Where is the good one? Where has she gone? What is there dearer to me than she? Why does she not come to meet me smiling to-day as before, the faithful wife, the truthful one, ever joyfully given to perfect honesty?’ But the Brahman in the hut made answer to Sudarçana: ‘Know, O son of fire, that I am come as a guest, and am a Brahman. This wife of thine, O best one, offered me every kind of honour for guests, but I wished for her for myself. In this wise did the lovely-faced one come to me. Whatever else is fitting here, do thou do it.’ But Death followed him, with an iron pick in his hand, and thought: ‘If he is untrue now to his pledge, I shall slay him.’ But Sudarçana, who in thought, deed, eye, and speech had put aside jealousy, had put aside anger, smilingly spoke these words:

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² See e.g. McLennan, *Primit. Marriage*, p. 96, n.; Grosse, *Die Formen d. Familie*, p. 112; Müller-Lyer, *Phasen d. Liebe* (1913), pp. 2 ff.; Westermarck, *Human Marriage*³, pp. 72–75; Hertz, *Gift-mädchen*, 120–21; Finck, *Prim. Love*, 78, 429, 478, 638 f. and elsewhere; Hartland, *Prim. Patern.*, ch. vii; Ploss-Bartels⁴, i, p. 402, 430; Dargun, *Mutterrecht u. Raubehe*, 43; Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, *Die Frauen d. Orients*, 234; Weinhold, *Die deutschen Frauen*, etc., ii, 199 f.; Feist, *Kultur, Herkunft u. Ausbreitung d. Indogermanen*, 283 f.; Christian Schulz, *Aus Hagenbecks Jagdgründen* (Dresden, 1922), p. 110 f.; Günther, *Weib u. Sittlichkeit*, 29; Schmidt, *Liebe u. Ehe*, p. 543 f. In India, to do honour to the guest, the daughter is also given as wife. Wilson’s *Vishnupur.*, iv, p. 79, etc.

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¹ This is otherwise done through knowledge, through asceticism, or through holy living.

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¹ According to B. : they went in, into the house. K. has upaviveça (instead of atha viveça). The expression also means “to have connection”, but evidently not here.

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² Tām provāca. Probably not: “about her.” Taken figuratively, the usual “to her”, it is true, could be used here, too.

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‘Luck to thee in the pleasures of love,¹ O first among Brahmans! For to me this now is the greatest joy. The first law of the father of the house is, indeed, to honour the guest that is come. The wise say there is no higher law and merit than this, that the guest go his way having been honourably entertained by him that dwells in the house.² I, indeed, have taken this vow: My life and my wife, and whatever else I have I must give my guests. And that this word which I have spoken will brook no doubt—in witness to this truth, O Brahman, I touch my own body. The earth, the wind, the ether, water, fire as fifth, the mind (buddhi), the soul (ātman), the heart (manas), time (kāla), and space (diças)—these ten constituents, indeed, dwelling in the bodies of those that carry bodies, are ever beholding the good and the evil deed, O best among those faithful to the law. So true as the words are true which I have now spoken, so truly shall the gods shield me or burn me.’³ Thereupon there was heard again and again from every direction a loud sound in all the quarters of the world: ‘That is true,’ and ‘That is not a lie’. But thereupon that Brahman came out of the hut, filling heaven and earth with his form, as though the wind had arisen.⁴ Making the three worlds to ring with the tone of recitation true to art, he spoke unto this man that knew virtue, addressing him first by name: ‘I am the god of righteousness and virtue, come here, if so I may say, to put thee, O guiltless one, to the test; and having come to know thy uprightness, I feel towards thee the highest glad approval. Thou hast overcome Death, who goes in after thee here; he was ever looking for a weak spot in thee, and now has been beaten by thee through thy staunchness. And none in the three worlds, O best of men, has the power to look on this faithful woman, thy good wife. Whatever this woman that none can stain, sheltered through thy virtues and her virtues as a faithful wife, may say, so it is, and not otherwise.’” Then he further praises the moral greatness of the two, and says that Oghavatī, who has rid herself of all failings and vices through her obedience to her husband, and wields yoga, shall with one half be left to Sudarçana, but with the other half she shall become the river of her name that wipes away sin. Together with her he shall come into the worlds of bliss, from which none ever come back again into the Saṃsāra. The conclusion is made up of a fresh song of praise for hospitality, as being better than a hundred sacrifices; and assurance is given that a man shall come unto holy and blessed worlds, if he relate this “tale—bringing fame, long life, and all happiness—of the man who as father of a house overcame Death”.¹

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¹ That is, suratam used like susnātam, etc. Or according to the usual meaning: Let the pleasures of love be thine, that is, set about them!

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² If a guest goes away disappointed or unsatisfied, he leaves his evil deed behind him there, and takes with him instead the good works of the master of the house. This is the teaching of the MBh., and e.g. Viṣṇupur., vol. iii, 94, 123; Mārk.-Pur., xxix, 31, 32; Çivapurāṇa, xlii, 23; Viṣṇusmṛti, lxvii, 33, and Jolly’s note thereon in SBE, vii, p. 215. Cp. Manu, iii, 100, and especially my Altind. Rechts-schriften, p. 334 f.

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³ Of course, according to these words are true or not true.

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⁴ Or: set itself up (udyata). The wind does indeed fill the whole world.

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¹ The tale belongs to the great cycle, well represented especially in the MBh., of the temptation of the good man, which I hope to treat separately some time. One or two knights of the same kind as this overcomer of Death may here be mentioned. In Yule’s *Marco Polo* ³, vol. I, p. 210, we find it said of the dwellers in Kambul in China: “If a foreigner comes to the house of one of these people to lodge, the host is delighted, and desires his wife to put herself entirely at the guest’s disposal, whilst he himself gets out of the way, and comes back no more until the stranger shall have taken his departure.” And the Venetian reports of the province of Caindu: “When they fall in with any stranger in want of a lodging they are all eager to take him in. And as soon as he has taken up his quarters the master of the house goes forth, telling him to consider everything at his disposal, and after saying so he proceeds to his vineyards or his fields, and comes back no more till the stranger has departed.” The guest then has his pleasure of the women in the house that please him, and hangs his hat, or some other mark, on the door, that the master may know how long to stay away (ii, 54). Both peoples saw in this custom, handed down from of old, the necessary condition for the gods being well-disposed to them. On the other hand the purest good-fellowship is what seems to inspire the Namaqua Hottentots: “If a husband has been out hunting and on his return finds his place occupied, he sits down at the

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The splendid, bold flight of the unbending, pitilessly logical zeal of the dreamer for some one virtue or for virtue in general, the intoxicated ethical enthusiasm that so often carries the Hindu irresistibly away, is also brought out strongly by this legend. And needful, dreadfully needful, it is evident, was an incitement like this to the not at all so very hospitable Old Indian people.¹ This tendentious sermon, of course, does not refer to real conditions; it did not occur to the Old Indian actually to practise this kind of “piety”. And as the Brahman who here appears as guest is any guest in the fullest meaning,² what we have, at any rate in the first place, is a show feat of priestly pride. It was quite in the same way that the often very bold, and bodily and morally louse-ridden travelling community of little poets and singers, the band of the unhoused, used to sing the praises in the Middle Ages of that incomparable “warm charity”, so pleasing to God, that they so ardently yearned for from kind-hearted ladies (cp. Hagen’s *Gesamt-abenteuer*, ii, 248 ff.; Meyer, *Isoldes Gottesurteil*, 42-45, and the notes there; *Altind. Rechtsschr.*, 340; 398 f.). To be taken somewhat more in earnest is what Sanatsujāta says about the six marks of true friendship (v, 45.12 ff.). Among these is the giving to a friend of son and wife.³ A pattern friend of this door of his hut, and the paramour handing him out a bit of tobacco, the injured man contentedly smokes it till the other chooses to retire” (Hartland, ii, 212 after Sir James Edward Alexander, *An Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa*, 1838, vol. i, 196). He thinks, indeed, as does that Bushman: “What are women otherwise for?” (Alexander, ii, 21).

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¹ Cp. my transl. of the Kuṭṭanīmatam, v, 217 ff. (p. 32 ff.).

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² So e.g. in MBh., iii, 200.61; xiii, 35.1. We find it expressly stated in Āpastamba, ii, 3, 6.3-6; Vasiṣṭha, xi, 13, that guest and Brahman are one and the same thing, as, too, in several other places. See my *Altind. Rechtsschriften*, pp. 334, 337.

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³ As is well known, a custom also, like the lending and exchanging of a wife, in olden and later times in the most differing places in the world. The most famous case is Cato, who gave up his Marcella to his friend Hortensius; and according to Strabo this was here also in accordance with good and old tradition (Lippert, *Kulturgesch.*, ii, 18). But in India it is often declared that the wife must not be given to any man (e.g. Bṛhaspati, xv, 2).

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kind would be Kṛṣṇa, who is ready to give even his wives and sons to his dear friend Arjuna (x, 12.28 ; cp. v, 65.9). Karṇa even wants to bestow his sons and wives on him that shall show him in the battle where Arjuna is to be found (viii, 38.20). It is true that he may not have been left untouched by the customs of his kingdom ; anyhow, it was said of Angaland that in it the sale of one's own wife and own children, together with the exposure of the sick, was a native custom, and, indeed, this is brought before us as a heavy shame (viii, 45.40. Cp. i, 104.40 ?).

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But property is what the woman is ; he that takes away from another his married darling takes away his property (vasu) ; he is freed from this sin if for a year he undertakes the mortification appointed for Brahman-murder (xii, 35.25 ; cp. 35.24). The owner can naturally do what he likes with his own, and this principle is, indeed, still applied to the woman also, in all its meaning, among many peoples and tribes. It is found juridically in the India of the Epic also. But nobler views on woman, a high position for the woman in esteem and her activities, which was really to be found, in the upper classes of the population at least, and a finer, purer ethic were alive. Here the already discussed Dyūtaparvan is instructive. Yudhishṭhira in the dice-game, having lost all his other possessions, first stakes his brothers, with an unwilling regret, it is true, beginning with the youngest, then himself, and finally, on his opponent's challenge, his wife—and her with the utmost, most matter of fact cold-bloodedness in the world ; indeed, he goes on in a long speech to praise her charms and gifts, as a slave-dealer might praise the beauty and accomplishments of his stock of women. The assembly of men has up to now calmly looked on ; there is no sound or gesture of disapproval. But so soon as the " wretched excrescence " Yudhishṭhira thus yields up Draupadī, it is: "Shame, shame ! "; the voices of the old men were raised from the hall (sabhya). The gathering in the hall was deeply moved ; sorrow and pain came over the princes ; the sweat broke forth from Bhīshma, Droṇa, Kṛpa, and the others. Vidura held his head in his hands, and was as one forsaken by life ; with bowed face he sat there in anxious, gloomy thoughts, and breathed heavily.

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like a snake. But Dhṛtarāṣṭra kept on asking in joyful excitement : " 'How? Won? How? Won?' and gave no heed to his mien. Karṇa with Duḥśāsana and his other (brothers) rejoiced immoderately. But from the eyes of the other men in the hall the water gushed" (ii, 65.40 ff.). When Draupadī is then actually played away, and Duryodhana wishes to treat her as a slave, Vidura prophesies its fall to the Kuru race. Then follow the events in the hall so insulting to Draupadī, and she never raises any question as to her having fallen according to law and custom to the winner in the game, if only it is certain that Yudhiṣṭhira before putting her to the hazard of fortune has not lost his own freedom, and with it every right of property. She makes appeal to the noble and dignified lords, and begs them to decide whether she is really a slave or not. And now the thoughts of those present struggle and wrestle with this complicated question of law, seeking a solution. Where a good heart speaks, as in Bhīma, there is room but for one thing: a holy wrath at such a crime; and even one of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Vikarṇa, presses his hands together in anger, pain, and despair, because the assembly, mainly out of fear of Duryodhana, sits there dumb, while according to Vikarṇa's loudly uttered consciousness of the law Yudhiṣṭhira was absolutely without the power to gamble away the noble princess, since from the first he had only a part-ownership in her, and then as bondman had lost all rights in her.

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A storm of applause follows his words. But then the scales again turn in Duryodhana's favour; all the good ones utter loud cries of blame that the Kauravas would not settle Draupadī's case. But in the hall they are swayed this way and that, for and against the poor proud woman. Duryodhana then leaves the decision with the five brothers, especially Yudhiṣṭhira; this way out of it is hailed by many with loud shouts of applause, and much waving of shawls, while others utter loud cries of pain. They all look intently at the brothers, especially the eldest one. The latter wraps himself in his silent wretchedness, Bhīma gives vent to his rage, the worthless Arjuna, who is also here, needless to say, dreadfully correct,¹ thinks : “The king was a free master when he staked us. But what he was master of, when he had gambled himself away, this is the question that the Kurus here must decide together.” Then the evil-boding signs resound, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra lets mildness have the upper hand. The difficulty around which everything turns in the long discussion is only this : Was Yudhishthira still lord of anything (īça) when he offered Draupadī? We know he was not so. But for the knowledge of law in those days the question was a knotty one.

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For Bhīshma, the truly noble teacher of law in the Mahābh., acknowledges the matter to be too subtle for him : Yudhishthira, indeed, has already become a slave, he says, and thus without any possessions whatever, but on the other hand the wife stands always under the husband’s sway. But what the bungling interpreter of the law has to leave doubtful, holds no darkness for the eye of the unspoiled mind, nor for the noble heart. “A dice-game (atidyūta, ii, 71.17) carried beyond the bounds of what is right was played here, since ye are disputing about a woman in the gaming-hall ; happiness and well-being will be utterly destroyed for you, O Kurus, for ye are plotting evil deeds ”—shouts Vidura, and this is the feeling not only of the honourable Bhīma, but of almost all those there, as also of the people and the women. According to Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s own account the Brahmans also were “angered when Draupadī was dragged about ” (ii, 81.22 ; see the whole matter in ii, 65 ff.). Now as the woman is herself property, she, of course, in principle cannot own anything. What she acquires belongs to her owner (her father or her husband).¹ The wife is here the same as the slave and the child (i, 82.22 ; ii, 71.1 ; v, 33.64). But that the woman could own private property bestowed on her or inherited, this we have already seen.

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¹ The only word for him, we think, would be that flabby, weak expression so dear to the mollusc-like mind: "faultless."

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¹ On the other hand, according to Mahānirvāṇatantra, xii, 25, 111, as already mentioned, what a woman acquires herself is her property.

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In the same way the standpoint of ownership was taken, where the wife offended in the case of the wife’s adultery. The law literature deals but little with this ; is it, indeed, not a public matter, but one above all for the husband’s decision. But in this also his powers are limited partly through prescriptions of the law, partly through the prevailing moral attitude.

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as we have already often seen in the Epic. What is common to the whole of Indian literature is the casting off of the wife as a punishment for unfaithfulness. This punishment inflicted by the husband does not put any stain on him, and on the other hand cleanses the wife (xii, 34.30). Nīlakaṇṭha says on this point, in agreement with the law writings, that the punishment and atonement lies in the sinning woman being upbraided, having only food and clothing, not being allowed near him by her husband, and being debarred from sexual intercourse.¹ walks abroad as one unclean, the house she goes into is defiled, and the Brahman may take no food from her (Parāçara, x, 32-34; Āpast., i, 7, 19.16). As we have already been told, in losing her virtue she has also lost her womanhood and rights as a woman : if anyone kills her, he is practically left unpunished. But besides this there are, it is true, milder views enough. According to an old verse quoted by Manu, viii, 317, and Vasisṭha, xix, 44, the adulteress is not guilty in any way, but the guilt falls on her lord and master, who should have made the mistake impossible. The same view, it would seem, is found also among the Maori; for among them the kinsfolk of a woman take a bitter revenge on the husband for a sexual offence on her part. Hartland, i, 279; cp. ii, 33. And among the Baganda he has to pay them a heavy fine, for he should have looked after her. Her offence becomes known through her dying in child-bed. Hartland, i, 276 (cp. here e.g. also *Zeitschr. f. Ethnol.*, v, p. 262). And in other cases too the general rule with mankind, which spares, and often even exalts, the man sinner in things of sex, but crushes the woman, is often reversed. See e.g. *Anthropos*, iv, 315; Hartland, ii, 220; Wright, *Hist. of Nepal*, p. 33 (among the Mewār in Nepal). The forbearance with which the adulterous wife is treated might be called something quite without example when set against the often very great severity shown towards the man sinner, such as we find in the Old Indian literature, in the Purāṇas and elsewhere. Of this we have already often been told (pp. 206; 220; 227; 249 f.; 312; etc.). Here we will only give some further matter in short form from MBh., K, xiii, 58 f. and Agni-pur., 165.6 f., 19 ff. Since the woman is not sullied by any sexual intercourse, or, anyhow, the uncleanness is always carried away by her monthly flow, the husband must not cast off the unfaithful wife. The woman's vulva is there for the member of all. But on the husband falls a very heavy guilt. Only when the wife becomes pregnant by a man of lower caste may the husband, according to MBh., K, cast her off, while the Agnipur. even then lays down : he shall wait till the "thorn" or "sorrow-bringing foreign body" (çalya) has come out of her through birth, and she has menstruated again; then she is "clean" again for him. Between the ṛitu times (tirthāntare) her vulva is quite free to all, says MBh., K, repeatedly (cp. p. 121 in the present work). See also Meyer, *Altind. Rechtsschr.*, 22 f.; 73; 141; 167; 342.

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¹ “Public punishments for adulteresses are only spoken of in general for particularly glaring cases; they are then to suffer a more severe death penalty (M., 8, 371; Vi., 5, 18; etc.); in ordinary cases it was only the jurisdiction of the injured husband or his family that came into action.” Jolly, Recht u. Sitte, p. 128. Yājñav., i, 70, 72, ordains: Let him (the husband) leave the unfaithful wife to dwell robbed of her dignity, dirty, living only on a mouthful, despised, and sleeping on the ground; but if she has got with child by the stranger, then it is laid down she shall be cast off. Manu, xi, 177 f., is not so severe. In Nārada (xii, 91-92) we find: Where she is unfaithful to her husband, there is, for the woman, shaving the head, sleeping on the bare ground, bad food, and bad clothing (or: bad housing, kuvāsas), and for work the removal of garbage and rubbish. Vasisṭha ordains: If the woman has really committed adultery she shall for one year wear a garment smeared with melted butter, and sleep on a mat of (holy) kuça-grass, or in a pit with (purifying) cows’ dung. At the end of the year the husband shall make a sacrifice in fire, reciting 108 times the Gāyātrī, and the formula: “Water is light, water is the deathless,” and she at the same time shall bathe in water. Then she is cleansed once more. But she must be cast off, if she gives herself to the Guru, or to her husband’s disciple, or to a man of lower caste; and if she at the time of her ṛitu has carnal intercourse with another man, then she loses all religious and social rights (xxi, 8-10). According to Baudh., ii, 2, 3.48, the adulteress must do kṛicchra. And so on. But if the faithless wife has atoned for her sin, then she must be treated just as before her misdeed. Āpast., ii, 10, 27.1. A stirring picture of the delights and the woes of adultery is given in Kuṭṭanīm., strophes 789-838. Here the casting out from the family, the censure by people, danger to life, the journey to hell, and other pains are given as the lot of the wife forgetful of virtue. The cutting off of the nose, riding an ass, and so on is well enough known out of Indian literature. The adulteress

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Among the old Germans also the wife was the man's property. According to Tacitus, *Germania* 19, the punishment of the adulteress was left in the hands of the husband and the clan. As is well-known, it was very severe. This standpoint made itself still so strongly felt in later times that, according to Gregory of Tours, a man named Eulalius, who complained to King Gunthram that his wife had left

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We must, indeed, hold xii, 35.30 to be very mild : “ To wives, however, on whom the suspicion lies that they are bad the man of understanding shall not go. They are cleansed by the monthly flow like a vessel by ashes.” Like the whole literature in many passages, so the Epic throughout shows a kindly and tender, or a cynical and cheerful forbearance towards women’s mistakes ¹; indeed, we have already seen several cases of this. But this does not spring from any contempt of woman’s chastity, praised, too, as it is in the highest terms by the Epic. For it is of infinite value for the continuance of the

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¹ The cynical, it is true, preponderates : women cannot help it, “ every woman is at heart a rake,” as Pope holds; so that we must be indulgent (Jāt., 120, 220, 224). They are like the well, the bathing-place, the street—all have access to her (Jāt., No. 195; Divyāvad., p. 257, lines 12–20; Rājatar., iii, 514, and the whole tale from 496 on). So that we must not on account of them think of losing a man who is clever, or useful or dear to us, and has broken through our fence; beautiful women can easily be replaced by others, but a wise man, a good counsellor, a friend is seldom to be found (Jāt., No. 224; Cukasapt., text. simpl., No. 57). Cp. MBh., xii, 168.22. King Pradyota sees from clear evidence that women cannot be kept from going wrong, and he therefore gives his whole harem leave to go roving about by night for adventures until a drum is beaten, then they must all come back to the palace (Lacôte, *Gunādhya et la Brihatkathā*, Paris, 1908, p. 242 ff.).

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him and was living with another man was only laughed at. Rullkoetter, *Legal Protection*, p. 77.

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As among the old Germans (*Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer*, ed. Heusler and Hübner, Bd. i, p. 563), among the old Israelites (*Ztschr. d. Ver. f. Volksk.*, Bd., ii, p. 249), and among other peoples, the woman in Old India is a chattel, or anyhow a ward, in this also, that she cannot bear witness, and this because of her lack of truthfulness (*Nārada*, i, 190 f.; cp. Krauss, *Sitte u. Brauch d. Südslawen*, 514), or because of the unsteadiness of her mind (*Manu*, viii, 77). Still, this is true only as a general principle, and here a responsible personality is not denied to her so much as it is elsewhere. The Old Indian law, reminding us of the English jury : he that is equal in rank shall be witness for his equal, is applied also to her : Where women are concerned (strīshu), women may and shall appear before the court as witnesses. *Manu*, viii, 68; Vasishtha, xvi, 30. But does she who is on trial fare very well thus? Cp. Daçakum., p. 59, note 2.

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world, that is, the keeping up of the castes (vi, 25.41).¹ Then morality in general is above all in the hands of the gentler sex : “ Most important of all is the way of life womenfolk ; what way the woman takes, that is the way always which prevails in mankind ” (xiii, 146.10).² Food from a woman that runs after men the twice-born man must not eat ; for it is mūtra (urine, xiii, 135.14).³ But Utathya is fully contented merely with having back again his wife that has been carried off and so long enjoyed by Varuṇa ; so likewise Gautama takes to himself again Ahalyā who has been defiled by Indra, though indeed only after a long penance. In the old legends and tales, however, the husband who has been really, or to outward seeming, injured by his wife’s unfaithfulness often orders her without more ado to be killed. So Paraçurāma’s father, and at first Cirakārin’s. When Svāhā burning with love has taken on the shapes of the wives of the first six out of the seven Ṛishis and has thus received Agni’s embraces, the six seeming cuckolds cast off their wives, but afterwards learn that the poor wretches are only victims of a clever trick, and are quite innocent ; yet they do not take them back again (iii, 226.8 ff. But cp. 230.1 ff.). The explanation of their action is given by Nīlakaṇṭha in a very characteristic way : “ Through fear of the talk of people like Rāma ” (for çl. 17).

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¹ Cp. Manu, viii, 353.

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² Strijanasya gatiḥ parā. Gaur yām gacchati, sucroṇi, lokeshv eshā gatiḥ sadā. The dictionaries do not give this meaning for go, but refer to “ mother ” given by Indian lexicographers. The meaning in that case would come to the same thing exactly. Nil. has another meaning for the passage. With this thought compare : “ Les hommes font les lois, les femmes font les mœurs.” Comte de Ségur in Les Femmes, leur condition, etc.

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³ According to xii, 36.28 the harlot’s food robs him who receives it of his manly powers, just as does that of the henpecked husband, and that of the wretched man who tolerates his wife’s lover. But it is well known that even the truly good and holy men of India gave little heed to this the dearest treasure of man, for Buddha and others gladly accepted charitable gifts from hetæræ. Cp. Manu, iv, 211 ; Yājñ., i, 215 ; Āpastamba, i, 6, 19.15; etc. While it is also impressed on the Snātaka, that is on the Brahman before all, that food from a king takes away his strength (tejas) (Manu, iv, 218)!

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When this hero has overcome and slain Rāvaṇa, and dedicated Vibhīṣaṇa in Laṅkā as king, the Rākṣhasa minister Avindhya brings Sītā to him, who with weeping eyes, pining, in black, filthy garb, her hair plaited in the fashion of mourners,¹ gazes on him. But he speaks and says : “Go, princess of Videha, I have restored² thee ; that which was to be done I have done. I have slain that spirit of the night, for I thought : ‘After having won me for a husband, thou shalt not enter into old age in the house of the Rākṣhasas. How could ever one like me, one that knows the decision of things of law, keep even for a moment a woman that had fallen into the hands of another ? Be thy way of life pure or not, I cannot have thee any more for the joys of love, since thou art like unto a sacrificial offering polluted by a dog.’ Then did the young woman, the queen, when she heard these awful words, reeling in anguish, fall suddenly to the ground, like a banana-tree that is hewn down. And the redness brought to her countenance by joy vanished in an instant again, like breath on a looking-glass. When all the monkeys had now heard these words of Rāma, they stood like Lakṣhmaṇa, too, without stirring, almost robbed of life.” Sītā now takes a solemn oath : “In beings dwells the ever moving wind ; may he take life away from me, if I have done any evil. Let fire, water, ether, earth, and wind take my life, if I have done any evil.

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As truly as I, O hero, have thought of none other even in my sleep, so truly be thou, the one ordained for me by the gods, be thou my husband.” The gods bear loud witness to the innocence of the noble woman (MBh., iii, 291.6 ff.). It is not so unfeeling as in the very compressed account of the Mahābh.³ that Rāma comes before us in the beautiful description in the Rāmāyaṇa (vi, 112.22 to 118). Hanumant speaks to Rāma : “Let the princess of Mithilā be pleased to see the queen that is afire with pain, her that is the cause of these deeds, the fruit that is their reward.” Rāma’s eyes fill with tears, he falls to thinking, sighs deeply, looks on the ground, and then gives orders for her to be brought, and to be brought " with her head bathed ", and in most splendid array. She would but hasten to him at once, as she is, but must obey, and is then carried there in a litter. Anger, joy, and gloom fill Rāma as she approaches. Vibhīṣaṇa has all the people driven back by men in chamberlain's jackets, and with cane staves and drums in their hands. But Rāma upbraids him for thus harassing the folk : " Neither house nor garb, neither wall nor hiding-place, nor such royal honour, but virtue is a woman's covering. In misfortune, in pain and distress, in the fight, at the choosing of a husband, at a sacrifice, and at a wedding—in any of these to look on a (strange) woman is not held to be sinful.

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Sītā is to leave the litter, and come hither on foot." Lakshmaṇa and the monkeys are very disconcerted, and Sītā draws nigh to her husband, almost ready to hide away in her own limbs for shame, and gazing, full of admiration, joy, and love, into Rāma's face. But he says : " The insult is atoned for, I have shown my manhood, and fulfilled my promise, and am now once more my own lord : our undertaking was crowned with success." The eyes of the poor woman open wide, and fill with tears at these remarkable words of welcome. Seeing his heart's beloved thus standing before him, and with his heart in dissension ¹ through fear of what the people say, he goes on : " That which a man has to do to wash away an insult I have done in my yearning after honour, but not for thy sake. But the sight of thee is to me as little pleasing as is a light to one with sick eyes, since thou standest before me with the cast of suspicion as to thy good way of life. Therefore go—I give thee leave—wherever thou wilt. Here are the ten quarters of the heavens, my dear one ; I have nothing more to do with thee. For what man born in a good family and of any worth would take back a wife again out of friendly yearning, a wife that has dwelt in the house of another man ? Rāvaṇa's bosom has hurt and soiled thee, his eyes aflame with sin have gazed on thee ; how could I take thee back again, who can point to high descent ? Turn thy purpose to Lakshmaṇa or Bharata, Ṣatrughna, Sugrīva, or Vibhīṣaṇa, the Rākshasa,

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¹ Jaṭilā.

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² Or : freed (muktā tvam).

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³ But I cannot hold it to be so secondary and unimportant as it has been represented. It often shows a freshness and strength wanting in the Rāmāyaṇa ; and that it flowed from this latter seems to me highly problematic.

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¹ Or : torn (babhūva dvidhā 115.11).

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or to whomever it please thee thyself.¹ For Rāvaṇa, who saw thee in such heavenly beauty and charm, assuredly did not leave thee long alone in his house.” Weeping, she that is thus accused almost sinks into her own limbs for shame, and with noble dignity she remonstrates with him : “What meanest thou by uttering such dreadful and unworthy words to me, like some base man to a base woman? Because of the ways of some women² thou dost doubt the whole sex. That which was in my own power, my heart, dwelt but in thee; but what power had I over my limbs, that were in the power of another? Together with thee I grew up, and together with thee I have lived; if thou hast not thus learned to know me, and put me to the test, then I am lost for ever. But thou followest the way of thine anger, and holdest the fact before thee, just as a man of no account, that I am a woman. To thee it is nothing that in my childhood thou hast pressed my hand (at the wedding), and on my loving devotion and all my good life thou turnest thy back.” Then she begs Lakṣmaṇa to set up the pyre, which for her, for her that is cast off, is the only refuge. Wrathfully Lakṣmaṇa looks on his brother, but he stands there only with downcast eyes, looking like the god of death. With folded hands the glorious one makes oath : “So truly as my heart never forsook Rāma, so truly shall the witness to the world, the fire god, shield me from all. So truly as the child of Raghu deems me, who am pure-living, to be stained,³ so truly shall the witness to the world, the fire god shield me from all.” Then before the eyes of the gods, of men, and of all beings she leaps into the glowing fire, and a loud wail rises all around. She is kept unharmed, and to Rāma, who stands there in gloomy thought and with streaming eyes, the gods come down, enlighten him as to his own real and everlasting nature, and out of the flames rises the god of fire in bodily form, brings him his beaming wife, and solemnly bears witness to her spotless purity, and heroic rejection of the amorous Rākshasa. Rāma says that he had thus to act so that his beloved, whose unwavering faith he had never doubted, might be cleared before the whole world also, and no shame come upon himself.

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