Adultery

===Eastern religions===

====Hinduism====
The Hindu Sanskrit texts present a range of views on adultery, offering widely differing positions.<ref name="Harlan161"/><ref name=lawton2007p22>{{cite book|author1=Clive Lawton|author2=Peggy Morgan|title=Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7QQAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-2329-7|pages=22|access-date=9 October 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222164754/https://books.google.com/books?id=e7QQAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}, Quote: "The Sanskrit texts also take widely differing positions on adultery. Some see it as a minor offence: after menstruation and some penances, the woman is purified again. An adulterous husband may merely have to undergo some mild penances. But other texts advocate even the death penalty for either the man or the woman, depending on the caste status."</ref> The hymn 4.5.5 of the ''[[Rigveda]]'' calls adultery as ''pāpa'' (evil, sin).<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p7">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty|title=The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sktbYRG_LO8C|year=1988|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0386-2|pages=7 with footnote 40|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221014648/https://books.google.com/books?id=sktbYRG_LO8C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Stephanie Jamison|author2=Joel Brereton|title=The Rigveda: 3-Volume Set|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-972078-1|page=566|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224235326/https://books.google.com/books?id=fgzVAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} Quote, [https://sa.wikisource.org/s/13s7 Sanskrit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920201908/https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%8B%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%83_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%82_%E0%A5%AA.%E0%A5%AB |date=20 September 2020 }}: अभ्रातरो न योषणो व्यन्तः पतिरिपो न जनयो दुरेवाः । पापासः सन्तो अनृता असत्या इदं पदमजनता गभीरम् ॥५॥ Translation: "(You) pursuing (it) like brotherless maidens pursuing (men), (you) of evil ways like wives cheating (their) husbands, though being wicked, untruthful, untrue, you begot this deep track"</ref> Other Vedic texts state adultery to be a sin, just like murder, incest, anger, evil thoughts and trickery.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rick F. Talbott|title=Sacred Sacrifice: Ritual Paradigms in Vedic Religion and Early Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XNLAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|year=2005|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-59752-340-0|page=75|access-date=10 February 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221203333/https://books.google.com/books?id=6XNLAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|url-status=live}}</ref> The Vedic texts, including the ''Rigveda'', the ''[[Atharvaveda]]'' and the [[Upanishads]], also acknowledge the existence of male lovers and female lovers as a basic fact of human life, followed by the recommendation that one should avoid such extra marital sex during certain ritual occasions ([[yajna]]).<ref name="Harlan161">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|editor=Lindsey Harlan and Paul B. Courtright|title=From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pi7xAWStawYC&pg=PA161|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-508117-6|pages=161–165|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222164752/https://books.google.com/books?id=pi7xAWStawYC&pg=PA161|url-status=live}}</ref> A number of simile in the Rigveda, a woman's emotional eagerness to meet her lover is described, and one hymn prays to the gods that they protect the embryo of a pregnant wife as she sleeps with her husband and other lovers.<ref name="Harlan161"/>

Adultery and similar offenses are discussed under one of the eighteen ''vivādapadas'' (titles of laws) in the ''Dharma'' literature of Hinduism.<ref name="Rocher 2012">{{cite book | last=Rocher | first=Ludo | title=Studies in Hindu law and Dharmaśāstra | publisher=Anthem Press | location=London New York | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-85728-550-8 | oclc=816549872 | pages=293–295}}</ref> Adultery is termed as ''Strisangrahana'' in ''dharmasastra'' texts.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Nārada|author2=Richard Wilfred Lariviere|title=The Nāradasmṛti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1X8T65PSEXAC|year=2003|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1804-0|page=9|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221023345/https://books.google.com/books?id=1X8T65PSEXAC|url-status=live}}</ref> These texts generally condemn adultery, with some exceptions involving consensual sex and ''niyoga'' (levirate conception) in order to produce an heir.<ref name="HarlanCourtright1995p172">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|editor=Lindsey Harlan and Paul B. Courtright|title=From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lpbJ-JYFtYC|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-508118-3|pages=172–174|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219043317/https://books.google.com/books?id=-lpbJ-JYFtYC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Bowles2007p49">{{cite book|author=Adam Bowles|title=Dharma, Disorder, and the Political in Ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXvbTrzPon0C|year=2007|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-15815-3|pages=49–50 with footnote 37, p. 54 with footnote 52|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221104558/https://books.google.com/books?id=DXvbTrzPon0C|url-status=live}}</ref> According to ''Apastamba Dharmasutra'', the earliest dated Hindu law text, cross-varna adultery (adultery across castes) is a punishable crime, where the adulterous man receives a far more severe punishment than the adulterous ''arya'' woman.<ref name="OlivelleDavis2018p140"/> In ''Gautama Dharmasutra'', the adulterous ''arya'' woman is liable to harsh punishment for the cross-class adultery.<ref name="OlivelleDavis2018p140">{{cite book|author=Stephanie Jamison|editor=Patrick Olivelle and Donald R. Davis|title=The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law: A New History of Dharmaśāstra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ofU-DwAAQBAJ|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870260-3|pages=139–140|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=24 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224235744/https://books.google.com/books?id=ofU-DwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> While ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' reserves the punishment in cases of cross-class adultery, it seems to have been generalized by ''Vishnu Dharmasastra'' and ''Manusmiriti''.<ref name=rocher2012p296/> The recommended punishments in the text also vary between these texts.<ref name=rocher2012p296/>

The ''[[Manusmriti]]'', also known as the ''Laws of Manu'', deals with this in greater detail. When translated, verse 4.134 of the book declares adultery to be a heinous offense.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mandagadde Rama Jois|title=Ancient Indian Law: Eternal Values in Manu Smriti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_PKqWOJlegC&pg=PA85|year=2015|publisher=Universal Law Publishing|isbn=978-81-7534-259-0|pages=85–86|access-date=16 January 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221123948/https://books.google.com/books?id=h_PKqWOJlegC&pg=PA85|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Manusmriti'' does not include adultery as a "grievous sin", but includes it as a "secondary sin" that leads to a loss of caste.<ref name="Manu2004p194">{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle|title=The Law Code of Manu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmfXnfB-474C|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280271-2|pages=194–195, 289 with notes on 11.177|access-date=8 October 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222110919/https://books.google.com/books?id=VmfXnfB-474C|url-status=live}}</ref> In the book, the intent and mutual consent are a part that determine the recommended punishment. Rape is not considered as adultery for the woman, while the rapist is punished severely. Lesser punishment is recommended for consensual adulterous sex.<ref name="OlivelleDavis2018p140"/> Death penalty is mentioned by Manu,<ref>{{cite book |author=Patrick Olivelle |title=Manu's Code of Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517146-4 |page=186 |access-date=6 October 2018 |archive-date=20 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220112525/https://books.google.com/books?id=PnHo02RtONMC |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as "penance" for the sin of adultery.<ref name="Manu2004p194"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Vibhūti Bhūṣaṇa Miśra|title=Religious Beliefs and Practices of North India During the Early Mediaeval Period|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LB1qhsw10IwC|year=1973|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-03610-9|page=110|access-date=20 October 2018|archive-date=23 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223011128/https://books.google.com/books?id=LB1qhsw10IwC|url-status=live}}</ref> even in cases of repeated adultery with a man of the same caste.<ref>{{cite book|author=Patrick Olivelle|title=The Law Code of Manu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmfXnfB-474C|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280271-2|page=203|access-date=8 October 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222110919/https://books.google.com/books?id=VmfXnfB-474C|url-status=live}}</ref> In verses 8.362-363, the author states that sexual relations with the wife of traveling performer is not a sin, and exempts such sexual liaisons.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|editor=Ariel Glucklich|title=The Sense of Adharma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6bsOfvySvMC|year=1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-802448-4|pages=170–172 with footnote 6, Quote: "Manu says that sex with the wife of an actor is not a sin"|access-date=6 October 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221201824/https://books.google.com/books?id=d6bsOfvySvMC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|translator=Wendy Doniger|title=The Laws of Manu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZAWCHnbwtoC|year=1991|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-044540-4|pages=190–191|access-date=9 October 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221112628/https://books.google.com/books?id=DZAWCHnbwtoC|url-status=live}}</ref> The verse 5.154 of ''Manusmirti'' says a woman must constantly worship her husband as a god and be completely faithful even if he commits adultery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Laws of Manu V |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu05.htm |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Manusmriti Chapter 5, the laws of Manu, English Translation |url=https://www.hinduismfacts.org/hindu-scriptures-and-holy-books/manusmriti/chapter-v/ |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=Hinduism Facts |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Scroll Staff |date=2022-08-11 |title=Manusmriti gives respectable position to Indian women, says Delhi HC judge Prathiba M Singh |url=https://scroll.in/latest/1030286/manusmriti-gives-respectable-position-to-indian-women-says-delhi-hc-judge-prathiba-m-singh |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=Scroll.in |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Laws of Manu and What They Would Mean for Citizens of the Hindu Rashtra |url=https://thewire.in/rights/manusmriti-hindu-rashtra-rss |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=The Wire}}</ref> The book offers two views on adultery. It recommends a new married couple to remain sexually faithful to each other for life. It also accepts that adulterous relationships happen, children are born from such relationships and then proceeds to reason that the child belongs to the legal husband of the pregnant woman, and not to the biological father.<ref name="Harlan163">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|editor=Lindsey Harlan and Paul B. Courtright|title=From the Margins of Hindu Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion, and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pi7xAWStawYC&pg=PA161|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-508117-6|pages=163|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222164752/https://books.google.com/books?id=pi7xAWStawYC&pg=PA161|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other ''dharmasastra'' texts describe adultery as a punishable crime but offer differing details.<ref name=rocher2012p296>{{cite book | last=Rocher | first=Ludo | title=Studies in Hindu law and Dharmaśāstra | publisher=Anthem Press | location=London New York | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-85728-550-8 | oclc=816549872 | pages=295–296}}</ref> According to ''Naradasmriti (12.61-62)'', it is an adulterous act if a man has sexual intercourse with the woman who is protected by another man. The term adultery in ''Naradasmriti'' is not confined to the relationship of a married man with another man's wife. It includes sex with any woman who is protected, including wives, daughters, other relatives, and servants. Adultery is not a punishable offence for a man if "the woman's husband has abandoned her because she is wicked, or he is eunuch, or of a man who does not care, provided the wife initiates it of her own volition".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Nārada|author2=Richard Wilfred Lariviere|title=The Nāradasmṛti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1X8T65PSEXAC|year=2003|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1804-0|page=391|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221023345/https://books.google.com/books?id=1X8T65PSEXAC|url-status=live}}</ref> Adultery is not a punishable offence if a married man engages in intercourse with woman who doesn't belong to other man and is not a Brahmin, provided the woman is not of higher caste than the man.<ref>{{Cite book |last=JOLLY |first=JULIUS Tran |url=http://archive.org/details/naradiyadharmasa021669mbp |title=Naradiya Dharmasastra of the Institutes of Narada. |date=1876 |publisher=Trubner & Co.- London |others=--, ---, Mraudula Borase |pages=89}}</ref> Brihaspati-smriti mention, among other things, adulterous local customs in ancient India and then states, "for such practices these (people) incur neither penance nor secular punishment".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Robert Lingat|author2=J. Duncan M Derrett|title=The Classical Law of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC|year=1973|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-01898-3|pages=201 with footnote 56; for the text's significance and dating see pp. 104–105, 126–133 with footnotes|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222192718/https://books.google.com/books?id=Sauo8iSIj7YC|url-status=live}}</ref> Kautilya's ''Arthashastra'' includes an exemption that in case the husband forgives his adulterous wife, the woman and her lover should be set free. If the offended husband does not forgive, the ''Arthashastra'' recommends the adulterous woman's nose and ears be cut off, while her lover be executed.<ref name=doniger2016p14>{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|title=Redeeming the Kamasutra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TrVjDQAAQBAJ|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-049928-0|pages=13–14|access-date=6 October 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221104600/https://books.google.com/books?id=TrVjDQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

In ''Kamasutra'' which is not a religious text like [[Vedas]] or [[Puranas]] but an ancient text on love and sex,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kamasutra - Was it a part of our religious texts? |url=https://www.speakingtree.in/allslides/kamasutra-was-it-a-part-of-religious-texts |access-date=2023-07-10 |website=www.speakingtree.in}}</ref> Vatsyayana discusses adultery and devotes "not less than fifteen sutras (1.5.6–20) to enumerating the reasons (''karana'') for which a man is allowed to seduce a married woman".<ref>{{cite journal | last=Rocher | first=Ludo | title=The Kāmasūtra: Vātsyāyana's Attitude toward Dharma and Dharmaśāstra | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=105 | issue=3 | year=1985 | doi=10.2307/601526 | pages=527| jstor=601526 }}</ref>  According to Wendy Doniger, the ''Kamasutra'' teaches adulterous sexual liaison as a means for a man to predispose the involved woman in assisting him, working against his enemies and facilitating his successes. It also explains the many signs and reasons a woman wants to enter into an adulterous relationship and when she does not want to commit adultery.<ref>{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger|editor=Ariel Glucklich|title=The Sense of Adharma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6bsOfvySvMC|year=1994|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-802448-4|pages=170–174|access-date=6 October 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221201824/https://books.google.com/books?id=d6bsOfvySvMC|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Kamasutra'' teaches strategies to engage in adulterous relationships, but concludes its chapter on sexual liaison stating that one should not commit adultery because adultery pleases only one of two sides in a marriage, hurts the other, it goes against both ''dharma'' and ''artha''.<ref name=doniger2016p14/>

According to Werner Menski, the Sanskrit texts take "widely different positions on adultery", with some considering it a minor offense that can be addressed with penance, but others treat it as a severe offense that depending on the caste deserves the death penalty for the man or the woman.<ref name=lawton2007p22/> According to Ramanathan and Weerakoon, in Hinduism, the sexual matters are left to the judgment of those involved and not a matter to be imposed through law.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kathryn S. K. Hall|author2=Cynthia A. Graham|title=The Cultural Context of Sexual Pleasure and Problems: Psychotherapy with Diverse Clients|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwMUN2zSc5kC|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22010-4|page=173|access-date=6 October 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222201909/https://books.google.com/books?id=OwMUN2zSc5kC|url-status=live}}; Quote: "In this [Hinduism] doctrine, sexual matters are not to be legislated but are left to the judgment of those involved, subject to community laws and customs."</ref>

According to Carl Olsen, the classical Hindu society considered adultery as a sexual transgression but treated it with a degree of tolerance.<ref name="Olson2007p261"/> It is described as a minor transgression in ''Naradasmriti'' and other texts, one that a sincere penance could atone.<ref name="Olson2007p261">{{cite book|author=Carl Olson|title=The Many Colors of Hinduism: A Thematic-historical Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC&pg=PA261|year=2007|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-4068-9|pages=261–262|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=23 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223082559/https://books.google.com/books?id=RVWKClYq4TUC&pg=PA261|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James G. Lochtefeld |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M |url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch |url-access=registration |year=2002|publisher =The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8239-3179-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000loch/page/n439 11]}}</ref> Penance is also recommended to a married person who does not actually commit adultery, but carries adulterous thoughts for someone else or is thinking of committing adultery.<ref name="OlivelleDavis2018p427">{{cite book|author=Maria Heim|editor=Patrick Olivelle and Donald R. Davis|title=The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law: A New History of Dharmaśāstra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ofU-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA427|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870260-3|pages=426–427|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=25 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225013302/https://books.google.com/books?id=ofU-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA427|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other Hindu texts present a more complex model of behavior and mythology where gods commit adultery for various reasons. For example, [[Krishna]] commits adultery and the ''[[Bhagavata Purana]]'' justifies it as something to be expected when Vishnu took a human form, just like sages become uncontrolled.<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p288">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty|title=The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sktbYRG_LO8C|year=1988|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-0386-2|pages=288–291 with footnotes 83, 89, 101–102|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221014648/https://books.google.com/books?id=sktbYRG_LO8C|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Tracy Coleman, Radha and other gopis are indeed lovers of Krishna, but this is ''prema'' or "selfless, true love" and not carnal craving. In Hindu texts, this relationship between gopis and Krishna involves secret nightly rendezvous. Some texts state it to be divine adultery, others as a symbolism of spiritual dedication and religious value.<ref name="Bose2018p117">{{cite book|author=Tracy Coleman|editor=Mandakranta Bose|title=The Oxford History of Hinduism: The Goddess|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e_tdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-107968-9|pages=117–119|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=19 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219234303/https://books.google.com/books?id=e_tdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA117|url-status=live}}</ref> The example of Krishna's adulterous behavior has been used by Sahajiyas Hindus of Bengal to justify their own behavior that is contrary to the mainstream Hindu norm, according to Doniger.<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p288"/> Other Hindu texts state that Krishna's adultery is not a license for other men to do the same, in the same way that men should not drink poison just because Rudra-Shiva drank poison during the Samudra Manthan.<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p288"/> A similar teaching is found in Mahayana Buddhism, states Doniger.<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p288"/>

The ''[[Linga Purana]]'' indicates that sexual hospitality existed in ancient India. The sage Sudarshana, asks his wife Oghavati to please their guests in this way. One day, he comes home while she is having sex with a mendicant who visits their house. Sudarshana tells them to continue. The mendicant turns out to be Dharma, the lord of righteous conduct, who blesses the couple for their upholding of social law.<ref>Michel Maffesoli, « LA PROSTITUTION COMME « FORME » DE SOCIALITÉ », Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie, vol. 76, 1984, p. 119–133 {{ISSN|0008-0276}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pattanaik |first1=Devdutt |title=Indian Mythology: Tales, Symbols, and Rituals from the Heart of the Subcontinent |date=24 April 2003 |publisher=Inner Traditions |isbn=978-0892818709 |page=170 }}</ref>

====Buddhism====
Buddhist texts such as [[Digha Nikaya|Digha Nikāya]] describe adultery as a form of sexual wrongdoing that is one link in a chain of immorality and misery. According to Wendy Doniger, this view of adultery as evil is postulated in early Buddhist texts as having originated from greed in a [[rebirth (Buddhism)|previous life]]. This idea combines Hindu and Buddhist thoughts then prevalent.<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p33"/> [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|Sentient beings]] without body, state the [[Tripitaka|canonical texts]], are reborn on earth due to their greed and craving, some people become beautiful and some ugly, some become men and some women. The ugly envy the beautiful and this triggers the ugly to commit adultery with the wives of the beautiful. Like in [[Hindu mythology]], states Doniger, Buddhist texts explain adultery as a result from sexual craving; it initiates a degenerative process.<ref name="DonigerOFlaherty1988p33">{{cite book|author=Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty|title=The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sktbYRG_LO8C|year=1988|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass Publishers]]|isbn=978-81-208-0386-2|pages=33–34, n. 102–103|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221014648/https://books.google.com/books?id=sktbYRG_LO8C|url-status=live}}</ref>

Buddhism considers celibacy as the monastic ideal. For he who feels that he cannot live in celibacy, it recommends that he never commit adultery with another's wife.<ref name="Harvey2000p71">{{cite book|author=Peter Harvey|title=An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9CTSz3EVRpoC&pg=PA71|year=2000|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0-521-55640-8|pages=71–74|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221050538/https://books.google.com/books?id=9CTSz3EVRpoC&pg=PA71|url-status=live}}</ref> Engaging in sex outside of marriage, with the wife of another man, with a girl who is engaged to be married, or a girl protected by her relatives (father or brother), or extramarital sex with prostitutes, ultimately causes suffering to other human beings and oneself. It should be avoided, state the Buddhist canonical texts.<ref name="Harvey2000p71"/>

Buddhist Pali texts narrate legends where the Buddha explains the karmic consequences of adultery. For example, states Robert Goldman, one such story is of Thera Soreyya.<ref name="Goldman1993p374"/> Buddha states in the Soreyya story that "men who commit adultery suffer hell for hundreds of thousands of years after rebirth, then are reborn a hundred successive times as women on earth, must earn merit by "utter devotion to their husbands" in these lives, before they can be reborn again as men to pursue a monastic life and liberation from ''samsara''.<ref name="Goldman1993p374">{{cite journal | last=Goldman | first=Robert P. | title=Transsexualism, Gender, and Anxiety in Traditional India | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=113 | issue=3 | year=1993 | issn=0003-0279 | doi=10.2307/605387 | pages=377–381| jstor=605387 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Dharmasena|author2=R Obeyesekere|title=Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnavaliya|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvWA5wlIWnQC|year=2001|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5111-3|pages=213–218|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-date=24 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224134025/https://books.google.com/books?id=vvWA5wlIWnQC|url-status=live}}</ref>

There are some differences between the Buddhist texts and the Hindu texts on the identification and consequences of adultery. According to José Ignacio Cabezón, for example, the Hindu text ''Naradasmriti'' considers consensual extra-marital sex between a man and a woman in certain circumstances (such as if the husband has abandoned the woman) as not a punishable crime, but the Buddhist texts "nowhere exculpate" any adulterous relationship. The term adultery in ''Naradasmriti'' is broader in scope than the one in Buddhist sources. In the text, various acts such as secret meetings, exchange of messages and gifts, "inappropriate touching" and a false accusation of adultery, are deemed adulterous, while Buddhist texts do not recognize these acts under adultery.<ref name="Cabezon2017p454">{{cite book|author=José Ignacio Cabezón|title=Sexuality in Classical South Asian Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCjhDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA454|year=2017|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-61429-368-2|pages=454–455, footnote 1145|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222083102/https://books.google.com/books?id=sCjhDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA454|url-status=live}}</ref> Later texts such as the ''Dhammapada'', ''Pancasiksanusamsa Sutra'' and a few Mahayana sutras state that "heedless man who runs after other men's wife" acquire demerit, blame, discomfort and are reborn in hell.<ref name="Cabezon2017p44">{{cite book|author=José Ignacio Cabezón|title=Sexuality in Classical South Asian Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCjhDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA454|year=2017|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-61429-368-2|pages=44–45, footnotes 79 and 80|access-date=23 June 2018|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222083102/https://books.google.com/books?id=sCjhDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA454|url-status=live}}</ref> Other Buddhist texts make no mention of legal punishments for adultery.<ref name="Cabezon2017p454"/>