[70] _Strabo_ and _Arrian_, Indic. 17., already in their time state, at any rate of the nobler Indian women, that they could have been allured to profligacy at no price, except at that of an elephant. According to _von Bohlen_ (“Das alte Indien,”—Ancient India, Vol. II. p. 17, Vol. I. p. 275.) it would seem that not the slightest trace (?) can be found of the immoral life of the Indian priests in Antiquity, on the contrary that chastity was the first thing needful to gain them respect and honour, and their whole literature is never ready to extol a priest or hero more highly than when he has withstood the enticements to unchastity. Hence what is asserted of the Devâdasis or Priestesses of the gods as being courtesans for the Priests is also in the main untrue, since it rests, as in the case of the Hieroduli, chiefly on a confusion with the Bhayatri (Bayaderes, the Hetaerae of the Greeks), or holds good only for particular places (_Häfner_, “Landreise längs der Küste Orixa und Koromandel,”—(Journey along the Orissa and Coromandel Coast). Weimar 1809. Vol. I. pp. 80 sqq.—_Papi_, “Briefe über Indien,” (Letters about India), p. 356.—_Wallace_, “Denkwürdigkeiten,” (Memorabilities), p. 301.)—In this connection should be mentioned also the narrative of the Jesuit—in other respects suspicious—in the edifying letters addressed to _Schaufus_, ch. I. p. 40, that during his residence in a Hindoo town he had been informed, that it would be unsafe at the present moment to allow foreigners to visit the Devadâsis, on the contrary that there was nothing to fear from those attached to the Pagoda of the place. Even if we admit the truth of this narrative for more modern times too, still the conclusion that _Schaufus_ draws from it, that in Hindostan every Pagoda is a brothel, is surely somewhat hasty.—Some other legends of the origin of the Lingam ritual in India are given in _Meiner’s_ “Allgem. kritische Geschichte der Religionen,” (Universal Critical History of Religions), Vol. I. P. 254. [71] _Anquetil_, Voyage, p. 139., “Le Lingam, c’est à-dire, les parties naturelles de l’homme réunies à celles de la femme,” (The Lingam, that is to say, the natural parts of the man joined to those of the woman). Comp. _Roger_, “Neu eröffnetes Indisches Heidenthum,” (Paganism of India newly Revealed). Nürnberg 1863. 8vo., II. 2. [72] “De Morbi Venerei Curatione in India usitata,” (On the Mode of Curing the Venereal Disease practised in the East Indies). Copenhagen 1795. Comp. _Tode_, Med. Journal Vol. II. Pt. 2. Unfortunately we have been able to obtain a sight neither of _Klein’s_ Treatise nor of _Tode_. [73] _Strabo_, Geogr. pp. 1027, 1037. μηδὲ γὰρ νόσους εἶναι πολλὰς διὰ τὴν λιτότητα τῆς διαίτης καὶ τὴν ἀοινίαν. (nor yet are their diseases many, owing to their plainness of living and abstinence from wine). Comp. _Ctesias_, Indic. 15. _Lucian_, Macrob. ch. 4. _Diodorus Siculus_, Bk. II. ch. 40. _Pliny_, Histor. Nat. Bk. XVII. ch. 2.