WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
like a quill pen held in the flame of a candle." Sir F. Halliday, having witnessed this woman's marvellous power of endurance, felt bound to accord his permission to the petitioner to join the spirit of her dead husband.
Hinduism is the dynamic that shapes the emotion and the thought of these most feminine of women. Their crown is Love. They give life and joy.
"Conjunction with me renders life long;
[1]I give youth when I enter upon amorousness."
Buddhism, the other great ancient creed of India, has, in many of its doctrines and parables, a close similarity to the teaching of Christianity. It teaches self-renunciation, a tranquillity of the spirit, toleration, forgiveness and chastity. Gautama counsels filial respect and the love of wife and child. He insists upon self-restraint and purity:—[2]
"Let the wise man avoid an unchaste life as a burning heap of coals; not being able to live a life of
- ↑
"Woman is man's better half,
From woman springs the liberator."
Woman is man's bosom friend,
Woman is redemption's source,
Old Hindu Poem. - ↑ Buddhism favoured monogamy and chastity. "The percentage of illegitimate births is low in those countries where the influence of Buddhism has been greatest, and its canonical literature is chaste throughout."—T. W. Rhys David. Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. III., "Chastity."
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