Sexual life in ancient India : a study in the comparative history of Indian culture PDF
Preview Sexual life in ancient India : a study in the comparative history of Indian culture
' ^ SEXUAL LIFE IN ANCIENT INDIA Uniform with this volume SEXUAL LIFE IN ANCIENT GREECE SEXUAL LIFE IN ANCIENT ROME SEXUAL LIFE ANCIENT INDIA IN A STUDY IN THE COMPARATIVE HISTORY OF INDIAN CULTURE by JOHANN JAKOB MEYER New York BARNES & NOBLE, INC 1953 Authorized Translation from the German, containing the emendations and additions of the Author. The extra references of one of the Translators are indicated by square brackets. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON BRADFORD • — EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION IN the preface to the German edition of this book, Pro- fessor Meyer tells us that it is an attempt to give a true and vivid account ofthe life ofwoman in ancient India, based upon the immense masses of material imbedded in the two great Epics, theMahdbhdrata and the Rdmdyana. His method has been to make liberal use of the very words of the Epics. The Mahdbhdrata seems to occupy an unique place in the literature of the world. Parts of it, like the Bhagavad-gitd^ and the story ofNala and DamayantI, have become familiar to educated readers in almo^ every country ofthe we^, but these are only fragments ofan enormous work, consi^ing ofabout a hundred thousand couplets, of which Professor Macdonell says^ : " Its epic kernel, amounting to about one-fifth ofthe whole work, became so much overgrown with didaftic matter that it could hardly be regarded as an epic at all, and has rather taken the place ofa moral encyclopaediain Indian literature." It provides us with moft valuable sources ofinformation about the relations of the sexes, and the concepts underlying those relations, in India fifteen hundred and more years ago. Professor Meyer has used the Bombay edition ofthe Rdmd- yana^ and the second impression ofthe Bombay Mahdbhdrata. All his references which do not specify a particular title are to this version of the Mahdbhdrata. To some extent, he has consulted what he calls the Kumbakonam version " mainly based on the South Indian texts". This he refers to as K. For the present translation. Professor Meyer has completely revised the German work, made various alterations in the text, and considerably enlarged the number of references. ABBREVIATIONS SBE. Sacred Books ofthe Eaft (edited by F. Max Muller). JAOS. Journal ofthe American Oriental Society. JRAS. Journal ofthe RoyalAsiatic Society. ZDMG. Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft. WZKM. Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes. 1 InJia's Past (p. 88). Oxford, 1927.
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