Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c20.55

v2.c20.55

¹ The matter is in doubt. The Rāmāyaṇa often seems to show traces of natural, uncultured conditions—Vālin’s widow falls to the conqueror, the slain man’s brother; Sītā points out that as a widow she would belong to Lakshmaṇa. So that there may be here, too, some remains of an original barbarism: the woman cast off by the ruler may be taken by another man under him; she is always good enough for that. Cp. Meyer, *Isoldes Gottesurteil*, Anmerk., No. 4.