Most peoples demand conjugal fidelity from their married women, though we shall hear of some exceptions. It is certainly not correct, as Buschan (1912, p. 237) says, that the rules concerning sexual intercourse are stringent throughout for women, and that only in a childless marriage may a woman take up with another man.
Among many peoples, living so far apart as Asia, Australia, Oceania and Africa, we find that married men and women are in certain cases allowed intercourse with other persons. The full meaning of this arrangement is as yet unknown.
The idea of sexual purity is not innate nor unchangeable. Ethnographical research has fully proved that purity in our sense of the term is unknown even to-day among many peoples, and that there exist no restrictions upon sexual intercourse except for the prevention of cohabitation among blood relations. A greater or less degree of sexual liberty before marriage prevails among most of those peoples in Asia that are not under the influence of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. Indeed, it even exists among some uncivilised Hindu tribes, as, e.g., among the lower Hindu castes of Kashmir and of the Punjab mountains, the various lower castes of Agra-Oudh, in the Central Provinces and Berar, and in Southern India; but they restrict pre-marital relationship to persons of their own community. Most Dravidian races, however, forbid intercourse between members of the same exogamic group, though it takes place at times in spite of this. The Mongolian races generally show indifference in this respect. Thus T. C. Hudson (p. 78) says of the Nagas in Manipur that they are conspicuous for their exceptionally loose pre-marital relationship, although they demand strict fidelity in marriage. Pre-marital intercourse between persons to whom marriage is forbidden is not considered improper, which may be due to the fact that the Nagas, like the Australian tribes, are ignorant of the process of generation.
Among many native Indian tribes the grown-up children do not sleep in their parents' huts, but in houses of their own, in which they commonly visit each other by night. Should a girl become pregnant, the probable father is expected to marry her. If he refuses, he has to pay damages, and the girl is at liberty to marry some one else, which she can do without any difficulty. Sometimes abortion is resorted to, especially when both persons belong to the same exogamic group, the members of which are not allowed to intermarry. The tribes of Baroda, the Maduvars of Madras, and the Ghasyas of the United Provinces, permit a probationary period of cohabitation. It is considered no disgrace for a girl if the trial marriage does not result in a permanent marriage. Among the Garos it is an unwritten law that after certain great festivals young men and women may sleep together. Otherwise these Garos, like the tribes and castes previously referred to, are strictly monogamous. Sexual promiscuity often occurs after feasts, and it is not restricted to the unmarried (Playfair, p. 68).
It is only seldom that unfaithfulness on the part of married women is tolerated. But there are exceptions. Gait states that in the Djamna mountains the women of the Thakkar, Megh, and other low castes lead just as unrestrained a life after marriage as before. The Djats of Baluchistan are in ill repute because they incite their married women to unfaithfulness, if any advantage can be obtained thereby for the men. Certain nomadic castes, such as the Mirasis, prostitute their women, and the love affairs of married women of the servant class meet with no opposition whatever. In the eastern region of Djamba, in the Punjab, the husband is expected to allow a guest free entrance to the women's chambers. In the western part of this province the Djats and Pathans will often take back married women who have eloped, and not rarely a husband will recognise as his own a son who may have been born while the woman was away.
In Southern India married women enjoy a great deal of sexual freedom, especially in those communities where the descent is reckoned in the female line. Where marriage between cousins is customary, grown-up girls are often married to quite young boys. During the immaturity of the husband the wife is allowed to have sexual relations with the father of her child husband or another near relation, sometimes even with any one member of the caste chosen by her. This custom also exists in Kashmir, not only among the Ladakhis, but also among other low Hindu castes, and is also to be found in other parts of the world. Many South Indian castes allow their married women much freedom with the relatives of their husbands. The Tootiyans go so far as to forbid a husband to enter his house if he finds the door locked and a relation's shoe before it. The Maloyali, a mountain tribe, accept unfaithfulness on the part of their wives quite lightly, unless the partner belongs to another caste; if a woman lives for a time with a lover and has children during this time, the husband will on her return recognise the children as his own. The state of affairs is similar among the Kudans and Parivarams. Many low Hindu castes in North Kanara allow their women extra-marital intercourse with men of their own or of a higher caste. Among some castes, such as the Irulas and Kurumbas, formal marriage is completely unknown, an almost unbridled sexual promiscuity taking its place. A Korawa of Madras who has debts to pay either pawns or simply sells his wife. The Todas and other polyandrous communities of South India do not know jealousy (Rivers, 1906, p. 592; Iyer, I., p. 136). An exception to the rule that faithfulness in marriage is more strictly enforced than purity before marriage is to be found among the Pongalakapus of Madras, who allow extra-marital intercourse of married women, but punish that of unmarried girls and widows (Gait).
The Veddahs of Ceylon, who, according to Paul and Fritz Sarasin, are physically and intellectually of the lowest human type, practise monogamy, which lasts until the death of one of the partners. Marital unfaithfulness is rare, and leads to heavy punishment of the offending rival, who, as a rule, is assassinated. Only where foreign influence has become apparent is there a tendency to dissolve marriage before death (Paul and Fritz Sarasin).
Hose and MacDougall mention that among the nomadic hunting tribes of Inner Borneo "the women are chaster after marriage than before." Apparently neither sex practises much restraint. A girl's pregnancy generally results in her marriage with the father of the expected child. Amongst the settled tribes of Borneo a young man seeks a love affair as soon as he is attracted to the other sex; he may have relations with several girls one after another, but generally marries early. The marriage age of the men is about twenty, of the girls still earlier. There is no information about their marital fidelity.