Unknown Life of Jesus Christ Old Edition 1894 Publication

Author(s): Nicholas Notovitch, Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation

Page 43

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THE UNKNOWN LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. of a possible dislodgement of a stone or the oscillation of the beams which would precipitate the whole construction into the yawning chasm beneath.
M. Notovitch entered the boundaries of Ladak or Little Thibct and was inuch astonished to find a sweet, simple, happy people who clicl not indulge in or know what quarreling was. Especially was lic astonished at this since polyandry flourishes there among the lowclass people. l'olyandry is a subject on which diffcr. t'llt writers live riskce their opinions without knowing the facts. It is true that among the non-Aryan hilltribes this custom las cxisted for centuries and the Ilindu rulers did not intcrícrc with them. They relied not on forcing their vicws upon a people but on educating thicin to it. The hill tribes who follow thic custom ol polyandry arc isolated communities and socially have no connection with the Hindus. The trans-Himalayan tribes, too, follow this custom which lias existed among them for a long time.
In Ladak, anong the low-class pcoplc, cach woman bas from three to five husbands and that in the most legitimate manner in the world. It is the custom, when a man marrics a woman she becomes the legal wife of all his brothers. If thicre is but one son in the family hic usually marries into a family where there are already two or three husbands, and never but one wife. The clays of cach luusband arc fixail in advance and each acquits himself of his duties promptly in the most agrecable manner. The men are not long-lived or so robust as the women).
This practice cxistcd long beforc Buddhism was introduced into that country, which rcligion is gradually liprooting the practice which is scarcely sanctioned among the more intelligent or better classes. Froni the description given by M. Notovitch it is evident that