Abbe Dubois
Hindu Manner Custom and Ceremonies
Missionary
p. 543-544
The divinities of the Trimurti, having heard of her, became so greatly enamoured that they resolved upon robbing her of her virginity, which she had till then treasured with so much care. To attain their object the three seducers disguised themselves as religious mendicants, and under this guise went to ask alms of her... This scandalous adventure of the mighty divinities of the Trimurti is one of the least indecent of the kind related in the Hindu books.
✦ Commentary
Dubois retells the Anusuya narrative selectively, stripping it of its theological meaning (the power of female chastity over even divine will) and reframing it as a story of divine sexual predation. The editorial comment — 'one of the least indecent' — performs the classic atrocity literature escalation: what has been presented is bad, but the reader is assured that far worse remains untold. Beauchamp's footnote actually corrects Dubois, noting that 'Hindus would say that these stories were not intended to illustrate the immorality of their gods, but to affirm that a chaste woman is proof even against divine temptation.'
Themes
Moral CorruptionAtrocity LiteratureIdolatry