138 TABOO AND GENETICS 



people of central Asia, and spread to the Arabs 

 and Mohammedans. That it did not originate 

 with the Arabs is attested by students of their 

 culture. It was common among the Greeks, 

 whose wives were secluded from other men 

 than their husbands. In modern Korea it is 

 not even proper to ask after the women of the 

 family. Women have been put to death in that 

 country when strange men have accidentally 

 touched their hands. (36 : p. 341). 



The saddest outcome of the idea of woman as 

 property was the status of widows. In un- 

 civilized society a widow is considered dangerous 

 because the ghost of her husband is supposed 

 to cling to her. Hence she must be slain that 

 his spirit may depart in peace with her, as well 

 as with the weapons and other possessions 

 which are buried with him or burned upon his 

 funeral pyre. The Marathi proverb to the effect 

 that " the husband is the life of the woman " 

 thus becomes literally true. 



The best known case of widow slaying is 

 of course the custom of " suttee " in India. The 

 long struggle made against this custom by the 

 British government is a vivid illustration of 

 the strength of these ancient customs. The 

 Laws of Manu indicate that the burning of 

 widows was practised by primitive Aryans. In 

 the Fiji Islands, where a wife was strangled 

 on her husband's grave, the strangled women 



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