5. To begin with the evidence from history or myth. The legend of the five Pândavas who took Draupadî as a joint wife, has been generally accepted as a proof that it existed among the people whom, for the sake of convenience, we call the early Aryans. It is true that the compilers of the Mahâbhârata clearly wish to refer to it as an exceptional case, and to whittle away its significance by representing it as a result of their misconception of their mother’s order. But there is reason to believe that it was not so exceptional as they endeavour to make out. In the discussion which followed, one of the princes quoted as a precedent the case of Jatilâ, “that most excellent of moral women who dwelt with seven saints, and Varkshî, the daughter of a Muni, who cohabited with ten brothers, all of them Prachetas, whose souls had been purified by penance.” We have next the case of the Aswins who had between them one woman, Sûryâ, the daughter of the sun. Even in the Râmâyana the giant Viradha imputes that Râma and Lakshmana jointly share the favours of Sîtâ. [57] Professor Lassen’s theory that the whole story of Draupadî and her five lovers is only the symbolical indication of an alliance between the king of Panchâla and the five tribes represented by the five Pândavas has met with little support. For the fraternal form of polyandry practised by some of the Himalayan races, there is ample evidence. According to Mr. Drew, a very careful observer, it originated in the smallness of the amount of land which could be tilled and the general inelasticity of the country’s resources: while the isolation from the rest of the world, isolation of manners, language and religions, as well as geographical isolation, hindered emigration. [58] According to Dr. Wilson, polyandry in Tibet is not due to the scarcity of women, as a number of surplus women are provided for in the Lama nunneries. [59] 6. As regards the plains, we know that the prevalence of polyandry was noticed by the Greeks in the Panjâb. [60] Of the Gakkars Farishta [61] tells us that “it was the custom as soon as a female child was born to carry her to the door of the house and there proclaim aloud, holding the child with one hand, that any person who wanted a wife might now take her, otherwise she was immediately put to death. By this means they had more men than women, which occasioned the custom of several husbands to one wife. When the wife was visited by one of her husbands she left a mark at the door, which, being observed by any of the other husbands, he withdrew till the signal was taken away.” Similar customs prevailed among the Khokars of the Panjâb, [62] and the Panjâb Jâts. [63]