Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c20.37

v2.c20.37

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