The article discusses childlessness in a Hindu context. A discussion of childlessness amounts to a discussion of an extreme - a negative end point in the spectrum of life's possibilities. The Brahman-Chetri population in Nepal face this extreme directly. The author argues that childlessness becomes important not as a problem affecting great numbers but as a conceptual model of what people are culturally induced to fear and avoid. The article discusses secondary wives by orthodox marriage and by elopement, which are the main methods for improving the chances of having a child. It also compares the issues of childlessness and social options in comparison with sub-Saharan Africa. (Rajeev Ranjan Singh 2007-01-15)