200 RELIGIOUS CELIBATES
reputation for holiness which such people have acquired.
But persons of sense are not taken in by their hypocrisy,
and it is fairly notorious that these knaves, in the seclusion of their retreats, give themselves up to the grossest immoralities.
It must not be supposed, however, that I am accusing all unmarried Hindus without exception of leading dissolute
lives. On the contrary, I have been credibly informed by those whose word may be relied on, and who know what
they are talking about, that some few may be found who deny themselves all intercourse with women; but, on the other hand, one is led to believe that they allow themselves other infamous pleasures of such an abominable character that delicacy forbids one to accept the accusation except under strong proof; so I prefer to think that there are a few unmarried Hindus who are able to resist all sensual
pleasures.
And why, after all, should one refuse to believe that
some of these sannyasis or penitents are able to exercise such self-control, however difficult it may be to subdue one ' s passions in a country where the warm climate and the corrupt state of morality continually serve to arouse
them '? Do not these men, either from ostentation or from fanaticism, subject their bodies to the most cruel ordeals? And the harsh, self-inflicted tapasas, or penances, do they not prove, as far as one can see, their wish and intention to subdue their sinful lusts? All the same, in spite of their hypocritical affectations of piety, the greater number of these sannyasis are looked upon as utter impostors, and that by the most enlightened of their fellowcountrymen.
But this privilege which men possess of remaining single,
and giving themselves up to a life of contemplation, is not shared by women, They at all events cannot, under any
circumstances, take vows of celibacy. Subjected on all
1
Montesquieu says that our natural human tendency is to prefer in the cause of religion anything that presupposes effort. So in the matter of morality, we incline theoretically to anything that bears the impress of asceticism. Celibacy, for instance, has taken the greatest hold on those to whom it seems most unsuited, and on whom it might have the most disastrous results( Esprit des Lois, xxv. 4). Abbe Dubois.