Pygmalion Project

The Lost Wonder Of India

Sexual Love In Ascetic Hermitages

Ancient Indian literature has saved many valuable evidences of sexual relationships among Early Indian ascetics. Here is the list of the adapted web versions of some legends of ascetic couples called mithuna. All the legends carry sad imprints of destructive changes in ascetic life. Apparently, they were fixed on the decline of Buddhist period of Indian history the happy time when in India there were men and women enjoying pure and natural life. Therefore these stories matter mainly as evidences existence of sex among Ancient Indian ascetics, but not as descriptions of original ascetic lifestyle. This fact should be taken as a background of the Indian Buddhist sculptures of wide-hipped women.

Savitri and Satyavan
Romantic couple (mithuna)
Temple sculpture from Aihole This is one of the finest touching stories of female loyal love. However, it contains some sad signs of bad changes: Savitri falls in love with the ill man (Satyavan) doomed to die in a year. Thus, we can state a case of the sexual mis-selection here, which seemingly signifies that ascetic women had become hormonally disturbed.
An illustrated but more adapted version of this story (as well as some other stories) is presented in IndoLink site of Indian emigrants in the USA.
The Recognition of SHakuntala
Famous drama by great Ancient Indian poet Kalidasa. This drama is based on earlier legends according to which Shakuntala (also Sakuntala) was born from the union of an ascetic and an apsara (a nymph of Indian mythology, originally female ascetic, evidently), and later gave birth to her son in an ascetic settlement.
The legend reflects the destructive changes in life of Ancient Indian ascetics - people of arms begun to marry beautiful female ascetics and take them away from the hermitages.
There is a shortened version of Story of Shakuntala.

The Ramayana
Rama and Sita
Modern Hindu picture One of two greatest Ancient Indian eposes. Its heroes Rama and his consort Sita as well as his brother Lakshmana are pictured living in a forest hermitage near the Himalayas. This fact was explained with the exile because people of the later epoch could not assume that these great heroes lived so plain (compare the later Hindu picture right).
The whole story is devoted to abduction of a beautiful female from ascetic hermitage by Ravana the evil king of ruffians.
The available web versions pass by interesting episode of villain Ravana's persuasions. When he attempts to persuade beautiful Sita into leaving the forest hermitage for his royal palace, he calls her wide-hipped, rich-hipped.
This story ends happy, but in fact small paradises of ascetic hermitages were destroyed by aliens.

There is an illustrated but more adapted version of The Ramayana

Shiva and Parvati
Modern Hindu picture

Sati & Shiva
It is noteworthy that Shiva was worshiped as the god of ascetics, and his home is believed to be in the Himalayas — the homeland of Yakshas! He also was related to sexuality very much.
Upagupta: The Buddhist Monk
This story carries a shade of the period of destruction of ascetics' life. Beside, it contains an appreciable narrative evidence of Mathura sculptor portraying a beautiful female ascetic.

Sudama
This story also reflects the bad changes in life of ascetics. The matter is that before ascetics were as respectable as kings in Indian society, while this story portrays another state.

The past existence of sexual love among Ancient Indian ascetics was possible owing to real health of the women. The latter ought to be due vegetarianism, surely intrinsic for Ancient Indian ascetics, and consumption of plants containing substances indentical to female sex hormones, whch ought to include pomegranate, licorice, coconut, and dates in the case of India.

By the way, all the nisfortunes happened to the heroes of Ramayana because of Sita's desire for a deer — a kind of violation of vegetarianism.

Sita's fateful desire for deer

Enjoy downloadible audioversion of Ramayana at Audible.com.
Download two audiobooks for free

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