Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 351

ADULTERY AND
ITS
CONSEQUENCES
311
which means, To have intercourse with a prostitute is
a virtue which takes away sin V
Adultery on the part of a woman, though it is con-
sidered shameful and is condemned in Brahminical law,
is punished with much less severity in their caste than in
many others. So long as it is kept a secret it is regarded
as a matter of very small importance.
It is the publicity
of it which is the sin.
If it becomes known the husbands
are the first to contradict any gossip that may be current
in order to avoid any scandal or disagreeable consequences.
However, the shame and dishonour which are the in-
evitable consequences of sins of this nature, and which
are also reflected on the families of the culprits, serve as
a check to a great many and keep them in the path of
'
Those who succumb to an irresistible temptation
are generally clever enough to invent expedients to hide
their weakness from spiteful eyes.
But woe to those who
have been so imprudent or so careless as to fail to hide
their misdeeds.
There is no insult that charitable persons
of their own sex will not heap upon them, and if the least
quarrel arises amongst them this would be the first thing
brought up against them. Their confusion under these
circumstances proves a warning to others to be more
circumspect, or, at any rate, to save appearances at all costs.
But the depravity of the Hindus does not end here.
There are depths of wickedness a thousand times more
horrible to which the greater number of them are not
ashamed to descend.
In Europe, where the Christian religion has inspired
a salutary horror for certain unnatural offences, one would
find it difficult to believe the stories which show to what
lengths these disgusting vices are carried by the greater
number of heathens and Mahomedans, to whom they have
become a sort of second nature.
all know how greatly
the Arabs and their neighbouring tribes are addicted to
them. Kaempfer says that in Japan there are public
establishments for this purpose which are tolerated by
virtue.
We
Government; and very much the same thing is done
The
in China.
Looking upon a prostitute,* &c. This line,
it may be mentioned, is not a quotation from any book of Hindu religion,
but is often quoted falsely as such.
Ed.
1
real translation
is,
'