The Kama Sutra by Vatsayayana
Translated by Sir Richard Burton
PREFACE
IN the literature of all countries there will be found a certain
number of works treating especially of love. Everywhere the subject is
dealt with differently, and from various points of view. In the
present publication it is proposed to give a complete translation of
what is considered the standard work on love in Sanscrit literature,
and which is called the `Vatsyayana Kama Sutra', or Aphorisms on Love,
by Vatsyayana.
While the introduction will deal with the evidence concerning the date
of the writing, and the commentaries written upon it, the chapters
following the introduction will give a translation of the work itself.
It is, however, advisable to furnish here a brief analysis of works of
the same nature, prepared by authors who lived and wrote years after
Vatsyayana had passed away, but who still considered him as the great
authority, and always quoted him as the chief guide to Hindoo erotic
literature.
Besides the treatise of Vatsyayana the following works on the same
subject are procurable in India:
The Ratirahasya, or secrets of love
The Panchasakya, or the five arrows
The Smara Pradipa, or the light of love
The Ratimanjari, or the garland of love
The Rasmanjari, or the sprout of love
The Anunga Runga, or the stage of love; also called
Kamaledhiplava, or a boat in the ocean of love.
The author of the `Secrets of Love' was a poet named Kukkoka. He
composed his work to please one Venudutta, who was perhaps a king.
When writing his own name at the end of each chapter he calls himself
`Siddha patiya pandita', i.e. an ingenious man among learned men. The
work was translated into Hindi years ago, and in this the author's
name was written as Koka. And as the same name crept into all the
translations into other languages in India, the book became generally
known, and the subject was popularly called Koka Shastra, or doctrines
of Koka, which is identical with the Kama Shastra, or doctrines of
love, and the words Koka Shastra and Kama Shastra are used
indiscriminately.
The work contains nearly eight hundred verses, and is divided into ten
chapters, which are called Pachivedas. Some of the things treated of
in this work are not to be found in the Vatsyayana, such as the four
classes of women, the Padmini, Chitrini, Shankini and Hastini, as also
the enumeration of the days and hours on which the women of the
different classes become subject to love, The author adds that he
wrote these things from the opinions of Gonikaputra and Nandikeshwara,
both of whom are mentioned by Vatsyayana, but their works are not now
extant. It is difficult to give any approximate idea as to the year in
which the work was composed. It is only to be presumed that it was
written after that of Vatsyayana, and previous to the other works on
this subject that are still extant. Vatsyayana gives the names of ten
authors on the subject, all of whose works he had consulted, but none
of which are extant, and does not mention this one. This would tend to
show that Kukkoka wrote after Vatsya, otherwise Vatsya would assuredly
have mentioned him as an author in this branch of literature along
with the others.
The author of the `Five Arrows' was one Jyotirisha. He is called the
chief ornament of poets, the treasure of the sixty-four arts, and the
best teacher of the rules of music. He says that he composed the work
after reflecting on the aphorisms of love as revealed by the gods, and
studying the opinions of Gonikaputra, Muladeva, Babhravya, Ramtideva,
Nundikeshwara and Kshemandra. It is impossible to say whether he had
perused all the works of these authors, or had only heard about them;
anyhow, none of them appear to be in existence now. This work contains
nearly six hundred verses, and is divided into five chapters, called
Sayakas or Arrows.
The author of the `Light of Love' was the poet Gunakara, the son of
Vechapati. The work contains four hundred verses, and gives only a
short account of the doctrines of love, dealing more with other
matters.
`The Garland of Love' is the work of the famous poet Jayadeva, who
said about himself that he is a writer on all subjects. This treatise
is, however, very short, containing only one hundred and twenty-five
verses.
The author of the `Sprout of Love' was a poet called Bhanudatta. It
appears from the last verse of the manuscript that he was a resident
of the province of Tirhoot, and son of a Brahman named Ganeshwar, who
was also a poet. The work, written in Sanscrit, gives the descriptions
of different classes of men and women, their classes being made out
from their age, description, conduct, etc. It contains three chapters,
and its date is not known, and cannot be ascertained.
`The Stage of Love' was composed by the poet Kullianmull, for the
amusement of Ladkhan, the son of Ahmed Lodi, the same Ladkhan being in
some places spoken of as Ladana Mull, and in others as Ladanaballa. He
is supposed to have been a relation or connection of the house of
Lodi, which reigned in Hindostan from A.D. 1450-1526. The work would,
therefore, have been written in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It
contains ten chapters, and has been translated into English but only
six copies were printed for private circulation. This is supposed to
be the latest of the Sanscrit works on the subject, and the ideas in
it were evidently taken from previous writings of the same nature.
The contents of these works are in themselves a literary curiosity.
There are to be found both in Sanscrit poetry and in the Sanscrit
drama a certain amount of poetical sentiment and romance, which have,
in every country and in every language, thrown an immortal halo round
the subject. But here it is treated in a plain, simple, matter of fact
sort of way. Men and women are divided into classes and divisions in
the same way that Buffon and other writers on natural history have
classified and divided the animal world. As Venus was represented by
the Greeks to stand forth as the type of the beauty of woman, so the
Hindoos describe the Padmini or Lotus woman as the type of most
perfect feminine excellence, as follows:
She in whom the following signs and symptoms appear is called a
Padmini. Her face is pleasing as the full moon; her body, well clothed
with flesh, is soft as the Shiras or mustard flower, her skin is fine,
tender and fair as the yellow lotus, never dark coloured. Her eyes are
bright and beautiful as the orbs of the fawn, well cut, and with
reddish corners. Her bosom is hard, full and high; she has a good
neck; her nose is straight and lovely, and three folds or wrinkles
cross her middle - about the umbilical region. Her yoni resembles the
opening lotus bud, and her love seed (Kama salila) is perfumed like
the lily that has newly burst. She walks with swan-like gait, and her
voice is low and musical as the note of the Kokila bird, she delights
in white raiments, in fine jewels, and in rich dresses. She eats
little, sleeps lightly, and being as respectful and religious as she
is clever and courteous, she is ever anxious to worship the gods, and
to enjoy the conversation of Brahmans. Such, then, is the Padmini or
Lotus woman.
Detailed descriptions then follow of the Chitrini or Art woman; the
Shankhini or Conch woman, and the Hastini or Elephant woman, their
days of enjoyment, their various seats of passion, the manner in which
they should be manipulated and treated in sexual intercourse, along
with the characteristics of the men and women of the various countries
in Hindostan. The details are so numerous, and the subjects so
seriously dealt with, and at such length, that neither time nor space
will permit of their being given here.
One work in the English language is somewhat similar to these works of
the Hindoos. It is called `Kalogynomia: or the Laws of Female Beauty',
being the elementary principles of that science, by T. Bell, M.D.,
with twenty-four plates, and printed in London in 1821. It treats of
Beauty, of Love, of Sexual Intercourse, of the Laws regulating that
Intercourse, of Monogamy and Polygamy, of Prostitution, of Infidelity,
ending with a catalogue raisonnée of the defects of female beauty.
Other works in English also enter into great details of private and
domestic life: The Elements of Social Science, or Physical, Sexual and
Natural Religion, by a Doctor of Medicine, London, 1880, and Every
Woman's Book, by Dr Waters, 1826. To persons interested in the above
subjects these works will be found to contain such details as have
been seldom before published, and which ought to be thoroughly
understood by all philanthropists and benefactors of society.
After a perusal of the Hindoo work, and of the English books above
mentioned, the reader will understand the subject, at all events from
a materialistic, realistic and practical point of view. If all science
is founded more or less on a stratum of facts, there can be no harm in
making known to mankind generally certain matters intimately connected
with their private, domestic, and social life.
Alas! complete ignorance of them has unfortunately wrecked many a man
and many a woman, while a little knowledge of a subject generally
ignored by the masses would have enabled numbers of people to have
understood many things which they believed to be quite
incomprehensible, or which were not thought worthy of their
consideration.
INTRODUCTION
IT may be interesting to some persons to learn how it came about that
Vatsyayana was first brought to light and translated into the English
language. It happened thus. While translating with the pundits the
`Anunga Runga, or the stage of love', reference was frequently found
to be made to one Vatsya. The sage Vatsya was of this opinion, or of
that opinion. The sage Vatsya said this, and so on. Naturally
questions were asked who the sage was, and the pundits replied that
Vatsya was the author of the standard work on love in Sanscrit
literature, that no Sanscrit library was complete without his work,
and that it was most difficult now to obtain in its entire state. The
copy of the manuscript obtained in Bombay was defective, and so the
pundits wrote to Benares, Calcutta and Jeypoor for copies of the
manuscript from Sanscrit libraries in those places. Copies having been
obtained, they were then compared with each other, and with the aid of
a Commentary called `Jayamangla' a revised copy of the entire
manuscript was prepared, and from this copy the English translation
was made. The following is the certificate of the chief pundit:
`The accompanying manuscript is corrected by me after comparing four
different copies of the work. I had the assistance of a Commentary
called "Jayamangla" for correcting the portion in the first five
parts, but found great difficulty in correcting the remaining portion,
because, with the exception of one copy thereof which was tolerably
correct, all the other copies I had were far too incorrect. However, I
took that portion as correct in which the majority of the copies
agreed with each other.'
The `Aphorisms on Love' by Vatsyayana contain about one thousand two
hundred and fifty slokas or verses, and are divided into parts, parts
into chapters, and chapters into paragraphs. The whole consists of
seven parts, thirty-six chapters, and sixty-four paragraphs. Hardly
anything is known about the author. His real name is supposed to be
Mallinaga or Mrillana, Vatsyayana being his family name. At the close
of the work this is what he writes about himself:
`After reading and considering the works of Babhravya and other
ancient authors, and thinking over the meaning of the rules given by
them, this treatise was composed, according to the precepts of the
Holy Writ, for the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayana, while leading
the life of a religious student at Benares, and wholly engaged in the
contemplation of the Deity. This work is not to be used merely as an
instrument for satisfying our desires. A person acquainted with the
true principles of this science, who preserves his Dharma (virtue or
religious merit), his Artha (worldly wealth) and his Kama (pleasure or
sensual gratification), and who has regard to the customs of the
people, is sure to obtain the mastery over his senses. In short, an
intelligent and knowing person attending to Dharma and Artha and also
to Kama, without becoming the slave of his passions, will obtain
success in everything that he may do.'
It is impossible to fix the exact date either of the life of
Vatsyayana or of his work. It is supposed that he must have lived
between the first and sixth century of the Christian era, on the
following grounds. He mentions that Satakarni Satavahana, a king of
Kuntal, killed Malayevati his wife with an instrument called kartari
by striking her in the passion of love, and Vatsya quotes this case to
warn people of the danger arising from some old customs of striking
women when under the influence of this passion. Now this king of
Kuntal is believed to have lived and reigned during the first century
A.D., and consequently Vatsya must have lived after him. On the other
hand, Virahamihira, in the eighteenth chapter of his `Brihatsanhita',
treats of the science of love, and appears to have borrowed largely
from Vatsyayana on the subject. Now Virahamihira is said to have lived
during the sixth century A.D., and as Vatsya must have written his
works previously, therefore not earlier than the first century A.D.,
and not later than the sixth century A.D., must be considered as the
approximate date of his existence.
On the text of the `Aphorisms on Love', by Vatsyayana, only two
commentaries have been found. One called `Jayamangla' or
`Sutrabashya', and the other `Sutra vritti'. The date of the
`Jayamangla' is fixed between the tenth and thirteenth century A.D.,
because while treating of the sixty-four arts an example is taken from
the `Kavyaprakasha' which was written about the tenth century A.D.
Again, the copy of the commentary procured was evidently a transcript
of a manuscript which once had a place in the library of a Chaulukyan
king named Vishaladeva, a fact elicited from the following sentence at
the end of it.
`Here ends the part relating to the art of love in the commentary on
the "Vatsyayana Kama Sutra", a copy from the library of the king of
kings, Vishaladeva, who was a powerful hero, as it were a second
Arjuna, and head jewel of the Chaulukya family.'
Now it is well known that this king ruled in Guzerat from 1244 to 1262
A.D., and founded a city called Visalnagur. The date, therefore, of
the commentary is taken to be not earlier than the tenth and not later
than the thirteenth century. The author of it is supposed to be one
Yashodhara, the name given him by his preceptor being Indrapada. He
seems to have written it during the time of affliction caused by his
separation from a clever and shrewd woman, at least that is what lie
himself says at the end of each chapter. It is presumed that he called
his work after the name of his absent mistress, or the word may have
some connection with the meaning of her name.
This commentary was most useful in explaining the true meaning of
Vatsyayana, for the commentator appears to have had a considerable
knowledge of the times of the older author, and gives in some places
very minute information. This cannot be said of the other commentary,
called `Sutra vritti', which was written about A.D. 1789, by Narsing
Shastri, a pupil of a Sarveshwar Shastri; the latter was a descendant
of Bhaskur, and so also was our author, for at the conclusion of every
part he calls himself Bhaskur Narsing Shastri. He was induced to write
the work by order of the learned Raja Vrijalala, while he was residing
in Benares, but as to the merits of this commentary it does not
deserve much commendation. In many cases the writer does not appear to
have understood the meaning of the original author, and has changed
the text in many places to fit in with his own explanations.
A complete translation of the original work now follows. It has been
prepared in complete accordance with the text of the manuscript, and
is given, without further comments, as made from it.
CHAPTER 1
PREFACE
Salutation to Dharma, Artha and Kama
IN the beginning, the Lord of Beings created men and women, and in the
form of commandments in one hundred thousand chapters laid down rules
for regulating their existence with regard to Dharma,1 Artha,2 and
Kama.3 Some of these commandments, namely those which treated of
Dharma, were separately written by Swayambhu Manu; those that related
to Artha were compiled by Brihaspati; and those that referred to Kama
were expounded by Nandi, the follower of Mahadeva, in one thousand
chapters.
Now these `Kama Sutra' (Aphorisms on Love), written by Nandi in one
thousand chapters, were reproduced by Shvetaketu, the son of
Uddvalaka, in an abbreviated form in five hundred chapters, and this
work was again similarly reproduced in an abridged form, in one
hundred and fifty chapters, by Babhravya, an inheritant of the
Punchala (South of Delhi) country. These one hundred and fifty
chapters were then put together under seven heads or parts named
severally
1. Sadharana (general topics)
2. Samprayogika (embraces, etc.)
3. Kanya Samprayuktaka (union of males and females)
4. Bharyadhikarika (on one's own wife)
5. Paradika (on the wives of other people)
6. Vaisika (on courtesans)
7. Aupamishadika (on the arts of seduction, tonic medicines, etc.)
The sixth part of this last work was separately expounded by Dattaka
at the request of the public women of Pataliputra (Patna), and in the
same way Charayana explained the first part of it. The remaining
parts, viz. the second, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh, were each
separately expounded by
Suvarnanabha (second part)
Ghotakamukha (third part)
Gonardiya (fourth part)
Gonikaputra (fifth part)
Kuchumara (seventh part), respectively.
Thus the work being written in parts by different authors was almost
unobtainable and, as the parts which were expounded by Dattaka and the
others treated only of the particular branches of the subject to which
each part related, and moreover as the original work of Babhravya was
difficult to be mastered on account of its length, Vatsyayana,
therefore, composed his work in a small volume as an abstract of the
whole of the works of the above named authors.
PART I: INTRODUCTORY
1. Preface
2. Observations on the three worldly attainments of Virtue, Wealth,
and Love
3. On the study of the Sixty-four Arts
4. On the Arrangements of a House, and Household Furniture; and about
the Daily Life of a Citizen, his Companions, Amusements, etc.
5. About classes of Women fit and unfit for Congress with the
Citizen, and of Friends, and Messengers
PART II: ON SEXUAL UNION
1. Kinds of Union according to Dimensions, Force of Desire, and Time;
and on the different kinds of Love
2. Of the Embrace
3. On Kissing
4. On Pressing or Marking with the Nails
5. On Biting, and the ways of Love to be employed with regard to
Women of different countries
6. On the various ways of Lying down, and the different kinds of
Congress
7. On the various ways of Striking, and of the Sounds appropriate to
them
8. About females acting the part of Males
9. On holding the Lingam in the Mouth
10. How to begin and how to end the Congress. Different kinds of
Congress, and Love Quarrels
PART III: ABOUT THE ACQUISITION OF A WIFE
1. Observations on Betrothal and Marriage
2. About creating Confidence in the Girl
3. Courtship, and the manifestation of the feelings by outward signs
and deeds
4. On things to be done only by the Man, and the acquisition of the
Girl thereby. Also what is to be done by a Girl to gain over a Man
and subject him to her
5. On the different Forms of Marriage
PART IV: ABOUT A WIFE
1. On the manner of living of a virtuous Woman, and of her behaviour
during the absence of her Husband
2. On the conduct of the eldest Wife towards the other Wives of her
Husband, and of the younger Wife towards the elder ones. Also on
the conduct of a Virgin Widow remarried; of a Wife disliked by her
Husband; of the Women in the King's Harem; and of a Husband who
has more than one Wife
PART V: ABOUT THE WIVES OF OTHER PEOPLE
1. On the Characteristics of Men and Women, and the reason why Women
reject the Addresses of Men. About Men who have Success with
Women, and about Women who are easily gained over
2. About making Acquaintance with the Woman, and of the efforts to
gain her over
3. Examination of the State of a Woman's mind
4. The Business of a Go-Between
5. On the Love of Persons in authority with the Wives of other People
6. About the Women of the Royal Harem, and of the keeping of one's
own Wife
PART VI: ABOUT COURTESANS
1. Of the Causes of a Courtesan resorting to Men; of the means of
Attaching to herself the Man desired, and the kind of Man that it
is desirable to be acquainted with
2. Of a Courtesan living with a Man as his Wife
3. Of the Means of getting Money; of the Signs of a Lover who is
beginning to be Weary, and of the way to get rid of him
4. About a Reunion with a former Lover
5. Of different kinds of Gain
6. Of Gains and Losses, attendant Gains and Losses, and Doubts; and
lastly, the different kinds of Courtesans
PART VII: ON THE MEANS OF ATTRACTING OTHERS TO ONE'S SELF
1. On Personal Adornment, subjugating the hearts of others, and of
tonic medicines
2. Of the means of exciting Desire, and of the ways of enlarging the
Lingam. Miscellaneous Experiments and Receipts
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Footnotes
1
Dharma is acquisition of religious merit, and is fully
described in Chapter 5, volume III, of Talboys Wheeler's
History of India, and in the edicts of Asoka.
2
Artha is acquisition of wealth and property, etc.
3
Kama is love, pleasure and sensual gratification. These three
words are retained throughout in their original, as technical
terms. They may also be defined as virtue, wealth and pleasure,
the three things repeatedly spoken of in the Laws of Manu.
CHAPTER 2
ON THE ACQUISITION OF DHARMA, ARTHA AND KAMA
MAN, the period of whose life is one hundred years, should practise
Dharma, Artha and Kama at different times and in such a manner that
they may harmonize together and not clash in any way. He should
acquire learning in his childhood, in his youth and middle age he
should attend to Artha and Kama, and in his old age he should perform
Dharma, and thus seek to gain Moksha, i.e. release from further
transmigration. Or, on account of the uncertainty of life, he may
practise them at times when they are enjoined to be practised. But one
thing is to be noted, he should lead the life of a religious student
until he finishes his education.
Dharma is obedience to the command of the Shastra or Holy Writ of the
Hindoos to do certain things, such as the performance of sacrifices,
which are not generally done, because they do not belong to this
world, and produce no visible effect; and not to do other things, such
as eating meat, which is often done because it belongs to this world,
and has visible effects.
Dharma should be learnt from the Shruti (Holy Writ), and from those
conversant with it.
Artha is the acquisition of arts, land, gold, cattle, wealth,
equipages and friends. It is, further, the protection of what is
acquired, and the increase of what is protected.
Artha should be learnt from the king's officers, and from merchants
who may be versed in the ways of commerce.
Kama is the enjoyment of appropriate objects by the five senses of
hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling, assisted by the mind
together with the soul. The ingredient in this is a peculiar contact
between the organ of sense and its object, and the consciousness of
pleasure which arises from that contact is called Kama.
Kama is to be learnt from the Kama Sutra (aphorisms on love) and from
the practice of citizens.
When all the three, viz. Dharma, Artha and Kama, come together, the
former is better than the one which follows it, i.e. Dharma is better
than Artha, and Artha is better than Kama. But Artha should always be
first practised by the king for the livelihood of men is to be
obtained from it only. Again, Kama being the occupation of public
women, they should prefer it to the other two, and these are
exceptions to the general rule.
Objection 1
Some learned men say that as Dharma is connected with things not
belonging to this world, it is appropriately treated of in a book; and
so also is Artha, because it is practised only by the application of
proper means, and a knowledge of those means can only be obtained by
study and from books. But Kama being a thing which is practised even
by the brute creation, and which is to be found everywhere, does not
want any work on the subject.
Answer
This is not so. Sexual intercourse being a thing dependent on man and
woman requires the application of proper means by them, and those
means are to be learnt from the Kama Shastra. The non-application of
proper means, which we see in the brute creation, is caused by their
being unrestrained, and by the females among them only being fit for
sexual intercourse at certain seasons and no more, and by their
intercourse not being preceded by thought of any kind.
Objection 2
The Lokayatikas1 say: Religious ordinances should not be observed, for
they bear a future fruit, and at the same time it is also doubtful
whether they will bear any fruit at all. What foolish person will give
away that which is in his own hands into the hands of another?
Moreover, it is better to have a pigeon today than a peacock tomorrow;
and a copper coin which we have the certainty of obtaining, is better
than a gold coin, the possession of which is doubtful.
Answer
It is not so. 1st. Holy Writ, which ordains the practice of Dharma,
does not admit of a doubt.
2nd. Sacrifices such as those made for the destruction of enemies, or
for the fall of rain, are seen to bear fruit.
3rd. The sun, moon, stars, planets and other heavenly bodies appear to
work intentionally for the good of the world.
4th. the existence of this world is effected by the observance of the
rules respecting the four classes of men and their four stages of
life.2
5th. We see that seed is thrown into the ground with the hope of
future crops.
Vatsyayana is therefore of opinion that the ordinances of religion
must be obeyed.
Objection 3
Those who believe that destiny is the prime mover of all things say:
We should not exert ourselves to acquire wealth, for sometimes it is
not acquired although we strive to get it, while at other times it
comes to us of itself without any exertion on our part. Everything is
therefore in the power of destiny, who is the lord of gain and loss,
of success and defeat, of pleasure and pain. Thus we see that Bali3
was raised to the throne of Indra by destiny, and was also put down by
the same power, and it is destiny only that call reinstate him.
Answer
It is not right to say so. As the acquisition of every object
presupposes at all events some exertion on the part of man, the
application of proper means may be said to be the cause of gaining all
our ends, and this application of proper means being thus necessary
(even where a thing is destined to happen), it follows that a person
who does nothing will enjoy no happiness.
Objection 4
Those who are inclined to think that Artha is the chief object to be
obtained argue thus. Pleasures should not be sought for, because they
are obstacles to the practice of Dharma and Artha, which are both
superior to them, and are also disliked by meritorious persons.
Pleasures also bring a man into distress, and into contact with low
persons; they cause him to commit unrighteous deeds, and produce
impurity in him; they make him regardless of the future, and encourage
carelessness and levity. And lastly, they cause him to be disbelieved
by all, received by none, and despised by everybody, including
himself. It is notorious, moreover, that many men who have given
themselves up to pleasure alone, have been ruined along with their
families and relations. Thus, king Dandakya, of the Bhoja dynasty,
carried off a Brahman's daughter with evil intent, and was eventually
ruined and lost his kingdom. Indra, too, having violated the chastity
of Ahalya, was made to suffer for it. In a like manner the mighty
Kichaka, who tried to seduce Draupadi, and Ravana, who attempted to
gain over Sita, were punished for their crimes. These and many others
fell by reason of their pleasures.4
Answer
This objection cannot be sustained, for pleasures, being as necessary
for the existence and well being of the body as food, are consequently
equally required. They are, moreover, the results of Dharma and Artha.
Pleasures are, therefore, to be followed with moderation and caution.
No one refrains from cooking food because there are beggars to ask for
it, or from sowing seed because there are deer to destroy the corn
when it is grown up.
Thus a man practising Dharma, Artha and Kama enjoys happiness both in
this world and in the world to come. The good perform those actions in
which there is no fear as to what is to result from them in the next
world, and in which there is no danger to their welfare. Any action
which conduces to the practice of Dharma, Artha and Kama together, or
of any two, or even one of them, should be performed, but an action
which conduces to the practice of one of them at the expense of the
remaining two should not be performed.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
These were certainly materialists who seemed to think that a
bird in the hand was worth two in the bush.
2
Among the Hindoos the four classes of men are the Brahmans or
priestly class, the Kshutrya or warlike class, the Vaishya or
agricultural and mercantile class, and the Shoodra or menial
class. The four stages of life are, the life of a religious
student, the life of a householder, the life of a hermit, and
the life of a Sunyasi or devotee.
3
Bali was a demon who had conquered Indra and gained his throne,
but was afterwards overcome by Vishnu at the time of his fifth
incarnation.
4
Dandakya is said to have abducted from the forest the daughter
of a Brahman, named Bhargava, and, being cursed by the Brahman,
was buried with his kingdom under a shower of dust. The place
was called after his name the Dandaka forest, celebrated in the
Bamayana, but now unknown.
Ahalya was the wife of the sage Gautama. Indra caused her to
believe that he was Gautama, and thus enjoyed her. He was
cursed by Gautama and subsequently afflicted with a thousand
ulcers on his body.
Kichaka was the brother-in-law of King Virata, with whom the
Pandavas had taken refuge for one year. Kichaka was killed by
Bhima, who assumed the disguise of Draupadi. For this story the
Mahabarata should be referred to.
The story of Ravana is told in the Ramayana, which with the
Mahabarata form the two great epic poems of the Hindoos; the
latter was written by Vyasa, and the former by Valmiki.
CHAPTER 3
ON THE ARTS AND SCIENCES TO BE STUDIED
MAN should study the Kama Sutra and the arts and sciences subordinate
thereto, in addition to the study of the arts and sciences contained
in Dharma and Artha. Even young maids should study this Kama Sutra
along with its arts and sciences before marriage, and after it they
should continue to do so with the consent of their husbands.
Here some learned men object, and say that females, not being allowed
to study any science, should not study the Kama Sutra.
But Vatsyayana is of opinion that this objection does not hold good,
for women already know the practice of Kama Sutra, and that practice
is derived from the Kama Shastra, or the science of Kama itself.
Moreover, it is not only in this but in many other cases that, though
the practice of a science is known to all, only a few persons are
acquainted with the rules and laws on which the science is based. Thus
the Yadnikas or sacrificers, though ignorant of grammar, make use of
appropriate words when addressing the different Deities, and do not
know how these words are framed. Again, persons do the duties required
of them on auspicious days, which are fixed by astrology, though they
are not acquainted with the science of astrology. In a like manner
riders of horses and elephants train these animals without knowing the
science of training animals, but from practice only. And similarly the
people of the most distant provinces obey the laws of the kingdom from
practice, and because there is a king over them, and without further
reason.1 And from experience we find that some women, such as
daughters of princes and their ministers, and public women, are
actually versed in the Kama Shastra.
A female, therefore, should learn the Kama Shastra, or at least a part
of it, by studying its practice from some confidential friend. She
should study alone in private the sixty-four practices that form a
part of the Kama Shastra. Her teacher should be one of the following
persons: the daughter of a nurse brought up with her and already
married,2 or a female friend who can be trusted in everything, or the
sister of her mother (i.e. her aunt), or an old female servant, or a
female beggar who may have formerly lived in the family, or her own
sister who can always be trusted.
The following are the arts to be studied, together with the Kama
Sutra:
* Singing
* Playing on musical instruments
* Dancing
* Union of dancing, singing, and playing instrumental music
* Writing and drawing
* Tattooing
* Arraying and adorning an idol with rice and flowers
* Spreading and arranging beds or couches of flowers, or flowers
upon the ground
* Colouring the teeth, garments, hair, nails and bodies, i.e.
staining, dyeing, colouring and painting the same
* Fixing stained glass into a floor
* The art of making beds, and spreading out carpets and cushions for
reclining
* Playing on musical glasses filled with water
* Storing and accumulating water in aqueducts, cisterns and
reservoirs
* Picture making, trimming and decorating
* Stringing of rosaries, necklaces, garlands and wreaths
* Binding of turbans and chaplets, and making crests and top-knots
of flowers
* Scenic representations, stage playing Art of making ear ornaments
Art of preparing perfumes and odours
* Proper disposition of jewels and decorations, and adornment in
dress
* Magic or sorcery
* Quickness of hand or manual skill
* Culinary art, i.e. cooking and cookery
* Making lemonades, sherbets, acidulated drinks, and spirituous
extracts with proper flavour and colour
* Tailor's work and sewing
* Making parrots, flowers, tufts, tassels, bunches, bosses, knobs,
etc., out of yarn or thread
* Solution of riddles, enigmas, covert speeches, verbal puzzles and
enigmatical questions
* A game, which consisted in repeating verses, and as one person
finished, another person had to commence at once, repeating
another verse, beginning with the same letter with which the last
speaker's verse ended, whoever failed to repeat was considered to
have lost, and to be subject to pay a forfeit or stake of some
kind
* The art of mimicry or imitation
* Reading, including chanting and intoning
* Study of sentences difficult to pronounce. It is played as a game
chiefly by women, and children and consists of a difficult
sentence being given, and when repeated quickly, the words are
often transposed or badly pronounced
* Practice with sword, single stick, quarter staff and bow and arrow
* Drawing inferences, reasoning or inferring
* Carpentry, or the work of a carpenter
* Architecture, or the art of building
* Knowledge about gold and silver coins, and jewels and gems
* Chemistry and mineralogy
* Colouring jewels, gems and beads
* Knowledge of mines and quarries
* Gardening; knowledge of treating the diseases of trees and plants,
of nourishing them, and determining their ages
* Art of cock fighting, quail fighting and ram fighting
* Art of teaching parrots and starlings to speak
* Art of applying perfumed ointments to the body, and of dressing
the hair with unguents and perfumes and braiding it
* The art of understanding writing in cypher, and the writing of
words in a peculiar way
* The art of speaking by changing the forms of words. It is of
various kinds. Some speak by changing the beginning and end of
words, others by adding unnecessary letters between every syllable
of a word, and so on
* Knowledge of language and of the vernacular dialects
* Art of making flower carriages
* Art of framing mystical diagrams, of addressing spells and charms,
and binding armlets
* Mental exercises, such as completing stanzas or verses on
receiving a part of them; or supplying one, two or three lines
when the remaining lines are given indiscriminately from different
verses, so as to make the whole an entire verse with regard to its
meaning; or arranging the words of a verse written irregularly by
separating the vowels from the consonants, or leaving them out
altogether; or putting into verse or prose sentences represented
by signs or symbols. There are many other such exercises.
* Composing poems
* Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies
* Knowledge of ways of changing and disguising the appearance of
persons
* Knowledge of the art of changing the appearance of things, such as
making cotton to appear as silk, coarse and common things to
appear as fine and good
* Various ways of gambling
* Art of obtaining possession of the property of others by means of
muntras or incantations
* Skill in youthful sports
* Knowledge of the rules of society, and of how to pay respect and
compliments to others
* Knowledge of the art of war, of arms, of armies, etc.
* Knowledge of gymnastics
* Art of knowing the character of a man from his features
* Knowledge of scanning or constructing verses
* Arithmetical recreations
* Making artificial flowers
* Making figures and images in clay
A public woman, endowed with a good disposition, beauty and other
winning qualities, and also versed in the above arts, obtains the name
of a Ganika, or public woman of high quality, and receives a seat of
honour in an assemblage of men. She is, moreover, always respected by
the king, and praised by learned men, and her favour being sought for
by all, she becomes an object of universal regard. The daughter of a
king too as well as the daughter of a minister, being learned in the
above arts, can make their husbands favourable to them, even though
these may have thousands of other wives besides themselves. And in the
same manner, if a wife becomes separated from her husband, and falls
into distress, she can support herself easily, even in a foreign
country, by means of her knowledge of these arts. Even the bare
knowledge of them gives attractiveness to a woman, though the practice
of them may be only possible or otherwise according to the
circumstances of each case. A man who is versed in these arts, who is
loquacious and acquainted with the arts of gallantry, gains very soon
the hearts of women, even though he is only acquainted with them for a
short time.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
The author wishes to prove that a great many things are done by
people from practice and custom, without their being acquainted
with the reason of things, or the laws on which they are based,
and this is perfectly true.
2
The proviso of being married applies to all the teachers.
CHAPTER 4
THE LIFE OF A CITIZEN
HAVING thus acquired learning, a man, with the wealth that he may have
gained by gift, conquest, purchase, deposit,1 or inheritance from his
ancestors, should become a householder, and pass the life of a
citizen.2 He should take a house in a city, or large village, or in
the vicinity of good men, or in a place which is the resort of many
persons. This abode should be situated near some water, and divided
into different compartments for different purposes. It should be
surrounded by a garden, and also contain two rooms, an outer and an
inner one. The inner room should be occupied by the females, while the
outer room, balmy with rich perfumes, should contain a bed, soft,
agreeable to the sight, covered with a clean white cloth, low in the
middle part, having garlands and bunches of flowers3 upon it, and a
canopy above it, and two pillows, one at the top, another at the
bottom. There should be also a sort of couch besides, and at the head
of this a sort of stool, on which should be placed the fragrant
ointments for the night, as well as flowers, pots containing collyrium
and other fragrant substances, things used for perfuming the mouth,
and the bark of the common citron tree. Near the couch, on the ground,
there should be a pot for spitting, a box containing ornaments, and
also a lute hanging from a peg made of the tooth of an elephant, a
board for drawing, a pot containing perfume, some books, and some
garlands of the yellow amaranth flowers. Not far from the couch, and
on the ground, there should be a round seat, a toy cart, and a board
for playing with dice; outside the outer room there should be cages of
birds,4 and a separate place for spinning, carving and such like
diversions. In the garden there should be a whirling swing and a
common swing, as also a bower of creepers covered with flowers, in
which a raised parterre should be made for sitting.
Now the householder, having got up in the morning and performed his
necessary duties,5 should wash his teeth, apply a limited quantity of
ointments and perfumes to his body, put some ornaments on his person
and collyrium on his eyelids and below his eyes, colour his lips with
alacktaka,6 and look at himself in the glass. Having then eaten betel
leaves, with other things that give fragrance to the mouth, he should
perform his usual business. He should bathe daily, anoint his body
with oil every other day, apply a lathering substance7 to his body
every three days, get his head (including face) shaved every four days
and the other parts of his body every five or ten days.8 All these
things should be done without fail, and the sweat of the armpits
should also be removed. Meals should be taken in the forenoon, in the
afternoon, and again at night, according to Charayana. After
breakfast, parrots and other birds should be taught to speak, and the
fighting of cocks, quails, and rams should follow. A limited time
should be devoted to diversions with Pithamardas, Vitas, and
Vidushakas,9 and then should be taken the midday sleep.10 After this
the householder, having put on his clothes and ornaments, should,
during the afternoon, converse with his friends. In the evening there
should be singing, and after that the householder, along with his
friend, should await in his room, previously decorated and perfumed,
the arrival of the woman that may be attached to him, or he may send a
female messenger for her, or go for her himself. After her arrival at
his house, he and his friend should welcome her, and entertain her
with a loving and agreeable conversation. Thus end the duties of the
day.
The following are the things to be done occasionally as diversions or
amusements:
* Holding festivals11 in honour of different Deities
* Social gatherings of both sexes
* Drinking parties
* Picnics
* Other social diversions
Festivals
On some particular auspicious day, an assembly of citizens should be
convened in the temple of Saraswati.12 There the skill of singers, and
of others who may have come recently to the town, should be tested,
and on the following day they should always be given some rewards.
After that they may either be retained or dismissed, according as
their performances are liked or not by the assembly. The members of
the assembly should act in concert, both in times of distress as well
as in times of prosperity, and it is also the duty of these citizens
to show hospitality to strangers who may have come to the assembly.
What is said above should be understood to apply to all the other
festivals which may be held in honour of the different Deities,
according to the present rules.
Social Gatherings
When men of the same age, disposition and talents, fond of the same
diversions and with the same degree of education, sit together in
company with public women,13 or in an assembly of citizens, or at the
abode of one among themselves, and engage in agreeable discourse with
each other, such is called a Sitting in company or a social gathering.
The subjects of discourse are to be the completion of verses half
composed by others, and the testing the knowledge of one another in
the various arts. The women who may be the most beautiful, who may
like the same things that the men like, and who may have power to
attract the minds of others, are here done homage to.
Drinking Parties
Men and women should drink in one another's houses. And here the men
should cause the public women to drink, and should then drink
themselves, liquors such as the Madhu, Aireya, Sara and Asawa, which
are of bitter and sour taste; also drinks concocted from the barks of
various trees, wild fruits and leaves.
Going to Gardens or Picnics
In the forenoon, men having dressed themselves should go to gardens on
horseback, accompanied by public women and followed by servants. And
having done there all the duties of the day, and passed the time in
various agreeable diversions, such as the fighting of quails, cocks
and rams, and other spectacles, they should return home in the
afternoon in the same manner, bringing with them bunches of flowers,
etc.
The same also applies to bathing in summer in water from which wicked
or dangerous animals have previously been taken out, and which has
been built in on all sides.
Other Social Diversions
Spending nights playing with dice. Going out on moonlight nights.
Keeping the festive day in honour of spring. Plucking the sprouts and
fruits of the mango trees. Eating the fibres of lotuses. Eating the
tender ears of corn. Picnicing in the forests when the trees get their
new foliage. The Udakakashvedika or sporting in the water. Decorating
each other with the flowers of some trees. Pelting each other with the
flowers of the Kadamba tree, and many other sports which may either be
known to the whole country, or may be peculiar to particular parts of
it. These and similar other amusements should always be carried on by
citizens.
The above amusements should be followed by a person who diverts
himself alone in company with a courtesan, as well as by a courtesan
who can do the same in company with her maid servants or with
citizens.
A Pithamarda14 is a man without wealth, alone in the world, whose only
property consists of his Mallika,15 some lathering substance and a red
cloth, who comes from a good country, and who is skilled in all the
arts; and by teaching these arts is received in the company of
citizens, and in the abode of public women.
A Vita16 is a man who has enjoyed the pleasures of fortune, who is a
compatriot of the citizens with whom he associates, who is possessed
of the qualities of a houseliolder, who has his wife with him, and who
is honoured in the assembly of citizens and in the abodes of public
women, and lives on their means and on them. A Vidushaka17 (also
called a Vaihasaka, i.e. one who provokes laughter) is a person only
acquainted with some of the arts, who is a jester, and who is trusted
by all.
These persons are employed in matters of quarrels and reconciliations
between citizens and public women.
This remark applies also to female beggars, to women with their heads
shaved, to adulterous women, and to public women skilled in all the
various arts.
Thus a citizen living in his town or village, respected by all, should
call on the persons of his own caste who may be worth knowing. He
should converse in company and gratify his friends by his society, and
obliging others by his assistance in various matters, he should cause
them to assist one another in the same way.
There are some verses on this subject as follows:
`A citizen discoursing, not entirely in the Sanscrit language,18 nor
wholly in the dialects of the country, on various topics in society,
obtains great respect. The wise should not resort to a society
disliked by the public, governed by no rules, and intent on the
destruction of others. But a learned man living in a society which
acts according to the wishes of the people, and which has pleasure for
its only object is highly respected in this world.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
Gift is peculiar to a Brahman, conquest to a Kshatrya, while
purchase, deposit, and other means of acquiring wealth belongs
to the Vaishya.
2
This term would appear to apply generally to an inhabitant of
Hindoostan. it is not meant only for a dweller in a city, like
the Latin Urbanus as opposed to Rusticus.
3
Natural garden flowers.
4
Such as quails, partridges, parrots, starlings, etc.
5
The calls of nature are always performed by the Hindoos the
first thing in the morning.
6
A colour made from lac.
7
This would act instead of soap, which was not introduced until
the rule of the Mahomedans.
8
Ten days are allowed when the hair is taken out with a pair of
pincers.
9
These are characters generally introduced in the Hindoo drama;
their characteristics will be explained further on.
10
Noonday sleep is only allowed in summer, when the nights are
short.
11
These are very common in all parts of India.
12
In the `Asiatic Miscellany', and in Sir W. Jones's works, will
be found a spirited hymn addressed to this goddess, who is
adored as the patroness of the fine arts, especially of music
and rhetoric, as the inventress of the Sanscrit language, etc.
etc. She is the goddess of harmony, eloquence and language, and
is somewhat analogous to Minerva. For farther information about
her, see Edward Moor's Hindoo Pantheon.
13
The public women, or courtesans (Vesya), of the early Hindoos
have often been compared with the Hetera of the Greeks. The
subject is dealt with at some length in H. H. Wilson's Select
Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindoos, in two volumes,
Trubner and Co., 1871. It may be fairly considered that the
courtesan was one of the elements, and an important element
too, of early Hindoo society, and that her education and
intellect were both superior to that of the women of the
household. Wilson says, `By the Vesya or courtesan, however, we
are not to understand a female who has disregarded the
obligation of law or the precepts of virtue, but a character
reared by a state of manners unfriendly to the admission of
wedded females into society, and opening it only at the expense
of reputation to women who were trained for association with
men by personal and mental acquirements to which the matron was
a stranger.'
14
According to this description a Pithamarda would be a sort of
professor of all the arts, and as such received as the friend
and confidant of the citizen
15
A seat in the form of the letter T.
16
The Vita is supposed to represent somewhat the character of the
Parasite of the Greek comedy. It is possible that he was
retained about the person of the wealthy and dissipated as a
kind of private instructor, as well as an entertaining
companion.
17
Vidushaka is evidently the buffoon and jester. Wilson says of
him that he is the humble companion, not the servant, of a
prince or man of rank, and it is a curious peculiarity that he
is always a Brahman. He bears more affinity to Sancho Panza,
perhaps than any other character in western fiction, imitating
him in his combination of shrewdness and simplicity, his
fondness of good living and his love of ease. In the dramas of
intrigue he exhibits some of the talents of Mercury, but with
less activity and ingenuity, and occasionally suffers by his
interference. According to the technical definition of his
attributes he is to excite mirth by being ridiculous in person,
age, and attire.
18
This means, it is presumed, that the citizen should be
acquainted with several languages. The middle part of this
paragraph might apply to the Nihilists and Fenians of the day,
or to secret societies. It was perhaps a reference to the
Thugs.
CHAPTER 5
ABOUT THE KINDS OF WOMEN RESORTED TO BY THE CITIZENS, AND OF FRIENDS AND
MESSENGERS
WHEN Kama is practised by men of the four castes according to the
rules of the Holy Writ (i.e. by lawful marriage) with virgins of their
own caste, it then becomes a means of acquiring lawful progeny and
good fame, and it is not also opposed to the customs of the world. On
the contrary the practice of Kama with women of the higher castes, and
with those previously enjoyed by others, even though they be of the
same caste, is prohibited. But the practice of Kama with women of the
lower castes, with women excommunicated from their own caste, with
public women, and with women twice married,1 is neither enjoined nor
prohibited. The object of practising Kama with such women is pleasure
only.
Nayikas,2 therefore, are of three kinds, viz. maids, women twice
married, and public women. Gonikaputra has expressed an opinion that
there is a fourth kind of Nayika, viz. a woman who is resorted to on
some special occasion even though she be previously married to
another. These special occasions are when a man thinks thus:
This woman is self-willed, and has been previously enjoyed by many
others besides myself. I may, therefore, safely resort to her as to
a public woman though she belongs to a higher caste than mine, and,
in so doing, I shall not be violating the ordinances of Dharma.
Or thus:
This is a twice-married woman and has been enjoyed by others before
me; there is, therefore, no objection to my resorting to her.
Or thus:
This woman has gained the heart of her great and powerful husband,
and exercises a mastery over him, who is a friend of my enemy; if,
therefore, she becomes united with me she will cause her husband to
abandon my enemy.
Or thus:
This woman will turn the mind of her husband, who is very powerful,
in my favour, he being at present disaffected towards me, and
intent on doing me some harm.
Or thus:
By making this woman my friend I shall gain the object of some
friend of mine, or shall be able to effect the ruin of some enemy,
or shall accomplish some other difficult purpose.
Or thus:
By being united with this woman, I shall kill her husband, and so
obtain his vast riches which I covet.
Or thus:
The union of this woman with me is not attended with any danger,
and will bring me wealth, of which, on account of my poverty and
inability to support myself, I am very much in need. I shall
therefore obtain her vast riches in this way without any
difficulty.
Or thus:
This woman loves me ardently, and knows all my weak points; if
therefore, I am unwilling to be united with her, she will make my
faults public, and thus tarnish my character and reputation. Or she
will bring some gross accusation against me, of which it may be
hard to clear myself, and I shall be ruined. Or perhaps she will
detach from me her husband who is powerful, and yet under her
control, and will unite him to my enemy, or will herself join the
latter.
Or thus:
The husband of this woman has violated the chastity of my wives, I
shall therefore return that injury by seducing his wives.
Or thus:
By the help of this woman I shall kill an enemy of the king, who
has taken shelter with her, and whom I am ordered by the king to
destroy.
Or thus:
The woman whom I love is under the control of this woman. I shall,
through the influence of the latter, be able to get at the former.
Or thus:
This woman will bring to me a maid, who possesses wealth and
beauty, but who is hard to get at, and under the control of
another.
Or lastly thus:
My enemy is a friend of this woman's husband, I shall therefore
cause her to join him, and will thus create an enmity between her
husband and him.
For these and similar other reasons the wives of other men may be
resorted to, but it must be distinctly understood that is only allowed
for special reasons, and not for mere carnal desire.
Charayana thinks that under these circumstances there is also a fifth
kind of Nayika, viz. a woman who is kept by a minister, or who repairs
to him occasionally; or a widow who accomplishes the purpose of a man
with the person to whom she resorts.
Suvarnanabha adds that a woman who passes the life of an ascetic and
in the condition of a widow may be considered as a sixth kind of
Nayika.
Ghotakamukha says that the daughter of a public woman, and a female
servant, who are still virgins, form a seventh kind of Nayika.
Gonardiya puts forth his doctrine that any woman born of good family,
after she has come of age, is an eighth kind of Nayika.
But these four latter kinds of Nayikas do not differ much from the
first four kinds of them, as there is no separate object in resorting
to them. Therefore, Vatsyayana is of opinion that there are only four
kinds of Nayikas, i.e. the maid, the twice-married woman, the public
woman, and the woman resorted to for a special purpose.
The following women are not to be enjoyed:
* A leper
* A lunatic
* A woman turned out of caste
* A woman who reveals secrets
* A woman who publicly expresses desire for sexual intercourse
* A woman who is extremely white
* A woman who is extremely black
* A bad-smelling woman
* A woman who is a near relation
* A woman who is a female friend
* A woman who leads the life of an ascetic
* And, lastly the wife of a relation, of a friend, of a learned
Brahman, and of the king
The followers of Babhravya say that any woman who has been enjoyed by
five men is a fit and proper person to be enjoyed. But Gonikaputra is
of opinion that even when this is the case, the wives of a relation,
of a learned Brahman and of a king should be excepted.
The following are of the kind of friends:
* One who has played with you in the dust, i.e. in childhood
* One who is bound by an obligation
* One who is of the same disposition and fond of the same things
* One who is a fellow student
* One who is acquainted with your secrets and faults, and whose
faults and secrets are also known to you
* One who is a child of your nurse
* One who is brought up with you one who is an hereditary friend
These friends should possess the following qualities:
* They should tell the truth
* They should not be changed by time
* They should be favourable to your designs
* They should be firm
* They should be free from covetousness
* They should not be capable of being gained over by others
* They should not reveal your secrets
Charayana says that citizens form friendship with washermen, barbers,
cowherds, florists, druggists, betel-leaf sellers, tavern keepers,
beggars, Pithamardas, Vitas and Vidushekas, as also with the wives of
all these people.
A messenger should possess the following qualities:
* Skilfulness
* Boldness
* Knowledge of the intention of men by their outward signs
* Absence of confusion, i.e. no shyness
* Knowledge of the exact meaning of what others do or say
* Good manners
* Knowledge of appropriate times and places for doing different
things
* Ingenuity in business
* Quick comprehension
* Quick application of remedies, i.e. quick and ready resources
And this part ends with a verse:
`The man who is ingenious and wise, who is accompanied by a friend,
and who knows the intentions of others, as also the proper time and
place for doing everything, can gain over, very easily, even a
woman who is very hard to be obtained.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
This term does not apply to a widow, but to a woman who has
probably left her husband, and is living with some other person
as a married woman, maritalement, as they say in France.
2
Any woman fit to be enjoyed without sin. The object of the
enjoyment of women is twofold, viz. pleasure and progeny. Any
woman who can be enjoyed without sin for the purpose of
accomplishing either the one or the other of these two objects
is a Nayika. The fourth kind of Nayika which Vatsya admits
further on is neither enjoyed for pleasure or for progeny, but
merely for accomplishing some special purpose in hand. The word
Nayika is retained as a technical term throughout.
CHAPTER I
KINDS OF SEXUAL UNION ACCORDING TO DIMENSIONS, FORCE OF DESIRE OR PASSION,
TIME
Kind of Union
MAN is divided into three classes, viz. the hare man, the bull man,
and the horse man, according to the size of his lingam.
Woman also, according to the depth of her yoni, is either a female
deer, a mare, or a female elephant.
There are thus three equal unions between persons of corresponding
dimensions, and there are six unequal unions, when the dimensions do
not correspond, or nine in all, as the following table shows:
EQUAL UNEQUAL
MEN WOMEN MEN WOMEN
Hare Deer Hare Mare
Bull Mare Hare Elephant
Horse Elephant Bull Deer
Bull Elephant
Horse Deer
Horse Mare
In these unequal unions, when the male exceeds the female in point of
size, his union with a woman who is immediately next to him in size is
called high union, and is of two kinds; while his union with the woman
most remote from his size is called the highest union, and is of one
kind only. On the other hand, when the female exceeds the male in
point of size, her union with a man immediately next to her in size is
called low union, and is of two kinds; while her union with a man most
remote from her in size is called the lowest union, and is of one kind
only.
In other words, the horse and mare, the bull and deer, form the high
union, while the horse and deer form the highest union. On the female
side, the elephant and bull, the mare and hare, form low unions, while
the elephant has and the hare make the lowest unions. There are, then,
nine kinds of union according to dimensions. Amongst all these, equal
unions are the best, those of a superlative degree, i.e. the highest
and the lowest, are the worst, and the rest are middling, and with
them the high1 are better than the low.
There are also nine kinds of union according to the force of passion
or carnal desire, as follows:
MEN WOMEN MEN WOMEN
Small Small Small Middling
Middling Middling Small Intense
Intense Intense Middling Small
Middling Intense
Intense Small
Intense Middling
A man is called a man of small passion whose desire at the time of
sexual union is not great, whose semen is scanty, and who cannot bear
the warm embraces of the female.
Those who differ from this temperament are called men of middling
passion, while those of intense passion are full of desire.
In the same way, women are supposed to have the three degrees of
feeling as specified above.
Lastly, according to time there are three kinds of men and women, the
short-timed, the moderate-timed, and the long-timed; and of these, as
in the previous statements, there are nine kinds of union.
But on this last head there is a difference of opinion about the
female, which should be stated.
Auddalika says, `Females do not emit as males do. The males simply
remove their desire, while the females, from their consciousness of
desire, feel a certain kind of pleasure, which gives them
satisfaction, but it is impossible for them to tell you what kind of
pleasure they feel. The fact from which this becomes evident is, that
males, when engaged in coition, cease of themselves after emission,
and are satisfied, but it is not so with females.'
This opinion is however objected to on the grounds that, if a male be
a long-timed, the female loves him the more, but if he be short-timed,
she is dissatisfied with him. And this circumstance, some say, would
prove that the female emits also.
But this opinion does not hold good, for if it takes a long time to
allay a woman's desire, and during this time she is enjoying great
pleasure, it is quite natural then that she should wish for its
continuation. And on this subject there is a verse as follows:
`By union with men the lust, desire, or passion of women is satisfied,
and the pleasure derived from the consciousness of it is called their
satisfaction.'
The followers of Babhravya, however, say that the semen of women
continues to fall from the beginning of the sexual union to its end,
and it is right that it should be so, for if they had no semen there
would be no embryo.
To this there is an objection. In the beginning of coition the passion
of the woman is middling, and she cannot bear the vigorous thrusts of
her lover, but by degrees her passion increases until she ceases to
think about her body, and then finally she wishes to stop from further
coition.
This objection, however, does not hold good, for even in ordinary
things that revolve with great force, such as a potter's wheel, or a
top, we find that the motion at first is slow, but by degrees it
becomes very rapid. In the same way the passion of the woman having
gradually increased, she has a desire to discontinue coition, when all
the semen has fallen away. And there is a verse with regard to this as
follows:
`The fall of the semen of the man takes place only at the end of
coition, while the semen of the woman falls continually, and after the
semen of both has all fallen away then they wish for the
discontinuance of coition.'2
Lastly, Vatsyayana is of opinion that the semen of the female falls in
the same way as that of the male.
Now some may ask here: If men and women are beings of the same kind,
and are engaged in bringing about the same results, why should they
have different works to do?
Vatsya says that this is so, because the ways of working as well as
the consciousness of pleasure in men and women are different. The
difference in the ways of working, by which men are the actors, and
women are the persons acted upon, is owing to the nature of the male
and the female, otherwise the actor would be sometimes the person
acted upon, and vice versa. And from this difference in the ways of
working follows the difference in the consciousness of pleasure, for a
man thinks, `this woman is united with me', and a woman thinks, `I am
united with this man'.
It may be said that, if the ways of working in men and women are
different, why should not there be a difference, even in the pleasure
they feel, and which is the result of those ways.
But this objection is groundless, for, the person acting and the
person acted upon being of different kinds, there is a reason for the
difference in their ways of working; but there is no reason for any
difference in the pleasure they feel, because they both naturally
derive pleasure from the act they perform.3
On this again some may say that when different persons are engaged in
doing the same work, we find that they accomplish the same end or
purpose; while, on the contrary, in the case of men and women we find
that each of them accomplishes his or her own end separately, and this
is inconsistent. But this is a mistake, for we find that sometimes two
things are done at the same time, as for instance in the fighting of
rams, both the rams receive the shock at the same time on their heads.
Again, in throwing one wood apple against another, and also in a fight
or struggle of wrestlers. If it be said that in these cases the things
employed are of the same kind, it is answered that even in the case of
men and women, the nature of the two persons is the same. And as the
difference in their ways of working arises from the difference of
their conformation only, it follows that men experience the same kind
of pleasure as women do.
There is also a verse on this subject as follows:
`Men and women, being of the same nature, feel the same kind of
pleasure, and therefore a man should marry such a woman as will love
him ever afterwards.'
The pleasure of men and women being thus proved to be of the same
kind, it follows that, in regard to time, there are nine kinds of
sexual intercourse, in the same way as there are nine kinds, according
to the force of passion.
There being thus nine kinds of union with regard to dimensions, force
of passion, and time, respectively, by making combinations of them,
innumerable kinds of union would be produced. Therefore in each
particular kind of sexual union, men should use such means as they may
think suitable for the occasion.4
At the first time of sexual union the passion of the male is intense,
and his time is short, but in subsequent unions on the same day the
reverse of this is the case. With the female, however, it is the
contrary, for at the first time her passion is weak, and then her time
long, but on subsequent occasions on the same day, her passion is
intense and her time short, until her passion is satisfied.
On the different Kind of Love
Men learned in the humanities are of opinion that love is of four
kinds:
Love acquired by continual habit
Love resulting from the imagination
Love resulting from belief
Love resulting from the perception of external objects
Love resulting from the constant and continual performance of some act
is called love acquired by constant practice and habit, as for
instance the love of sexual intercourse, the love of hunting, the love
of drinking, the love of gambling, etc., etc.
Love which is felt for things to which we are not habituated, and
which proceeds entirely from ideas, is called love resulting from
imagination, as for instance that love which some men and women and
eunuchs feel for the Auparishtaka or mouth congress, and that which is
felt by all for such things as embracing, kissing, etc., etc.
The love which is mutual on both sides, and proved to be true, when
each looks upon the other as his or her very own, such is called love
resulting from belief by the learned.
The love resulting from the perception of external objects is quite
evident and well known to the world. because the pleasure which it
affords is superior to the pleasure of the other kinds of love, which
exists only for its sake.
What has been said in this chapter upon the subject of sexual union is
sufficient for the learned; but for the edification of the ignorant,
the same will now be treated of at length and in detail.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
High unions are said to be better than low ones, for in the
former it is possible for the male to satisfy his own passion
without injuring the female, while in the latter it is
difficult for the female to be satisfied by any means.
2
The strength of passion with women varies a great deal, some
being easily satisfied, and others eager and willing to go on
for a long time. To satisfy these last thoroughly a man must
have recourse to art. It is certain that a fluid flows from the
woman in larger or smaller quantities, but her satisfaction is
not complete until she has experienced the `spasme génêtique',
as described in a French work recently published and called
Brevaire as l'Amour Experimental par le Dr Jules Guyot.
3
This is a long dissertation very common among Sanscrit authors,
both when writing and talking socially. They start certain
propositions, and then argue for and against them. What it is
presumed the author means is that, though both men and women
derive pleasure from the act of coition, the way it is produced
is brought about by different means, each individual performing
his own work in the matter, irrespective of the other, and each
deriving individually their own consciousness of pleasure from
the act they perform. There is a difference in the work that
each does, and a difference in the consciousness of pleasure
that each has, but no difference in the pleasure they feel, for
each feels that pleasure to a greater or lesser degree.
4
This paragraph should be particularly noted, for it specially
applies to married men and their wives. So many men utterly
ignore the feelings of the women, and never pay the slightest
attention to the passion of the latter. To understand the
subject thoroughly, it is absolutely necessary to study it, and
then a person will know that, as dough is prepared for baking,
so must a woman be prepared for sexual intercourse, if she is
to derive satisfaction from it,
CHAPTER II
OF THE EMBRACE
THIS part of the Kama Shastra, which treats of sexual union, is also
called `Sixty-four' (Chatushshashti). Some old authors say that it is
called so, because it contains sixty-four chapters. Others are of
opinion that the author of this part being a person named Panchala,
and the person who recited the part of the Rig Veda called Dashatapa,
which contains sixty-four verses, being also called Panchala, the name
`sixty-four' has been given to the part of the work in honour of the
Rig Vedas. The followers of Babhravya say on the other hand that this
part contains eight subjects, viz. the embrace, kissing, scratching
with the nails or fingers, biting, lying down, making various sounds,
playing the part of a man, and the Auparishtaka, or mouth congress.
Each of these subjects being of eight kinds, and eight multiplied by
eight being sixty-four, this part is therefore named `sixty-four'. But
Vatsyayana affirms that as this part contains also the following
subjects, viz. striking, crying, the acts of a man during congress,
the various kinds of congress, and other subjects, the name
`sixty-four' is given to it only accidentally. As, for instance, we
say this tree is `Saptaparna', or seven-leaved, this offering of rice
is `Panchavarna', or five-coloured, but the tree has not seven leaves,
neither has the rice five colours.
However the part sixty-four is now treated of, and the embrace, being
the first subject, will now be considered.
Now the embrace which indicates the mutual love of a man and woman who
have come together is of four kinds:
Touching
Rubbing
Piercing
Pressing
The action in each case is denoted by the meaning of the word which
stands for it.
When a man under some pretext or other goes in front or alongside of a
woman and touches her body with his own, it is called the `touching
embrace'.
When a woman in a lonely place bends down, as if to pick up something,
and pierces, as it were, a man sitting or standing, with her breasts,
and the man in return takes hold of them, it is called a `piercing
embrace'.
The above two kinds of embrace take place only between persons who do
not, as yet, speak freely with each other.
When two lovers are walking slowly together, either in the dark, or in
a place of public resort, or in a lonely place, and rub their bodies
against each other, it is called a `rubbing embrace'.
When on the above occasion one of them presses the other's body
forcibly against a wall or pillar, it is called a `pressing embrace'.
These two last embraces are peculiar to those who know the intentions
of each other.
At the time of the meeting the four following kinds of embrace are
used:
Jataveshtitaka, or the twining of a creeper.
Vrikshadhirudhaka, or climbing a tree.
Tila-Tandulaka, or the mixture of sesamum seed with rice.
Kshiraniraka, or milk and water embrace.
When a woman, clinging to a man as a creeper twines round a tree,
bends his head down to hers with the desire of kissing him and
slightly makes the sound of sut sut, embraces him, and looks lovingly
towards him, it is called an embrace like the `twining of a creeper'.
When a woman, having placed one of her feet on the foot of her lover,
and the other on one of his thighs, passes one of her arms round his
back, and the other on his shoulders, makes slightly the sounds of
singing and cooing, and wishes, as it were, to climb up him in order
to have a kiss, it is called an embrace like the `climbing of a tree'.
These two kinds of embrace take place when the lover is standing.
When lovers lie on a bed, and embrace each other so closely that the
arms and thighs of the one are encircled by the arms and thighs of the
other, and are, as it were, rubbing up against them, this is called an
embrace like `the mixture of sesamum seed with rice'.
When a man and a woman are very much in love with each other, and, not
thinking of any pain or hurt, embrace each other as if they were
entering into each other's bodies either while the woman is sitting on
the lap of the man, or in front of him, or on a bed, then it is called
an embrace like a `mixture of milk and water'.
These two kinds of embrace take place at the time of sexual union.
Babhravya has thus related to us the above eight kinds of embraces.
Suvarnanabha moreover gives us four ways of embracing simple members
of the body, which are:
The embrace of the thighs.
The embrace of the jaghana, i.e. the part of the body from the navel
downwards to the thighs.
The embrace of the breasts.
The embrace of the forehead.
When one of two lovers presses forcibly one or both of the thighs of
the other between his or her own, it is called the `embrace of
thighs'.
When a man presses the jaghana or middle part of the woman's body
against his own, and mounts upon her to practise, either scratching
with the nail or finger, or biting, or striking, or kissing, the hair
of the woman being loose and flowing, it is called the `embrace of the
jaghana'.
When a man places his breast between the breasts of a of Vatsyayana
woman and presses her with it, it is called the `embrace of the
breasts'.
When either of the lovers touches the mouth, the eyes and the forehead
of the other with his or her own, it is called the `embrace of the
forehead'.
Some say that even shampooing is a kind of embrace, because there is a
touching of bodies in it. But Vatsyayana thinks that shampooing is
performed at a different time, and for a different purpose, and it is
also of a different character, it cannot be said to be included in the
embrace.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`The whole subject of embracing is of such a nature that men who ask
questions about it, or who hear about it, or who talk about it,
acquire thereby a desire for enjoyment. Even those embraces that are
not mentioned in the Kama Shastra should be practised at the time of
sexual enjoyment, if they are in any way conducive to the increase of
love or passion. The rules of the Shastra apply so long as the passion
of man is middling, but when the wheel of love is once set in motion,
there is then no Shastra and no order.'
CHAPTER III
ON KISSING
IT is said by some that there is no fixed time or order between the
embrace, the kiss, and the pressing or scratching with the nails or
fingers, but that all these things should be done generally before
sexual union takes place, while striking and making the various sounds
generally takes place at the time of the union. Vatsyayana, however,
thinks that anything may take place at any time, for love does not
care for time or order.
On the occasion of the first congress, kissing and the other things
mentioned above should be done moderately, they should not be
continued for a long time, and should be done alternately. On
subsequent occasions, however, the reverse of all this may take place,
and moderation will not be necessary, they may continue for a long
time, and, for the purpose of kindling love, they may be all done at
the same time.
The following are the places for kissing: the forehead, the eyes, the
cheeks, the throat, the bosom, the breasts, the lips, and the interior
of the mouth. Moreover the people of the Lat country kiss also on the
following places: the joints of the thighs, the arms and the navel.
But Vatsyayana thinks that though kissing is practised by these people
in the above places on account of the intensity of their love, and the
customs of their country, it is not fit to be practised by all.
Now in a case of a young girl there are three sorts of kisses:
The nominal kiss
The throbbing kiss
The touching kiss
When a girl only touches the mouth of her lover with her own, but does
not herself do anything, it is called the `nominal kiss'.
When a girl, setting aside her bashfulness a little, wishes to touch
the lip that is pressed into her mouth, and with that object moves her
lower lip, but not the upper one, it is called the `throbbing kiss'.
When a girl touches her lover's lip with her tongue, and having shut
her eyes, places her hands on those of her lover, it is called the
`touching kiss'.
Other authors describe four other kinds of kisses:
The straight kiss
The bent kiss
The turned kiss
The pressed kiss
When the lips of two lovers are brought into direct contact with each
other, it is called a `straight kiss'.
When the heads of two lovers are bent towards each other, and when so
bent, kissing takes place, it is called a `bent kiss'.
When one of them turns up the face of the other by holding the head
and chin, and then kissing, it is called a `turned kiss'.
Lastly when the lower lip is pressed with much force, it is called a
`pressed kiss'.
There is also a fifth kind of kiss called the `greatly pressed kiss',
which is effected by taking hold of the lower lip between two fingers,
and then, after touching it with the tongue, pressing it with great
force with the lip.
As regards kissing, a wager may be laid as to which will get hold of
the lips of the other first. If the woman loses, she should pretend to
cry, should keep her lover off by shaking her hands, and turn away
from him and dispute with him saying, `let another wager be laid'. If
she loses this a second time, she should appear doubly distressed, and
when her lover is off his guard or asleep, she should get hold of his
lower lip, and hold it in her teeth, so that it should not slip away,
and then she should laugh, make a loud noise, deride him, dance about,
and say whatever she likes in a joking way, moving her eyebrows and
rolling her eyes. Such are the wagers and quarrels as far as kissing
is concerned, but the same may be applied with regard to the pressing
or scratching with the nails and fingers, biting and striking. All
these however are only peculiar to men and women of intense passion.
When a man kisses the upper lip of a woman, while she in return kisses
his lower lip, it is called the `kiss of the upper lip'.
When one of them takes both the lips of the other between his or her
own, it is called `a clasping kiss'. A woman, however, only takes this
kind of kiss from a man who has no moustache. And on the occasion of
this kiss, if one of them touches the teeth, the tongue, and the
palate of the other, with his or her tongue, it is called the
`fighting of the tongue'. In the same way, the pressing of the teeth
of the one against the mouth of the other is to be practised.
Kissing is of four kinds: moderate, contracted, pressed, and soft,
according to the different parts of the body which are kissed, for
different kinds of kisses are appropriate for different parts of the
body.
When a woman looks at the face of her lover while he is asleep and
kisses it to show her intention or desire, it is called a `kiss that
kindles love'.
When a woman kisses her lover while he is engaged in business, or
while he is quarrelling with her, or while he is looking at something
else, so that his mind may be turned away, it is called a `kiss that
turns away'.
When a lover coming home late at night kisses his beloved, who is
asleep on her bed, in order to show her his desire, it is called a
`kiss that awakens'. On such an occasion the woman may pretend to be
asleep at the time of her lover's arrival, so that she may know his
intention and obtain respect from him.
When a person kisses the reflection of the person he loves in a
mirror, in water, or on a wall, it is called a `kiss showing the
intention'.
When a person kisses a child sitting on his lap, or a picture, or an
image, or figure, in the presence of the person beloved by him, it is
called a `transferred kiss'.
When at night at a theatre, or in an assembly of caste men, a man
coming up to a woman kisses a finger of her hand if she be standing,
or a toe of her foot if she be sitting, or when a woman is shampooing
her lover's body, places her face on his thigh (as if she was sleepy)
so as to inflame his passion, and kisses his thigh or great toe, it is
called a `demonstrative kiss'.
There is also a verse on this subject as follows:
`Whatever things may be done by one of the lovers to the other, the
same should be returned by the other, i.e. if the woman kisses him he
should kiss her in return, if she strikes him he should also strike
her in return.'
CHAPTER IV
ON PRESSING, OR MARKING, OR SCRATCHING WITH THE NAILS
WHEN love becomes intense, pressing with the nails or scratching the
body with them is practised, and it is done on the following
occasions: on the first visit; at the time of setting out on a
journey; on the return from a journey; at the time when an angry lover
is reconciled; and lastly when the woman is intoxicated.
But pressing with the nails is not a usual thing except with those who
are intensely passionate, i.e. full of passion. It is employed,
together with biting, by those to whom the practice is agreeable.
Pressing with the nails is of the eight following kinds, according to
the forms of the marks which are produced:
* Sounding
* Half moon
* A circle
* A line
* A tiger's nail or claw
* A peacock's foot
* The jump of a hare
* The leaf of a blue lotus
The places that are to be pressed with the nails are as follows: the
arm pit, the throat, the breasts, the lips, the jaghana, or middle
parts of the body, and the thighs. But Suvarnanabha is of opinion that
when the impetuosity of passion is excessive, the places need not be
considered.
The qualities of good nails are that they should be bright, well set,
clean, entire, convex, soft, and glossy in appearance. Nails are of
three kinds according to their size:
Small
Middling
Large
Large nails, which give grace to the hands, and attract the hearts of
women from their appearance, are possessed by the Bengalees.
Small nails, which can be used in various ways, and are to be applied
only with the object of giving pleasure, are possessed by the people
of the southern districts.
Middling nails, which contain the properties of both the above kinds,
belong to the people of the Maharashtra.
When a person presses the chin, the breasts, the lower lip, or the
jaghana of another so softly that no scratch or mark is left, but only
the hair on the body becomes erect from the touch of the nails, and
the nails themselves make a sound, it is called a `sounding or
pressing with the nails'.
This pressing is used in the case of a young girl when her lover
shampoos her, scratches her head, and wants to trouble or frighten
her.
The curved mark with the nails, which is impressed on the neck and the
breasts, is called the `half moon'.
When the half moons are impressed opposite to each other, it is called
a `circle'. This mark with the nails is generally made on the navel,
the small cavities about the buttocks, and on the joints of the thigh.
A mark in the form of a small line, and which can be made on any part
of the body, is called a `line'.
This same line, when it is curved, and made on the breast, is called a
`tiger's nail'.
When a curved mark is made on the breast by means of the five nails,
it is called a `peacock's foot'. This mark is made with the object of
being praised, for it requires a great deal of skill to make it
properly.
When five marks with the nails are made close to one another near the
nipple of the breast, it is called `the jump of a hare'.
A mark made on the breast or on the hips in the form of a leaf of the
blue lotus is called the `leaf of a blue lotus'.
When a person is going on a journey, and makes a mark on the thighs,
or on the breast, it is called a `token of remembrance'. On such an
occasion three or four lines are impressed close to one another with
the nails.
Here ends the marking with the nails. Marks of other kinds than the
above may also be made with the nails, for the ancient authors say
that, as there are innumerable degrees of skill among men (the
practice of this art being known to all), so there are innumerable
ways of making these marks. And as pressing or marking with the nails
is independent of love, no one can say with certainty how many
different kinds of marks with the nails do actually exist. The reason
of this is, Vatsyayana says, that as variety is necessary in love, so
love is to be Produced by means of variety. It is on this account that
courtesans, who are well acquainted with various ways and means,
become so desirable, for if variety is sought in all the arts and
amusements, such as archery and others, how much more should it be
sought after in the present case.
The marks of the nails should not be made on married women, but
particular kinds of marks may be made on their private parts for the
remembrance and increase of love.
There are also some verses on the subject, as follows:
`The love of a woman who sees the marks of nails on the private parts
of her body, even though they are old and almost worn out, becomes
again fresh and new. If there be no marks of nails to remind a person
of the passages of love, then love is lessened in the same way as when
no union takes place for a long time.'
Even when a stranger sees at a distance a young woman with the marks
of nails on her breast,1 he is filled with love and respect for her.
A man, also, who carries the marks of nails and teeth on some parts of
his body, influences the mind of a woman, even though it be ever so
firm. In short, nothing tends to increase love so much as the effects
of marking with the nails, and biting.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
From this it would appear that in ancient times the breasts of
women were not covered, and this is seen in the paintings of
the Ajunta and other caves, where we find that the breasts of
even royal ladies and others are exposed.
CHAPTER V
ON BITING, AND THE MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED WITH REGARD TO WOMEN OF DIFFERENT
COUNTRIES
ALL the places that can be kissed are also the places that can be
bitten, except the upper lip, the interior of the mouth, and the eyes.
The qualities of good teeth are as follows: They should be equal,
possessed of a pleasing brightness, capable of being coloured, of
proper proportions, unbroken, and with sharp ends.
The defects of teeth on the other hand are that they are blunt,
protruding from the gums, rough, soft, large, and loosely set.
The following are the different kinds of biting:
The hidden bite
The swollen bite
The point
The line of points
The coral and the jewel
The line of jewels
The broken cloud
The biting of the boar
The biting, which is shown only by the excessive redness of the skin
that is bitten, is called the `hidden bite'.
When the skin is pressed down on both sides, it is called the `swollen
bite'.
When a small portion of the skin is bitten with two teeth only, it is
called the `point'.
When such small portions of the skin are bitten with all the teeth, it
is called the `line of points'.
The biting, which is done by bringing together the teeth and the lips,
is called the `coral and the jewel'. The lip is the coral, and the
teeth the jewel.
When biting is done with all the teeth, it is called the `line of
jewels'.
The biting, which consists of unequal risings in a circle, and which
comes from the space between the teeth, is called the `broken cloud'.
This is impressed on the breasts.
The biting, which consists of many broad rows of marks near to one
another, and with red intervals, is called the `biting of a boar'.
This is impressed on the breasts and the shoulders; and these two last
modes of biting are peculiar to persons of intense passion.
The lower lip is the place on which the `hidden bite', the swollen
bite', and the `point' are made; again the `swollen bite' and the
`coral and the jewel' bite are done on the cheek. Kissing, pressing
with the nails, and biting are the ornaments of the left cheek, and
when the word cheek is used it is to be understood as the left cheek.
Both the `line of points' and the `line of jewels' are to be impressed
on the throat, the arm pit, and the joints of the thighs; but the
`line of points' alone is to be impressed on the forehead and the
thighs.
The marking with the nails, and the biting of the following things -
an ornament of the forehead, an ear ornament, a bunch of flowers, a
betel leaf, or a tamala leaf, which are worn by, or belong to the
woman that is beloved - are signs of the desire of enjoyment.
Here end the different kinds of biting.
In the affairs of love a man should do such things as are agreeable to
the women of different countries.
The women of the central countries (i.e. between the Ganges and the
Jumna) are noble in their character, not accustomed to disgraceful
practices, and dislike pressing the nails and biting.
The women of the Balhika country are gained over by striking.
The women of Avantika are fond of foul pleasures, and have not good
manners.
The women of the Maharashtra are fond of practising the sixty-four
arts, they utter low and harsh words, and like to be spoken to in the
same way, and have an impetuous desire of enjoyment.
The women of Pataliputra (i.e. the modern Patna) are of the same
nature as the women of the Maharashtra, but show their likings only in
secret.
The women of the Dravida country, though they are rubbed and pressed
about at the time of sexual enjoyment, have a slow fall of semen, that
is they are very slow in the act of coition.
The women of Vanavasi are moderately passionate, they go through every
kind of enjoyment, cover their bodies, and abuse those who utter low,
mean and harsh words.
The women of Avanti hate kissing, marking with the nails, and biting,
but they have a fondness for various kinds of sexual union.
The women of Malwa like embracing and kissing, but not wounding, and
they are gained over by striking.
The women of Abhira, and those of the country about the Indus and five
rivers (i.e. the Punjab), are gained over by the Auparishtaka or mouth
congress.
The women of Aparatika are full of passion, and make slowly the sound
`Sit'.
The women of the Lat country have even more impetuous desire, and also
make the sound `Sit'.
The women of the Stri Rajya, and of Koshola (Oude), are full of
impetuous desire, their semen falls in large quantities and they are
fond of taking medicine to make it do so.
The women of the Andhra country have tender bodies, they are fond of
enjoyment, and have a liking for voluptuous pleasures.
The women of Ganda have tender bodies, and speak sweetly.
Now Suvarnanabha is of opinion that that which is agreeable to the
nature of a particular person, is of more consequence than that which
is agreeable to a whole nation, and that therefore the peculiarities
of the country should not be observed in such cases. The various
pleasures, the dress, and the sports of one country are in time
borrowed by another, and in such a case these things must be
considered as belonging originally to that country.
Among the things mentioned above, viz. embracing, kissing, etc., those
which increase passion should be done first, and those which are only
for amusement or variety should be done afterwards.
There are also some verses on this subject as follows:
`When a man bites a woman forcibly, she should angrily do the same to
him with double force. Thus a "point" should be returned with a "line
of points", and a "line of points" with a "broken cloud", and if she
be excessively chafed, she should at once begin a love quarrel with
him. At such a time she should take hold of her lover by the hair, and
bend his head down, and kiss his lower lip, and then, being
intoxicated with love, she should shut her eyes and bite him in
various places. Even by day, and in a place of public resort, when her
lover shows her any mark that she may have inflicted on his body, she
should smile at the sight of it, and turning her face as if she were
going to chide him, she should show him with an angry look the marks
on her own body that have been made by him. Thus if men and women act
according to each other's liking, their love for each other will not
be lessened even in one hundred years.'
CHAPTER VI
OF THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF LYING DOWN, AND VARIOUS KINDS OF CONGRESS
On the occasion of a `high congress' the Mrigi (Deer) woman should lie
down in such a way as to widen her yoni, while in a `low congress' the
Hastini (Elephant) woman should lie down so as to contract hers. But
in an `equal congress' they should lie down in the natural position.
What is said above concerning the Mrigi and the Hastini applies also
to the Vadawa (Mare) woman. In a `low congress the woman should
particularly make use of medicine, to cause her desires to be
satisfied quickly.
The Deer-woman has the following three ways of lying down:
The widely opened position
The yawning position
The position of the wife of Indra
When she lowers her head and raises her middle parts, it is called the
`widely opened position'. At such a time the man should apply some
unguent, so as to make the entrance easy.
When she raises her thighs and keeps them wide apart and engages in
congress, it is called the `yawning position'.
When she places her thighs with her legs doubled on them upon her
sides, and thus engages in congress, it is called the position of
Indrani and this is learnt only by practice. The position is also
useful in the case of the `highest congress'.
The `clasping position' is used in `low congress', and in the `lowest
congress', together with the `pressing position', the `twining
position', and the `mare's position'.
When the legs of both the male and the female are stretched straight
out over each other, it is called the `clasping position'. It is of
two kinds, the side position and the supine position, according to the
way in which they lie down. In the side position the male should
invariably lie on his left side, and cause the woman to lie on her
right side, and this rule is to be observed in lying down with all
kinds of women.
When, after congress has begun in the clasping position, the woman
presses her lover with her thighs, it is called the `pressing
position'.
When the woman places one of her thighs across the thigh of her lover
it is called the `twining position'.
When a woman forcibly holds in her yoni the lingam after it is in, it
is called the `mare's position'. This is learnt by practice only, and
is chiefly found among the women of the Andhra country.
The above are the different ways of lying down, mentioned by
Babhravya. Suvarnanabha, however, gives the following in addition:
When the female raises both of her thighs straight up, it is called
the `rising position'.
When she raises both of her legs, and places them on her lover's
shoulders, it is called the `yawning position'.
When the legs are contracted, and thus held by the lover before his
bosom, it is called the `pressed position'.
When only one of her legs is stretched out, it is called the `half
pressed position'.
When the woman places one of her legs on her lover's shoulder, and
stretches the other out, and then places the latter on his shoulder,
and stretches out the other, and continues to do so alternately, it is
called the `splitting of a bamboo'.
When one of her legs is placed on the head, and the other is stretched
out, it is called the `fixing of a nail'. This is learnt by practice
only.
When both the legs of the woman are contracted, and placed on her
stomach, it is called the `crab's position'.
When the thighs are raised and placed one upon the other, it is called
the `packed position'.
When the shanks are placed one upon the other, it is called the
`lotus-like position'.
When a man, during congress, turns round, and enjoys the woman without
leaving her, while she embraces him round the back all the time, it is
called the `turning position', and is learnt only by practice.
Thus, says Suvarnanabha, these different ways of lying down, sitting,
and standing should be practised in water, because it is easy to do so
therein. But Vatsyayana is of opinion that congress in water is
improper, because it is prohibited by the religious law.
When a man and a woman support themselves on each other's bodies, or
on a wall, or pillar, and thus while standing engage in congress, it
is called the `supported congress'.
When a man supports himself against a wall, and the woman, sitting on
his hands joined together and held underneath her, throws her arms
round his neck, and putting her thighs alongside his waist, moves
herself by her feet, which are touching the wall against which the man
is leaning, it is called the `suspended congress'.
When a woman stands on her hands and feet like a quadruped, and her
lover mounts her like a bull, it is called the `congress of a cow'. At
this time everything that is ordinarily done on the bosom should be
done on the back.
In the same way can be carried on the congress of a dog, the congress
of a goat, the congress of a deer, the forcible mounting of an ass,
the congress of a cat, the jump of a tiger, the pressing of an
elephant, the rubbing of a boar, and the mounting of a horse. And in
all these cases the characteristics of these different animals should
be manifested by acting like them.
When a man enjoys two women at the same time, both of whom love him
equally, it is called the `united congress'.
When a man enjoys many women altogether, it is called the `congress of
a herd of cows'.
The following kinds of congress-sporting in water, or the congress of
an elephant with many female elephants which is said to take place
only in the water, the congress of a collection of goats, the congress
of a collection of deer take place in imitation of these animals.
In Gramaneri many young men enjoy a woman that may be married to one
of them, either one after the other, or at the same time. Thus one of
them holds her, another enjoys her, a third uses her mouth, a fourth
holds her middle part, and in this way they go on enjoying her several
parts alternately.
The same things can be done when several men are sitting in company
with one courtesan, or when one courtesan is alone with many men. In
the same way this can be done by the women of the king's harem when
they accidentally get hold of a man.
The people in the Southern countries have also a congress in the anus,
that is called the `lower congress'.
Thus ends the various kinds of congress. There are also two verses on
the subject as follows:
`An ingenious person should multiply the kinds of congress after the
fashion of the different kinds of beasts and of birds. For these
different kinds of congress, performed according to the usage of each
country, and the liking of each individual, generate love, friendship,
and respect in the hearts of women.'
CHAPTER VII
OF THE VARIOUS MODES OF STRIKING, AND OF THE SOUNDS APPROPRIATE TO THEM
SEXUAL intercourse can be compared to a quarrel, on account of the
contrarieties of love and its tendency to dispute. The place of
striking with passion is the body, and on the body the special places
are:
The shoulders
The head
The space between the breasts
The back
The jaghana, or middle part of the body
The sides
Striking is of four kinds:
Striking with the back of the hand
Striking with the fingers a little contracted
Striking with the fist
Striking with the open palm of the hand
On account of its causing pain, striking gives rise to the hissing
sound, which is of various kinds, and to the eight kinds of crying:
The sound Hin
The thundering sound
The cooing sound
The weeping sound
The sound Phut
The sound Phât
The sound Sût
The sound Plât
Besides these, there are also words having a meaning, such as
`mother', and those that are expressive of prohibition, sufficiency,
desire of liberation, pain or praise, and to which may be added sounds
like those of the dove, the cuckoo, the green pigeon, the parrot, the
bee, the sparrow, the flamingo, the duck, and the quail, which are all
occasionally made use of.
Blows with the fist should be given on the back of the woman while she
is sitting on the lap of the man, and she should give blows in return,
abusing the man as if she were angry, and making the cooing and the
weeping sounds. While the woman is engaged in congress the space
between the breasts should be struck with the back of the hand, slowly
at first, and then proportionately to the increasing excitement, until
the end.
At this time the sounds Hin and others may be made, alternately or
optionally, according to habit. When the man, making the sound Phât,
strikes the woman on the head, with the fingers of his hand a little
contracted, it is called Prasritaka, which means striking with the
fingers of the hand a little contracted. In this case the appropriate
sounds are the cooing sound, the sound Phât and the sound Phut in the
interior of the mouth, and at the end of congress the sighing and
weeping sounds. The sound Phât is an imitation of the sound of a
bamboo being split, while the sound Phut is like the sound made by
something falling into water. At all times when kissing and such like
things are begun, the woman should give a reply with a hissing sound.
During the excitement when the woman is not accustomed to striking,
she continually utters words expressive of prohibition, sufficiently,
or desire of liberation, as well as the words `father', `mother',
intermingled with the sighing, weeping and thundering sounds.1 Towards
the conclusion of the congress, the breasts, the jaghana, and the
sides of the woman should be pressed with the open palms of the hand,
with some force, until the end of it, and then sounds like those of
the quail or the goose should be made.
There are two verses on the subject as follows:
`The characteristics of manhood are said to consist of roughness and
impetuosity, while weakness, tenderness, sensibility, and an
inclination to turn away from unpleasant things are the distinguishing
marks of womanhood. The excitement of passion, and peculiarities of
habit may sometimes cause contrary results to appear, but these do not
last long, and in the end the natural state is resumed.'
The wedge on the bosom, the scissors on the head, the piercing
instrument on the cheeks, and the pinchers on the breasts and sides,
may also be taken into consideration with the other four modes of
striking, and thus give eight ways altogether. But these four ways of
striking with instruments are peculiar to the people of the southern
countries, and the marks caused by them are seen on the breasts of
their women. They are local peculiarities, but Vatsyayana is of
opinion that the practice of them is painful, barbarous, and base, and
quite unworthy of imitation.
In the same way anything that is a local peculiarity should not always
be adopted elsewhere, and even in the place where the practice is
prevalent, excess of it should always be avoided. Instances of the
dangerous use of them may be given as follows. The king of the
Panchalas killed the courtesan Madhavasena by means of the wedge
during congress. King Satakarni Satavahana of the Kuntalas deprived
his great Queen Malayavati of her life by a pair of scissors, and
Naradeva, whose hand was deformed, blinded a dancing girl by directing
a piercing instrument in a wrong way.
There are also two verses on the subject as follows:
`About these things there cannot be either enumeration or any definite
rule. Congress having once commenced, passion alone gives birth to all
the acts of the parties.'
`Such passionate actions and amorous gesticulations or movements,
which arise on the spur of the moment, and during sexual intercourse,
cannot be defined, and are as irregular as dreams. A horse having once
attained the fifth degree of motion goes on with blind speed,
regardless of pits, ditches, and posts in his way; and in the same
manner a loving pair become blind with passion in the heat of
congress, and go on with great impetuosity, paying not the least
regard to excess. For this reason one who is well acquainted with the
science of love, and knowing his own strength, as also the tenderness,
impetuosity, and strength of the young women, should act accordingly.
The various modes of enjoyment are not for all times or for all
persons, but they should only be used at the proper time. and in the
proper countries and places.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
Men who are well acquainted with the art of love are well aware
how often one woman differs from another in her sighs and
sounds during the time of congress. Some women like to be
talked to in the most loving way, others in the most lustful
way, others in the most abusive way, and so on. Some women
enjoy themselves with closed eyes in silence, others make a
great noise over it, and some almost faint away. The great art
is to ascertain what gives them the greatest pleasure, and what
specialities they like best.
CHAPTER VIII
ABOUT WOMEN ACTING THE PART OF A MAN; AND OF THE WORK OF A MAN
WHEN a woman sees that her lover is fatigued by constant congress,
without having his desire satisfied, she should, with his permission,
lay him down upon his back, and give him assistance by acting his
part. She may also do this to satisfy the curiosity of her lover, or
her own desire of novelty.
There are two ways of doing this, the first is when during congress
she turns round, and gets on the top of her lover, in such a manner as
to continue the congress, without obstructing the pleasure of it; and
the other is when she acts the man's part from the beginning. At such
a time, with flowers in her hair hanging loose, and her smiles broken
by hard breathings, she should press upon her lover's bosom with her
own breasts, and lowering her head frequently, should do in return the
same actions which he used to do before, returning his blows and
chaffing him, should say, `I was laid down by you, and fatigued with
hard congress, I shall now therefore lay you down in return.' She
should then again manifest her own bashfulness, her fatigue, and her
desire of stopping the congress. In this way she should do the work of
a man, which we shall presently relate.
Whatever is done by a man for giving pleasure to a woman is called the
work of a man, and is as follows:
While the woman is lying on his bed, and is as it were abstracted by
his conversation, he should loosen the knot of her undergarments, and
when she begins to dispute with him, he should overwhelm her with
kisses. Then when his lingam is erect he should touch her with his
hands in various places, and gently manipulate various parts of the
body. If the woman is bashful, and if it is the first time that they
have come together, the man should place his hands between her thighs,
which she would probably keep close together, and if she is a very
young girl, he should first get his hands upon her breasts, which she
would probably cover with her own hands, and under her armpits and on
her neck. If however she is a seasoned woman, he should do whatever is
agreeable either to him or to her, and whatever is fitting for the
occasion. After this he should take hold of her hair, and hold her
chin in his fingers for the purpose of kissing her. On this, if she is
a young girl, she will become bashful and close her eyes. Anyhow he
should gather from the action of the woman what things would be
pleasing to her during congress.
Here Suvarnanabha says that while a man is doing to the woman what he
likes best during congress, he should always make a point of pressing
those parts of her body on which she turns her eyes.
The signs of the enjoyment and satisfaction of the woman are as
follows: her body relaxes, she closes her eyes, she puts aside all
bashfulness, and shows increased willingness to unite the two organs
as closely together as possible. On the other hand, the signs of her
want of enjoyment and of failing to be satisfied are as follows: she
shakes her hands, she does not let the man get up, feels dejected,
bites the man, kicks him, and continues to go on moving after the man
has finished. In such cases the man should rub the yoni of the woman
with his hand and fingers (as the elephant rubs anything with his
trunk) before engaging in congress, until it is softened, and after
that is done he should proceed to put his lingam into her.
The acts to be done by the man are:
Moving forward
Friction or churning
Piercing
Rubbing
Pressing
Giving a blow
The blow of a boar
The blow of a bull
The sporting of a sparrow
When the organs are brought together properly and directly it is
called `moving the organ forward'.
When the lingam is held with the hand, and turned all round in the
yoni, it is called `churning'.
When the yoni is lowered, and the upper part of it is struck with the
lingam, it is called `piercing'.
When the same thing is done on the lower part of the yoni, it is
called `rubbing'.
When the yoni is pressed by the lingam for a long time, it is called
`pressing'.
When the lingam is removed to some distance from the yoni, and then
forcibly strikes it, it is called `giving a blow'.
When only one part of the yoni is rubbed with the lingam, it is called
the `blow of a boar'.
When both sides of the yoni are rubbed in this way, it is called the
`blow of a bull'.
When the lingam is in the yoni, and moved up and down frequently, and
without being taken out, it is called the `sporting of a sparrow'.
This takes place at the end of congress.
When a woman acts the part of a man, she has the following things to
do in addition to the nine given above:
The pair of tongs
The top
The swing
When the woman holds the lingam in her yoni, draws it in, presses it,
and keeps it thus in her for a long time, it is called the `pair of
tongs'.
When, while engaged in congress, she turns round like a wheel, it is
called the `top'. This is learnt by practice only.
When, on such an occasion, the man lifts up the middle part of his
body, and the woman turns round her middle part, it is called the
`swing'.
When the woman is tired, she should place her forehead on that of her
lover, and should thus take rest without disturbing the union of the
organs, and when the woman has rested herself the man should turn
round and begin the congress again.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`Though a woman is reserved, and keeps her feelings concealed; yet
when she gets on the top of a man, she then shows all her love and
desire. A man should gather from the actions of the woman of what
disposition she is, and in what way she likes to be enjoyed. A woman
during her monthly courses, a woman who has been lately confined, and
a fat woman should not be made to act the part of a man.'
CHAPTER IX
OF THE AUPARISHTAKA OR MOUTH CONGRESS
THERE are two kinds of eunuchs, those that are disguised as males, and
those that are disguised as females. Eunuchs disguised as females
imitate their dress, speech, gestures, tenderness, timidity,
simplicity, softness and bashfulness. The acts that are done on the
jaghana or middle parts of women, are done in the mouths of these
eunuchs, and this is called Auparishtaka.1 These eunuchs derive their
imaginable pleasure, and their livelihood from this kind of congress,
and they lead the life of courtesans. So much concerning eunuchs
disguised as females.
Eunuchs disguised as males keep their desires secret, and when they
wish to do anything they lead the life of shampooers. Under the
pretence of shampooing, a eunuch of this kind embraces and draws
towards himself the thighs of the man whom he is shampooing, and after
this he touches the joints of his thighs and his jaghana, or central
portions of his body. Then, if he finds the lingam of the man erect,
he presses it with his hands and chaffs him for getting into that
state. If after this, and after knowing his intention, the man does
not tell the eunuch to proceed, then the latter does it of his own
accord and begins the congress. If however he is ordered by the man to
do it, then he disputes with him, and only consents at last with
difficulty.
The following eight things are then done by the eunuch one after the
other:
The nominal congress
Biting the sides
Pressing outside
Pressing inside
Kissing
Rubbing
Sucking a mango fruit
Swallowing up
At the end of each of these, the eunuch expresses his wish to stop,
but when one of them is finished, the man desires him to do another,
and after that is done, then the one that follows it, and so on.
When, holding the man's lingam with his hand, and placing it between
his lips, the eunuch moves about his mouth, it is called the `nominal
congress'.
When, covering the end of the lingam with his fingers collected
together like the bud of a plant or flower, the eunuch presses the
sides of it with his lips, using his teeth also, it is called `biting
the sides'.
When, being desired to proceed, the eunuch presses the end of the
lingam with his lips closed together, and kisses it as if he were
drawing it out, it is called the `outside pressing'.
When, being asked to go on, he puts the lingam further into his mouth,
and presses it with his lips and then takes it out, it is called the
`inside pressing'.
When, holding the lingam in his hand, the eunuch kisses it as if he
were kissing the lower lip, it is called `kissing'.
When, after kissing it, he touches it with his tongue everywhere, and
passes the tongue over the end of it, it is called `rubbing'.
When, in the same way, he puts the half of it into his mouth, and
forcibly kisses and sucks it, this is called `sucking a mango fruit'.
And lastly, when, with the consent of the man, the eunuch puts the
whole lingam into his mouth, and presses it to the very end, as if he
were going to swallow it up, it is called `swallowing up'.
Striking, scratching, and other things may also be done during this
kind of congress.
The Auparishtaka is practised also by unchaste and wanton women,
female attendants and serving maids, i.e. those who are not married to
anybody, but who live by shampooing.
The Acharyas (i.e. ancient and venerable authors) are of opinion that
this Auparishtaka is the work of a dog and not of a man, because it is
a low practice, and opposed to the orders of the Holy Writ, and
because the man himself suffers by bringing his lingam into contact
with the mouths of eunuchs and women. But Vatsyayana says that the
orders of the Holy Writ do not affect those who resort to courtesans,
and the law prohibits the practice of the Auparishtaka with married
women only. As regards the injury to the male, that can be easily
remedied.
The people of Eastern India do not resort to women who practise the
Auparishtaka.
The people of Ahichhatra resort to such women, but do nothing with
them, so far as the mouth is concerned.
The people of Saketa do with these women every kind of mouth congress,
while the people of Nagara do not practise this, but do every other
thing.
The people of the Shurasena country, on the southern bank of the
Jumna, do everything without any hesitation, for they say that women
being naturally unclean, no one can be certain about their character,
their purity, their conduct, their practices, their confidences, or
their speech. They are not however on this account to be abandoned,
because religious law, on the authority of which they are reckoned
pure, lays down that the udder of a cow is clean at the time of
milking, though the mouth of a cow, and also the mouth of her calf,
are considered unclean by the Hindoos. Again a dog is clean when he
seizes a deer in hunting, though food touched by a dog is otherwise
considered very unclean. A bird is clean when it causes a fruit to
fall from a tree by pecking at it, though things eaten by crows and
other birds are considered unclean. And the mouth of a woman is clean
for kissing and such like things at the time of sexual intercourse.
Vatsyayana moreover thinks that in all these things connected with
love, everybody should act according to the custom of his country, and
his own inclination.
There are also the following verses on the subject:
`The male servants of some men carry on the mouth congress with their
masters. It is also practised by some citizens, who know each other
well, among themselves. Some women of the harem, when they are
amorous, do the acts of the mouth on the yonis of one another, and
some men do the same thing with women. The way of doing this (i.e. of
kissing the yoni) should be known from kissing the mouth. When a man
and woman lie down in an inverted order, i.e. with the head of the one
towards the feet of the other and carry on this congress, it is called
the "congress of a crow".'
For the sake of such things courtesans abandon men possessed of good
qualities, liberal and clever, and become attached to low persons,
such as slaves and elephant drivers. The Auparishtaka, or mouth
congress, should never be done by a learned Brahman, by a minister
that carries on the business of a state, or by a man of good
reputation, because though the practice is allowed by the Shastras,
there is no reason why it should be carried on, and need only be
practised in particular cases. As for instance, the taste, and the
strength, and the digestive qualities of the flesh of dogs are
mentioned in works on medicine, but it does not therefore follow that
it should be eaten by the wise. In the same way there are some men,
some places and some times, with respect to which these practices can
be made use of. A man should therefore pay regard to the place, to the
time, and to the practice which is to be carried out, as also as to
whether it is agreeable to his nature and to himself, and then he may
or may not practise these things according to circumstances. But after
all, these things being done secretly, and the mind of the man being
fickle, how can it be known what any person will do at any particular
time and for any particular purpose.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
This practice appears to have been prevalent in some parts of
India from a very ancient time. The Shustruta, a work on
medicine some two thousand years old, describes the wounding of
the lingam with the teeth as one of the causes of a disease
treated upon in that work. Traces of the practice are found as
far back as the eighth century, for various kinds of the
Auparishtaka are represented in the sculptures of many Shaiva
temples at Bhuvaneshwara, near Cuttack, in Orissa, and which
were built about that period. From these sculptures being found
in such places, it would seem that this practice was popular in
that part of the country at that time. It does not seem to be
so prevalent now in Hindustan, its place perhaps is filled up
by the practice of sodomy, introduced since the Mahomedan
period.
CHAPTER X
OF THE WAY HOW TO BEGIN AND HOW TO END THE CONGRESS. DIFFERENT KINDS OF
CONGRESS AND LOVE QUARRELS
IN the pleasure-room, decorated with flowers, and fragrant with
perfumes, attended by his friends and servants, the citizen should
receive the woman, who will come bathed and dressed, and will invite
her to take refreshment and to drink freely. He should then seat her
on his left side, and holding her hair, and touching also the end and
knot of her garment, he should gently embrace her with his right arm.
They should then carry on an amusing conversation on various subjects,
and may also talk suggestively of things which would be considered as
coarse, or not to be mentioned generally in society. They may then
sing, either with or without gesticulations, and play on musical
instruments, talk about the arts, and persuade each other to drink. At
last when the woman is overcome with love and desire, the citizen
should dismiss the people that may be with him, giving them flowers,
ointments, and betel leaves, and then when the two are left alone,
they should proceed as has been already described in the previous
chapters.
Such is the beginning of sexual union. At the end of the congress, the
lovers with modesty, and not looking at each other, should go
separately to the washing-room. After this, sitting in their own
places, they should eat some betel leaves, and the citizen should
apply with his own hand to the body of the woman some pure sandal wood
ointment, or ointment of some other kind. He should then embrace her
with his left arm, and with agreeable words should cause her to drink
from a cup held in his own hand, or he may give her water to drink.
They can then eat sweetmeats, or anything else, according to their
likings and may drink fresh juice,1 soup, gruel, extracts of meat,
sherbet, the juice of mango fruits, the extract of the juice of the
citron tree mixed with sugar, or anything that may be liked in
different countries, and known to be sweet, soft, and pure. The lovers
may also sit on the terrace of the palace or house, and enjoy the
moonlight, and carry on an agreeable conversation. At this time, too,
while the woman lies in his lap, with her face towards the moon, the
citizen should show her the different planets, the morning star, the
polar star, and the seven Rishis, or Great Bear.
This is the end of sexual union.
Congress is of the following kinds:
Loving congress
Congress of subsequent love
Congress of artificial love
Congress of transferred love
Congress like that of eunuchs
Deceitful congress
Congress of spontaneous love
When a man and a woman, who have been in love with each other for some
time, come together with great difficulty, or when one of the two
returns from a journey, or is reconciled after having been separated
on account of a quarrel, then congress is called the `loving
congress'. It is carried on according to the liking of the lovers, and
as long as they choose.
When two persons come together, while their love for each other is
still in its infancy, their congress is called the `congress of
subsequent love'.
When a man carries on the congress by exciting himself by means of the
sixty-four ways, such as kissing, etc., etc., or when a man and a
woman come together, though in reality they are both attached to
different persons, their congress is then called `congress of
artificial love'. At this time all the ways and means mentioned in the
Kama Shastra should be used.
When a man, from the beginning to the end of the congress, though
having connection with the woman, thinks all the time that he is
enjoying another one whom he loves, it is called the `congress of
transferred love'.
Congress between a man and a female water carrier, or a female servant
of a caste lower than his own, lasting only until the desire is
satisfied, is called `congress like that of eunuchs'. Here external
touches, kisses, and manipulation are not to be employed.
The congress between a courtesan and a rustic, and that between
citizens and the women of villages, and bordering countries, is called
`deceitful congress'.
The congress that takes place between two persons who are attached to
one another, and which is done according to their own liking is called
`spontaneous congress'.
Thus end the kinds of congress.
We shall now speak of love quarrels.
A woman who is very much in love with a man cannot bear to hear the
name of her rival mentioned, or to have any conversation regarding
her, or to be addressed by her name through mistake. If such takes
place, a great quarrel arises, and the woman cries, becomes angry,
tosses her hair about, strikes her lover, falls from her bed or seat,
and, casting aside her garlands and ornaments, throws herself down on
the ground.
At this time, the lover should attempt to reconcile her with
conciliatory words, and should take her up carefully and place her on
her bed. But she, not replying to his questions, and with increased
anger, should bend down his head by pulling his hair, and having
kicked him once, twice, or thrice on his arms, head, bosom or back,
should then proceed to the door of the room. Dattaka says that she
should then sit angrily near the door and shed tears, but should not
go out, because she would be found fault with for going away. After a
time, when she thinks that the conciliatory words and actions of her
lover have reached their utmost, she should then embrace him, talking
to him with harsh and reproachful words, but at the same time showing
a loving desire for congress.
When the woman is in her own house, and has quarrelled with her lover,
she should go to him and show how angry she is, and leave him.
Afterwards the citizen having sent the Vita, the Vidushaka or the
Pithamarda2 to pacify her, she should accompany them back to the
house, and spend the night with her lover.
Thus end the love quarrels.
In conclusion.
A man, employing the sixty-four means mentioned by Babhravya, obtains
his object, and enjoys the woman of the first quality. Though he may
speak well on other subjects, if he does not know the sixty-four
divisions, no great respect is paid to him in the assembly of the
learned. A man, devoid of other knowledge, but well acquainted with
the sixty-four divisions, becomes a leader in any society of men and
women. What man will not respect the sixty-four arts,3 considering
they are respected by the learned, by the cunning, and by the
courtesans. As the sixty-four arts are respected, are charming, and
add to the talent of women, they are called by the Acharyas dear to
women. A man skilled in the sixty-four arts is looked upon with love
by his own wife, by the wives of others, and by courtesans.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
The fresh juice of the cocoa nut tree, the date tree, and other
kinds of palm trees are drunk in India. It will keep fresh very
long, but ferments rapidly, and is then distilled into liquor.
2
The characteristics of these three individuals have been given
in Part I, page 117.
3
A definition of the sixty-four arts is given in Part I, Chapter
III, pages 107-111.
CHAPTER I
ON MARRIAGE
WHEN a girl of the same caste, and a virgin, is married in accordance
with the precepts of Holy Writ, the results of such a union are the
acquisition of Dharma and Artha, offspring, affinity, increase of
friends, and untarnished love. For this reason a man should fix his
affections upon a girl who is of good family, whose parents are alive,
and who is three years or more younger than himself. She should be
born of a highly respectable family, possessed of wealth, well
connected, and with many relations and friends. She should also be
beautiful, of a good disposition, with lucky marks on her body, and
with good hair, nails, teeth, ears, eyes and breasts, neither more nor
less than they ought to be, and no one of them entirely wanting, and
not troubled with a sickly body. The man should, of course, also
possess these qualities himself. But at all events, says Ghotakamukha,
a girl who has been already joined with others (i.e. no longer a
maiden) should never be loved, for it would be reproachable to do such
a thing.
Now in order to bring about a marriage with such a girl as described
above, thee parents and relations of the man should exert themselves,
as also such friends on both sides as may be desired to assist in the
matter. These friends should bring to the notice of the girl's
parents, the faults, both present and future, of all the other men
that may wish to marry her, and should at the same time extol even to
exaggeration all the excellencies, ancestral, and paternal, of their
friend, so as to endear him to them, and particularly to those that
may be liked by the girl's mother. One of the friends should also
disguise himself as an astrologer, and declare the future good fortune
and wealth of his friend by showing the existence of all the lucky
omens1 and signs,2 the good influence of planets, the auspicious
entrance of the sun into a sign of the Zodiac, propitious stars and
fortunate marks on his body. Others again should rouse the jealousy of
the girl's mother by telling her that their friend has a chance of
getting from some other quarter even a better girl than hers.
A girl should be taken as a wife, as also given in marriage, when
fortune, signs, omens, and the words3 of others are favourable, for,
says Ghotakamukha, a man should not marry at any time he likes. A girl
who is asleep, crying, or gone out of the house when sought in
marriage, or who is betrothed to another, should not be married. The
following also should be avoided:
* One who is kept concealed
* One who has an ill-sounding name
* One who has her nose depressed
* One who has her nostril turned up
* One who is formed like a male
* One who is bent down
* One who has crooked thighs
* One who has a projecting forehead
* One who has a bald head
* One who does not like purity
* One who has been polluted by another
* One who is affected with the Gulma4
* One who is disfigured in any way
* One who has fully arrived at puberty
* One who is a friend
* One who is a younger sister
* One who is a Varshakari5
In the same way a girl who is called by the name of one of the
twenty-seven stars, or by the name of a tree, or of a river, is
considered worthless, as also a girl whose name ends in `r' or `l'.
But some authors say that prosperity is gained only by marrying that
girl to whom one becomes attached, and that therefore no other girl
but the one who is loved should be married by anyone.
When a girl becomes marriageable her parents should dress her smartly,
and should place her where she can be easily seen by all. Every
afternoon, having dressed her and decorated her in a becoming manner,
they should send her with her female companions to sports, sacrifices,
and marriage ceremonies, and thus show her to advantage in society,
because she is a kind of merchandise. They should also receive with
kind words and signs of friendliness those of an auspicious appearance
who may come accompanied by their friends and relations for the
purpose of marrying their daughter, and under some pretext or other
having first dressed her becomingly, should then present her to them.
After this they should await the pleasure of fortune, and with this
object should appoint a future day on which a determination could be
come to with regard to their daughter's marriage. On this occasion
when the persons have come, the parents of the girl should ask them to
bathe and dine, and should say, `Everything will take place at the
proper time', and should not then comply with the request, but should
settle the matter later.
When a girl is thus acquired, either according to the custom of the
country, or according to his own desire, the man should marry her in
accordance with the precepts of the Holy Writ, according to one of the
four kinds of marriage.
Thus ends marriage.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`Amusement in society, such as completing verses begun by others,
marriages, and auspicious ceremonies should be carried on neither with
superiors, nor inferiors, but with our equals. That should be known as
a high connection when a man, after marrying a girl, has to serve her
and her relations afterwards like a servant, and such a connection is
censured by the good. On the other hand, that reproachable connection,
where a man, together with his relations, lords it over his wife, is
called a low connection by the wise. But when both the man and the
woman afford mutual pleasure to each other, and when the relatives on
both sides pay respect to one another, such is called a connection in
the proper sense of the word. Therefore a man should contract neither
a high connection by which he is obliged to bow down afterwards to his
kinsmen, nor a low connection, which is universally reprehended by
all.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
The flight of a blue jay on a person's left side is considered
a lucky omen when one starts on any business; the appearance of
a cat before anyone at such a time is looked on as a bad omen.
There are many omens of the same kind.
2
Such as the throbbing of the right eye of men and the left eye
of women, etc.
3
Before anything is begun it is a custom to go early in the
morning to a neighbour's house, and overhear the first words
that may be spoken in his family, and according as the words
heard are of good or bad import, to draw an inference as to the
success or failure of the undertaking.
4
A disease consisting of any glandular enlargement in any part
of the body.
5
A woman, the palms of whose hands and the soles of whose feet
are always perspiring.
CHAPTER II
OF CREATING CONFIDENCE IN THE GIRL
FOR the first three days after marriage, the girl and her husband
should sleep on the floor, abstain from sexual pleasures, and eat
their food without seasoning it either with alkali or salt. For the
next seven days they should bathe amidst tire sounds of auspicious
musical instruments, should decorate themselves, dine together, and
pay attention to their relations as well as to those who may have come
to witness their marriage. This is applicable to persons of all
castes. On the night of the tenth day the man should begin in a lonely
place with soft words, and thus create confidence in the girl. Some
authors say that for the purpose of winning her over he should not
speak to her for three days, but the followers of Babhravya are of
opinion that if the man does not speak with her for three days, the
girl may be discouraged by seeing him spiritless like a pillar, and,
becoming dejected, she may begin to despise him as a eunuch.
Vatsyayana says that the man should begin to win her over, and to
create confidence in her, but should abstain at first from sexual
pleasures. Women, being of a tender nature, want tender beginnings,
and when they are forcibly approached by men with whom they are but
slightly acquainted, they sometimes suddenly become haters of sexual
connection, and sometimes even haters of the male sex. The man should
therefore approach the girl according to her liking, and should make
use of those devices by which he may be able to establish himself more
and more into her confidence. These devices are as follows:
He should embrace her first of all in a way she likes most, because it
does not last for a long time.
He should embrace her with the upper part of his body because that is
easier and simpler. If the girl is grown up, or if the man has known
her for some time, he may embrace her by the light of a lamp, but if
he is not well acquainted with her, or if she is a young girl, he
should then embrace her in darkness.
When the girl accepts the embrace, the man should put a tambula or
screw of betel nut and betel leaves in her mouth, and if she will not
take it, he should induce her to do so by conciliatory words,
entreaties, oaths, and kneeling at her feet, for it is a universal
rule that however bashful or angry a woman may be she never disregards
a man's kneeling at her feet. At the time of giving this tambula he
should kiss her mouth softly and gracefully without making any sound.
When she is gained over in this respect he should then make her talk,
and so that she may be induced to talk he should ask her questions
about things of which he knows or pretends to know nothing, and which
can be answered in a few words. If she does not speak to him, he
should not frighten her, but should ask her the same thing again and
again in a conciliatory manner. If she does not then speak he should
urge her to give a reply because, as Ghotakamukha says, `all girls
hear everything said to them by men, but do not themselves sometimes
say a single word'. When she is thus importuned, the girl should give
replies by shakes of the head, but if she has quarrelled with the man
she should not even do that. When she is asked by the man whether she
wishes for him, and whether she likes him, she should remain silent
for a long time, and when at last importuned to reply, should give him
a favourable answer by a nod of her head. If the man is previously
acquainted with the girl he should converse with her by means of a
female friend, who may be favourable to him, and in the confidence of
both, and carry on the conversation on both sides. On such an occasion
the girl should smile with her head bent down, and if the female
friend say more on her part than she was desired to do, she should
chide her and dispute with her. The female friend should say in jest
even what she is not desired to say by the girl, and add, `she says
so', on which the girl should say indistinctly and prettily, `O no! I
did not say so', and she should then smile and throw an occasional
glance towards the man.
If the girl is familiar with the man, she should place near him,
without saying anything, the tambula, the ointment, or the garland
that he may have asked for, or she may tie them up in his upper
garment. While she is engaged in this, the man should touch her young
breasts in the sounding way of pressing with the nails, and if she
prevents him doing this he should say to her, ` I will not do it again
if you will embrace me', and should in this way cause her to embrace
him. While he is being embraced by her he should pass his hand
repeatedly over and about her body. By and by he should place her in
his lap, and try more and more to gain her consent, and if she will
not yield to him he should frighten her by saying `I shall impress
marks of my teeth and nails on your lips and breasts, and then make
similar marks on my own body, and shall tell my friends that you did
them. What will you say then?' In this and other ways, as fear and
confidence are created in the minds of children, so should the man
gain her over to his wishes.
On the second and third nights, after her confidence has increased
still more, he should feel the whole of her body with his hands, and
kiss her all over; he should also place his hands upon her thighs and
shampoo them, and if he succeed in this he should then shampoo the
joints of her thighs. If she tries to prevent him doing this he should
say to her, `What harm is there in doing it?' and should persuade her
to let him do it. After gaining this point he should touch her private
parts, should loosen her girdle and the knot of her dress, and turning
up her lower garment should shampoo the joints of her naked thighs.
Under various pretences he should do all these things, but he should
not at that time begin actual congress. After this he should teach her
the sixty-four arts, should tell her how much he loves her, and
describe to her the hopes which he formerly entertained regarding her.
He should also promise to be faithful to her in future, and should
dispel all her fears with respect to rival women, and, at last, after
having overcome her bashfulness, he should begin to enjoy her in a way
so as not to frighten her. So much about creating confidence in the
girl; and there are, moreover, some verses on the subject as follows:
`A man acting according to the inclinations of a girl should try to
gain her over so that she may love him and place her confidence in
him. A man does not succeed either by implicitly following the
inclination of a girl, or by wholly opposing her, and he should
therefore adopt a middle course. He who knows how to make himself
beloved by women, as well as to increase their honour and create
confidence in them, this man becomes an object of their love. But he
who neglects a girl, thinking she is too bashful, is despised by her
as a beast ignorant of the working of the female mind. Moreover, a
girl forcibly enjoyed by one who does not understand the hearts of
girls becomes nervous, uneasy, and dejected, and suddenly begins to
hate the man who has taken advantage of her; and then, when her love
is not understood or returned, she sinks into despondency, and becomes
either a hater of mankind altogether, or, hating her own man, she has
recourse to other men.'1
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
These last few lines have been exemplified in many ways in many
novels of this century.
CHAPTER III
ON COURTSHIP, AND THE MANIFESTATION OF THE FEELINGS BY OUTWARD SIGNS AND
DEEDS
A POOR man possessed of good qualities, a man born of a low family
possessed of mediocre qualities, a neighbour possessed of wealth, and
one under the control of his father, mother or brothers, should not
marry without endeavouring to gain over the girl from her childhood to
love and esteem him. Thus a boy separated from his parents, and living
in the house of his uncle, should try to gain over the daughter of his
uncle, or some other girl, even though she be previously betrothed to
another. And this way of gaining over a girl, says Ghotakamukha, is
unexceptional, because Dharma can be accomplished by means of it as
well as by any other way of marriage.
When a boy has thus begun to woo the girl he loves, he should spend
his time with her and amuse her with various games and diversions
fitted for their age and acquaintanceship, such as picking and
collecting flowers, making garlands of flowers, playing the parts of
members of a fictitious family, cooking food, playing with dice,
playing with cards, the game of odd and even, the game of finding out
the middle finger, the game of six pebbles, and such other games as
may be prevalent in the country, and agreeable to the disposition of
the girl. In addition to this, he should carry on various amusing
games played by several persons together, such as hide and seek,
playing with seeds, hiding things in several small heaps of wheat and
looking for them, blindman's buff, gymnastic exercises, and other
games of the same sort, in company with the girl, her friends and
female attendants. The man should also show great kindness to any
woman whom the girl thinks fit to be trusted, and should also make new
acquaintances, but above all he should attach to himself by kindness
and little services the daughter of the girl's nurse, for if she be
gained over, even though she comes to know of his design, she does not
cause any obstruction, but is sometimes even able to effect a union
between him and the girl. And though she knows the true character of
the man, she always talks of his many excellent qualities to the
parents and relations of the girl, even though she may not be desired
to do so by him.
In this way the man should do whatever the girl takes most delight in,
and he should get for her whatever she may have a desire to possess.
Thus he should procure for her such playthings as may be hardly known
to other girls. He may also show her a ball dyed with various colours,
and other curiosities of the same sort; and should give her dolls made
of cloth, wood, buffalo-horn, wax, flour, or earth; also utensils for
cooking food, and figures in wood, such as a man and woman standing, a
pair of rams, or goats, or sheep; also temples made of earth, bamboo,
or wood, dedicated to various goddesses; and cages for parrots,
cuckoos, starlings, quails, cocks, and partridges; water-vessels of
different sorts and of elegant forms, machines for throwing water
about, guitars, stands for putting images upon, stools, lac, red
arsenic, yellow ointment, vermilion and collyrium, as well as
sandalwood, saffron, betel nut and betel leaves. Such things should be
given at different times whenever he gets a good opportunity of
meeting her, and some of them should be given in private, and some in
public, according to circumstances. In short, he should try in every
way to make her look upon him as one who would do for her everything
that she wanted to be done.
In the next place he should get her to meet him in some place
privately, and should then tell her that the reason of his giving
presents to her in secret was the fear that the parents of both of
them might be displeased, and then he may add that the things which he
had given her had been much desired by other people. When her love
begins to show signs of increasing he should relate to her agreeable
stories if she expresses a wish to hear such narratives. Or if she
takes delight in legerdemain, he should amaze her by performing
various tricks of jugglery; or if she feels a great curiosity to see a
performance of the various arts, he should show his own skill in them.
When she is delighted with singing he should entertain her with music,
and on certain days, and at the time of going together to moonlight
fairs and festivals, and at the time of her return after being absent
from home, he should present her with bouquets of flowers, and with
chaplets for the head, and with ear ornaments and rings, for these are
the proper occasions on which such things should be presented.
He should also teach the daughter of the girl's nurse all the
sixty-four means of pleasure practised by men, and under this pretext
should also inform her of his great skill in the art of sexual
enjoyment. All this time he should wear a fine dress, and make as good
an appearance as possible, for young women love men who live with
them, and who are handsome, good looking and well dressed. As for the
sayings that though women may fall in love, they still make no effort
themselves to gain over the object of their affections, that is only a
matter of idle talk.
Now a girl always shows her love by outward signs and actions, such as
the following:
She never looks the man in the face, and becomes abashed when she is
looked at by him; under some pretext or other she shows her limbs to
him; she looks secretly at him though he has gone away from her side,
hangs down her head when she is asked some question by him, and
answers in indistinct words and unfinished sentences, delights to be
in his company for a long time, speaks to her attendants in a peculiar
tone with the hope of attracting his attention towards her when she is
at a distance from him, does not wish to go from the place where he
is, under some pretext or other she makes him look at different
things, narrates to him tales and stories very slowly so that she may
continue conversing with him for a long time, kisses and embraces
before him a child sitting in her lap, draws ornamental marks on the
foreheads of her female servants, performs sportive and graceful
movements when her attendants speak jestingly to her in the presence
of her lover, confides in her lover's friends, and respects and obeys
them, shows kindness to his servants, converses with them, and engages
them to do her work as if she were their mistress, and listens
attentively to them when they tell stories about her lover to somebody
else, enters his house when induced to do so by the daughter of her
nurse, and by her assistance manages to converse and play with him,
avoids being seen by her lover when she is not dressed and decorated,
gives him by the hand of her female friend her ear ornament, ring, or
garland of flowers that he may have asked to see, always wears
anything that he may have presented to her, becomes dejected when any
other bridegroom is mentioned by her parents, and does not mix with,
those who may be of his party, or who may support his claims.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`A man, who has seen and perceived the feelings of the girl towards
him, and who has noticed the outward signs and movements by which
those feelings are expressed, should do everything in his power to
effect a union with her. He should gain over a young girl by childlike
sports, a damsel come of age by his skill in the arts, and a girl that
loves him by having recourse to persons in whom she confides.'
CHAPTER IV
ABOUT THINGS TO BE DONE ONLY BY THE MAN, AND THE ACQUISITION OF THE GIRL
THEREBY. ALSO WHAT IS TO BE DONE BY A GIRL TO GAIN OVER A MAN, AND SUBJECT
HIM TO HER
Now when the girl begins to show her love by outward signs and
motions, as described in the last chapter, the lover should try to
gain her over entirely by various ways and means, such as the
following:
When engaged with her in any game or sport he should intentionally
hold her hand. He should practise upon her the various kinds of
embraces, such as the touching embrace, and others already described
in a preceding chapter (Part II, Chapter II). He should show her a
pair of human beings cut out of the leaf of a tree, and such like
things, at intervals. When engaged in water sports, he should dive at
a distance from her, and come tip close to her. He should show an
increased liking for the new foliage of trees and such like things. He
should describe to her the pangs he suffers on her account. He should
relate to her the beautiful dream that he has had with reference to
other women. At parties and assemblies of his caste he should sit near
her, and touch her under some pretence or other, and having placed his
foot upon hers, he should slowly touch each of her toes, and press the
ends of the nails; if successful in this, he should get hold of her
foot with his hand and repeat the same thing. He should also press a
finger of her hand between his toes when she happens to be washing his
feet; and whenever he gives anything to her or takes anything from
her, he should show her by his manner and look how much he loves her.
He should sprinkle upon her the water brought for rinsing his mouth;
and when alone with her in a lonely place, or in darkness, he should
make love to her, and tell her the true state of his mind without
distressing her in any way.
Whenever he sits with her on the same seat or bed he should say to
her, `I have something to tell you in private', and then, when she
comes to hear it in a quiet place, he should express his love to her
more by manner and signs than by words. When he comes to know the
state of her feelings towards him he should pretend to be ill, and
should make her come to his house to speak to him. There he should
intentionally hold her hand and place it on his eyes and forehead, and
under the pretence of preparing some medicine for him he should ask
her to do the work for his sake in the following words: `This work
must be done by you, and by nobody else.' When she wants to go away he
should let her go, with an earnest request to come and see him again.
This device of illness should be continued for three days and three
nights. After this, when she begins coming to see him frequently, he
should carry on long conversations with her, for, says Ghotakamukha,
`though a man loves a girl ever so much, he never succeeds in winning
her without a great deal of talking'. At last, when the man finds the
girl completely gained over, he may then begin to enjoy her. As for
the saying that women grow less timid than usual during the evening,
and in darkness, and are desirous of congress at those times, and do
not oppose men then, and should only be enjoyed at these hours, it is
a matter of talk only.
When it is impossible for the man to carry on his endeavours alone, he
should, by means of the daughter of her nurse, or of a female friend
in whom she confides, cause the girl to be brought to him without
making known to her his design, and he should then proceed with her in
the manner above described. Or he should in the beginning send his own
female servant to live with the girl as her friend, and should then
gain her over by her means.
At last, when he knows the state of her feelings by her outward manner
and conduct towards him at religious ceremonies, marriage ceremonies,
fairs, festivals, theatres, public assemblies, and such like
occasions, he should begin to enjoy her when she is alone, for
Vatsyayana lays it down, that women, when resorted to at proper times
and in proper places, do not turn away from their lovers.
When a girl, possessed of good qualities and well-bred, though born in
a humble family, or destitute of wealth, and not therefore desired by
her equals, or an orphan girl, or one deprived of her parents, but
observing the rules of her family and caste, should wish to bring
about her own marriage when she comes of age, such a girl should
endeavour to gain over a strong and good looking young man, or a
person whom she thinks would marry her on account of the weakness of
his mind, and even without the consent of his parents. She should do
this by such means as would endear her to the said person, as well as
by frequently seeing and meeting him. Her mother also should
constantly cause them to meet by means of her female friends, and the
daughter of her nurse. The girl herself should try to get alone with
her beloved in some quiet place, and at odd times should give him
flowers, betel nut, betel leaves and perfumes. She should also show
her skill in the practice of the arts, in shampooing, in scratching
and in pressing with the nails. She should also talk to him on the
subjects he likes best, and discuss with him the ways and means of
gaining over and winning the affections of a girl.
But old authors say that although the girl loves the man ever so much,
she should not offer herself, or make the first overtures, for a girl
who does this loses her dignity, and is liable to be scorned and
rejected. But when the man shows his wish to enjoy her, she should be
favourable to him and should show no change in her demeanour when he
embraces her, and should receive all the manifestations of his love as
if she were ignorant of the state of his mind. But when he tries to
kiss her she should oppose him; when he begs to be allowed to have
sexual intercourse with her she should let him touch her private parts
only and with considerable difficulty; and though importuned by him,
she should not yield herself up to him as if of her own accord, but
should resist his attempts to have her. It is only, moreover, when she
is certain that she is truly loved, and that her over is indeed
devoted to her, and will not change his mind, that she should then
give herself up to him, and persuade him to marry her quickly. After
losing her virginity she should tell her confidential friends about
it.
Here end the efforts of a girl to gain over a man.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`A girl who is much sought after should marry the man that she likes,
and whom she thinks would be obedient to her, and capable of giving
her pleasure. But when from the desire of wealth a girl is married by
her parents to a rich man without taking into consideration the
character or looks of the bridegroom, or when given to a man who has
several wives, she never becomes attached to the man, even though he
be endowed with good qualities, obedient to her will, active, strong,
and healthy, and anxious to please her in every way.1 A husband who is
obedient but yet master of himself, though he be poor and not good
looking, is better than one who is common to many women, even though
he be handsome and attractive. The wives of rich men, where there are
many wives, are not generally attached to their husbands, and are not
confidential with them, and even though they possess all the external
enjoyments of life, still have recourse to other men. A man who is of
a low mind, who has fallen from his social position, and who is much
given to travelling, does not deserve to be married; neither does one
who has many wives and children, or one who is devoted to sport and
gambling, and who comes to his wife only when he likes. Of all the
lovers of a girl he only is her true husband who possesses the
qualities that are liked by her, and such a husband only enjoys real
superiority over her, because he is the husband of love.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
There is a good deal of truth in the last few observations.
Woman is a monogamous animal, and loves but one, and likes to
feel herself alone in the affections of one man, and cannot
bear rivals. It may also be taken as a general rule that women
either married to, or kept by, rich men love them for their
wealth but not for themselves.
CHAPTER V
ON CERTAIN FORMS OF MARRIAGE1
WHEN a girl cannot meet her lover frequently in private, she should
send the daughter of her nurse to him, it being understood that she
has confidence in her, and had previously gained her over to her
interests. On seeing the man, the daughter of the nurse should, in the
course of conversation, describe to him the noble birth, the good
disposition, the beauty, talent, skill, knowledge of human nature and
affection of the girl in such a way as not to let him suppose that she
had been sent by the girl, and should thus create affection for the
girl in the heart of the man. To the girl also she should speak about
the excellent qualities of the man, especially of those qualities
which she knows are pleasing to the girl. She should, moreover, speak
with disparagement of the other lovers of the girl, and talk about the
avarice and indiscretion of their parents, and the fickleness of their
relations. She should also quote samples of many girls of ancient
times, such as Sakoontala and others, who, having united themselves
with lovers of their own caste and their own choice, were ever happy
afterwards in their society. And she should also tell of other girls
who married into great families, and being troubled by rival wives,
became wretched and miserable, and were finally abandoned. She should
further speak of the good fortune, the continual happiness, the
chastity, obedience, and affection of the man, and if the girl gets
amorous about him, she should endeavour to allay her shame2 and her
fear as well as her suspicions about any disaster that might result
from her marriage. In a word, she should act the whole part of a
female messenger by telling the girl all about the man's affection for
her, the places he frequented, and the endeavours he made to meet her,
and by frequently repeating, `It will be all right if the man will
take you away forcibly and unexpectedly.'
The Forms of Marriage
When the girl is gained over, and acts openly with the man as his
wife, he should cause fire to be brought from the house of a Brahman,
and having spread the Kusha grass upon the ground, and offered an
oblation to the fire, he should marry her according to the precepts of
the religious law. After this he should inform his parents of the
fact, because it is the opinion of ancient authors that a marriage
solemnly contracted in the presence of fire cannot afterwards be set
aside.
After the consummation of the marriage, the relations of the man
should gradually be made acquainted with the affair, and the relations
of the girl should also be apprised of it in such a way that they may
consent to the marriage, and overlook the manner in which it was
brought about, and when this is done they should afterwards be
reconciled by affectionate presents and favourable conduct. In this
manner the man should marry the girl according to the Gandharva form
of marriage.
When the girl cannot make up her mind, or will not express her
readiness to marry, the man should obtain her in any one of the
following ways:
On a fitting occasion, and under some excuse, he should, by means of a
female friend with whom he is well acquainted, and whom he can trust,
and who also is well known to the girl's family, get the girl brought
unexpectedly to his house, and he should then bring fire from the
house of a Brahman, and proceed as before described.
When the marriage of the girl with some other person draws near, the
man should disparage the future husband to the utmost in the mind of
the mother of the girl, and then having got the girl to come with her
mother's consent to a neighbouring house, he should bring fire from
the house of a Brahman, and proceed as above.
The man should become a great friend of the brother of the girl, the
said brother being of the same age as himself, and addicted to
courtesans, and to intrigues with the wives of other people, and
should give him assistance in such matters, and also give him
occasional presents. He should then tell him about his great love for
his sister, as young men will sacrifice even their lives for the sake
of those who may be of the same age, habits, and dispositions as
themselves. After this the man should get the girl brought by means of
her brother to some secure place, and having brought fire from the
house of a Brahman should proceed as before.
The man should on the occasion of festivals get the daughter of the
nurse to give the girl some intoxicating substance, and then cause her
to be brought to some secure place under the pretence of some
business, and there having enjoyed her before she recovers from her
intoxication, should bring fire from the house of a Brahman, and
proceed as before.
The man should, with the connivance of the daughter of the nurse,
carry off the girl from her house while she is asleep, and then,
having enjoyed her before she recovers from her sleep, should bring
fire from the house of a Brahman, and proceed as before.
When the girl goes to a garden, or to some village in the
neighbourhood, the man should, with his friends, fall on her guards,
and having killed them, or frightened them away, forcibly carry her
off, and proceed as before.
There are verses on this subject as follows:
`In all the forms of marriage given in this chapter of this work, the
one that precedes is better than the one that follows it on account of
its being more in accordance with the commands of religion, and
therefore it is only when it is impossible to carry the former into
practice that the latter should be resorted to, As the fruit of all
good marriages is love, the Gandharva3 form of marriage is respected,
even though it is formed under unfavourable circumstances, because it
fulfils the object sought for. Another cause of the respect accorded
to the Gandharva form of marriage is that it brings forth happiness,
causes less trouble in its performance than the other forms of
marriage, and is above all the result of previous love.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
These forms of marriage differ from the four kinds of marriage
mentioned in Chapter I, and are only to be made use of when the
girl is gained over in the way mentioned in Chapters III and
IV.
2
About this, see a story on the fatal effects of love at of
Early Ideas: a Group of Hindoo Stories, collected and collated
by Anaryan, W. H. Allen and Co., London, 1881.
3
`About the Gandharvavivaha form of marriage, see note to page
28 of Captain R. F. Burton's Vickram and the Vampire; or Tales
of Hindu Devilry, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1870. This
form of matrimony was recognised by the ancient Hindoos, and is
frequent in hooks. It is a kind of Scotch wedding -
ultra.Caledonian - taking place by mutual consent without any
form or Ceremony. The Gandharras are heavenly minstrels of
Indra's court, who are opposed to be witnesses.
CHAPTER I
ON THE MANNER OF LIVING OF A VIRTUOUS WOMAN, AND OF HER BEHAVIOUR DURING THE
ABSENCE OF HER HUSBAND
A VIRTUOUS woman, who has affection for her husband, should act in
conformity with his wishes as if he were a divine being, and with his
consent should take upon herself the whole care of his family. She
should keep the whole house well cleaned, and arrange flowers of
various kinds in different parts of it, and make the floor smooth and
polished so as to give the whole a neat and becoming appearance. She
should surround the house with a garden, and place ready in it all the
materials required for the morning, noon and evening sacrifices.
Moreover she should herself revere the sanctuary of the Household
Gods, for, says Gonardiya, `nothing so much attracts the heart of a
householder to his wife as a careful observance of the things
mentioned above'.
Towards the parents, relations, friends, sisters, and servants of her
husband she should behave as they deserve. In the garden she should
plant beds of green vegetables, bunches of the sugar cane, and clumps
of the fig tree, the mustard plant, the parsley plant, the fennel
plant, and the xanthochymus pictorius. Clusters of various flowers
such as the trapa bispinosa, the jasmine, the jasminum grandiflorum,
the yellow amaranth, the wild jasmine, the tabernamontana coronaria,
the nadyaworta, the china rose and others, should likewise be planted,
together with the fragrant grass andropogon schaenanthus, and the
fragrant root of the plant andropogon miricatus. She should also have
seats and arbours made in the garden, in the middle of which a well,
tank, or pool should be dug.
The wife should always avoid the company of female beggars, female
Buddhist mendicants, unchaste and roguish women, female fortune
tellers and witches. As regards meals she should always consider what
her husband likes and dislikes and what things are good for him, and
what are injurious to him. When she hears the sounds of his footsteps
coming home she should at once get up and be ready to do whatever he
may command her, and either order her female servant to wash his feet,
or wash them herself. When going anywhere with her husband, she should
put on her ornaments, and without his consent she should not either
give or accept invitations, or attend marriages and sacrifices, or sit
in the company of female friends, or visit the temples of the Gods.
And if she wants to engage in any kind of games or sports, she should
not do it against his will. In the same way she should always sit down
after him, and get up before him, and should never awaken him when he
is asleep. The kitchen should be situated in a quiet and retired
place, so as not to be accessible to strangers, and should always look
clean.
In the event of any misconduct on the part of her husband, she should
not blame him excessively, though she be a little displeased. She
should not use abusive language towards him, but rebuke him with
conciliatory words, whether he be in the company of friends or alone.
Moreover, she should not be a scold, for, says Gonardiya, `there is no
cause of dislike on the part of a husband so great as this
characteristic in a wife'. Lastly she should avoid bad expressions,
sulky looks, speaking aside, standing in the doorway, and looking at
passers-by, conversing in the pleasure groves, and remaining in a
lonely place for a long time; and finally she should always keep her
body, her teeth, her hair and everything belonging to her tidy, sweet,
and clean.
When the wife wants to approach her husband in private her dress
should consist of many ornaments, various kinds of flowers, and a
cloth decorated with different colours, and some sweet-smelling
ointments or unguents. But her everyday dress should be composed of a
thin, close-textured cloth, a few ornaments and flowers, and a little
scent, not too much. She should also observe the fasts and vows of her
husband, and when he tries to prevent her doing this, she should
persuade him to let her do it.
At appropriate times of the year, and when they happen to be cheap,
she should buy earth, bamboos, firewood, skins, and iron pots, as also
salt and oil. Fragrant substances, vessels made of the fruit of the
plant wrightea antidysenterica, or oval leaved wrightea, medicines,
and other things which are always wanted, should be obtained when
required and kept in a secret place of the house. The seeds of the
radish, the potato, the common beet, the Indian wormwood, the mango,
the cucumber, the egg plant, the kushmanda, the pumpkin gourd, the
surana, the bignonia indica, the sandal wood, the premna spinosa, the
garlic plant, the onion, and other vegetables, should be bought and
sown at the proper seasons. The wife, moreover, should not tell to
strangers the amount of her wealth, nor the secrets which her husband
has confided to her. She should surpass all the women of her own rank
in life in her cleverness, her appearance, her knowledge of cookery,
her pride, and her manner of serving her husband. The expenditure of
the year should be regulated by the profits. The milk that remains
after the meals should be turned into ghee or clarified butter. Oil
and sugar should be prepared at home; spinning and weaving should also
be done there; and a store of ropes and cords, and barks of trees for
twisting into ropes should be kept. She should also attend to the
pounding and cleaning of rice, using its small grain and chaff in some
way or other. She should pay the salaries of the servants, look after
the tilling of the fields, and keeping of the flocks and herds,
superintend the making of vehicles, and take care of the rams, cocks,
quails, parrots, starlings, cuckoos, peacocks, monkeys, and deer; and
finally adjust the income and expenditure of the day. The worn-out
clothes should be given to those servants who have done good work, in
order to show them that their services have been appreciated, or they
may be applied to some other use. The vessels in which wine is
prepared, as well as those in which it is kept, should be carefully
looked after, and put away at the proper time. All sales and purchases
should also be well attended to. The friends of her husband she should
welcome by presenting them with flowers, ointment, incense, betel
leaves, and betel nut. Her father-in-law and mother-in-law she should
treat as they deserve, always remaining dependent on their will, never
contradicting them, speaking to them in few and not harsh words, not
laughing loudly in their presence, and acting with their friends and
enemies as with her own. In addition to the above she should not be
vain, or too much taken up with her enjoyments. She should be liberal
towards her servants, and reward them on holidays and festivals; and
not give away anything without first making it known to her husband.
Thus ends the manner of living of a virtuous woman.
During the absence of her husband on a journey the virtuous woman
should wear only her auspicious ornaments, and observe the fasts in
honour of the Gods. While anxious to hear the news of her husband, she
should still look after her household affairs. She should sleep near
the elder women of the house, and make herself agreeable to them. She
should look after and keep in repair the things that are liked by her
husband, and continue the works that have been begun by him. To the
abode of her relations she should not go except on occasions of joy
and sorrow, and then she should go in her usual travelling dress,
accompanied by her husband's servants, and not remain there for a long
time. The fasts and feasts should be observed with the consent of the
elders of the house. The resources should be increased by making
purchases and sales according to the practice of the merchants and by
means of honest servants, superintended by herself. The income should
be increased, and the expenditure diminished as much possible. And
when her husband returns from his journey, she should receive him at
first in her ordinary clothes, so that he may know in what way she has
lived during his absence, and should bring to him some presents, as
also materials for the worship of the Deity.
Thus ends the part relating to the behaviour of a wife during the
absence of her husband on a journey.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`The wife, whether she be a woman of noble family, or a virgin widow1
remarried, or a concubine, should lead a chaste life, devoted to her
husband, and doing everything for his welfare. Women acting thus
acquire Dharma, Artha, and Kama, obtain a high position, and generally
keep their husbands devoted to them.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
This probably refers to a girl married in her infancy, or when
very young and whose husband had died before she arrived at the
age of puberty. Infant marriages are still the common custom of
the Hindoos.
CHAPTER II
ON THE CONDUCT OF THE ELDER WIFE TOWARDS THE OTHER WIVES OF HER HUSBAND, AND
ON THAT OF A YOUNGER WIFE TOWARDS THE ELDER ONES. ALSO ON THE CONDUCT OF A
VIRGIN WIDOW RE-MARRIED; OF A WIFE DISLIKED BY HER HUSBAND; OF THE WOMEN IN
THE KING'S HAREM; AND LASTLY ON THE CONDUCT OF A HUSBAND TOWARDS MANY WIVES
THE causes of re-marrying during the lifetime of the wife are as
follows:
* The folly or ill-temper of the wife
* Her husband's dislike to her
* The want of offspring
* The continual birth of daughters
* The incontinence of the husband
From the very beginning, a wife should endeavour to attract the heart
of her husband, by showing to him continually her devotion, her good
temper, and her wisdom. If however she bears him no children, she
should herself toilette her husband to marry another woman. And when
the second wife is married, and brought to the house, the first wife
should give her a position superior to her own, and look upon her as a
sister. In the morning the elder wife should forcibly make the younger
one decorate herself in the presence of their husband, and should not
mind all the husband's favour being given to her. If the younger wife
does anything to displease her husband the elder one should not
neglect her, but should always be ready to give her most careful
advice, and should teach her to do various things in the presence of
her husband. Her children she should treat as her own, her attendants
she should look upon with more regard, even than on her own servants,
her friends she should cherish with love and kindness, and her
relations with great honour.
When there are many other wives besides herself, the elder wife should
associate with the one who is immediately next to her in rank and age,
and should instigate the wife who has recently enjoyed her husband's
favour to quarrel with the present favourite. After this she should
sympathize with the former, and having collected all the other wives
together, should get them to denounce the favourite as a scheming and
wicked woman, without however committing herself in any way. If the
favourite wife happens to quarrel with the husband, then the elder
wife should take her part and give her false encouragement, and thus
cause the quarrel to be increased. If there be only a little quarrel
between the two, the elder wife should do all she can to work it up
into a large quarrel. But if after all this she finds the husband
still continues to love his favourite wife she should then change her
tactics, and endeavour to bring about a conciliation between them, so
as to avoid her husband's displeasure.
Thus ends the conduct of the elder wife.
The younger wife should regard the elder wife of her husband as her
mother, and should not give anything away, even to her own relations,
without her knowledge. She should tell her everything about herself,
and not approach her husband without her permission. Whatever is told
to her by the elder wife she should not reveal to others, and she
should take care of the children of the senior even more than of her
own. When alone with her husband she should serve him well, but should
not tell him of the pain she suffers from the existence of a rival
wife. She may also obtain secretly from her husband some marks of his
particular regard for her, and may tell him that she lives only for
him, and for the regard that he has for her. She should never reveal
her love for her husband, nor her husband's love for her to any
person, either in pride or in anger, for a wife that reveals the
secrets of her husband is despised by him. As for seeking to obtain
the regard of her husband, Gonardiya says, that it should always be
done in private, for fear of the elder wife. If the elder wife be
disliked by her husband, or be childless, she should sympathize with
her, and should ask her husband to do the same, but should surpass her
in leading the life of a chaste woman.
Thus ends the conduct of the younger wife towards the elder.
A widow in poor circumstances, or of a weak nature, and who allies
herself again to a man, is called a widow remarried.
The followers of Babhravya say that a virgin widow should not marry a
person whom she may be obliged to leave on account of his bad
character, or of his being destitute of the excellent qualities of a
man, she thus being obliged to have recourse to another person.
Gonardiya is of opinion that as the cause of a widow's marrying again
is her desire for happiness, and as happiness is secured by the
possession of excellent qualities in her husband, joined to love of
enjoyment, it is better therefore to secure a person endowed with such
qualities in the first instance. Vatsyayana however thinks that a
widow may marry any person that she likes, and that she thinks win
suit her.
At the time of her marriage the widow should obtain from her husband
the money to pay the cost of drinking parties, and picnics with her
relations, and of giving them and her friends kindly gifts and
presents; or she may do these things at her own cost if she likes. In
the same way she may wear either her husband's ornaments or her own.
As to the presents of affection mutually exchanged between the husband
and herself there is no fixed rule about them. If she leaves her
husband after marriage of her own accord, she should restore to him
whatever he may have given her, with the exception of the mutual
presents. If however she is driven out of the house by her husband she
should not return anything to him.
After her marriage she should live in the house of her husband like
one of the chief members of the family, but should treat the other
ladies of the family with kindness, the servants with generosity, and
all the friends of the house with familiarity and good temper. She
should show that she is better acquainted with the sixty-four arts
than the other ladies of the house, and in any quarrels with her
husband she should not rebuke him severely but in private do
everything that he wishes, and make use of the sixty-four ways of
enjoyment. She should be obliging to the other wives of her husband,
and to their children she should give presents, behave as their
mistress, and make ornaments and playthings for their use. In the
friends and servants of her husband she should confide more than in
his other wives, and finally she should have a liking for drinking
parties, going to picnics, attending fairs and festivals, and for
carrying out all kinds of games and amusements.
Thus ends the conduct of a virgin widow remarried.
A woman who is disliked by her husband, and annoyed and distressed by
his other wives, should associate with the wife who is liked most by
her husband, and who serves him more than the others, and should teach
her all the arts with which she is acquainted. She should act as the
nurse to her husband's children, and having gained over his friends to
her side, should through them make him acquainted of her devotion to
him. In religious ceremonies she should be a leader, as also in vows
and fasts, and should not hold too good an opinion of herself. When
her husband is lying on his bed she should only go near him when it is
agreeable to him, and should never rebuke him, or show obstinacy in
any way. If her husband happens to quarrel with any of his other
wives, she should reconcile them to each other, and if he desires to
see any woman secretly, she should manage to bring about the meeting
between them. She should moreover make herself acquainted with the
weak points of her husband's character, but always keep them secret,
and on the whole behave herself in such a way as may lead him to look
upon her as a good and devoted wife.
Here ends the conduct of a wife disliked by her husband.
The above sections will show how all the women of the king's seraglio
are to behave, and therefore we shall now speak separately only about
the king.
The female attendants in the harem (called severally Kanchukiyas,1
Mahallarikas,2 and Mahallikas3) should bring flowers, ointments and
clothes from the king's wives to the king, and he having received
these things should give them as presents to the servants, along with
the things worn by him the previous day. In the afternoon the king,
having dressed and put on his ornaments, should interview the women of
the harem, who should also be dressed and decorated with jewels. Then
having given to each of them such a place and such respect as may suit
the occasion and as they may deserve, he should carry on with them a
cheerful conversation. After that he should see such of his wives as
may be virgin widows remarried, and after them the concubines and
dancing girls. All of these should be visited in their own private
rooms.
When the king rises from his noonday sleep, the woman whose duty it is
to inform the king regarding the wife who is to spend the night with
him should come to him accompanied by the female attendants of that
wife whose turn may have arrived in the regular course, and of her who
may have been accidentally passed over as her turn arrived, and of her
who may have been unwell at the time of her turn. These attendants
should place before the king the ointments and unguents sent by each
of these wives, marked with the seal of her ring, and their names and
their reasons for sending the ointments should be told to the king.
After this the king accepts the ointment of one of them, who then is
informed that her ointment has been accepted, and that her day has
been settled.4
At festivals, singing parties and exhibitions, all the wives of the
king should be treated with respect and served with drinks.
But the women of the harem should not be allowed to go out alone,
neither should any women outside the harem be allowed to enter it
except those whose character is well known. And lastly the work which
the king's wives have to do should not be too fatiguing.
Thus ends the conduct of the king towards the women of the harem, and
of their own conduct.
A man marrying many wives should act fairly towards them all. He
should neither disregard nor pass over their faults, and should not
reveal to one wife the love, passion, bodily blemishes and
confidential reproaches of the other. No opportunity should be given
to any one of them of speaking to him about their rivals, and if one
of them should begin to speak ill of another, he should chide her and
tell her that she has exactly the same blemishes in her character. One
of them he should please by secret confidence, another by secret
respect, and another by secret flattery, and he should please them all
by going to gardens, by amusements, by presents, by honouring their
relations, by telling them secrets, and lastly by loving unions. A
young woman who is of a good temper, and who conducts herself
according to the precepts of the Holy Writ, wins her husband's
attachments, and obtains a superiority over her rivals.
Thus ends the conduct of a husband towards many wives.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
A name given to the maid servants of the zenana of the kings in
ancient times, on account of their always keeping their breasts
covered with a cloth called Kanchuki. It was customary in the
olden time for the maid servants to cover their breasts with a
cloth, while the queens kept their breasts uncovered. This
custom is distinctly to be seen in the Ajunta cave paintings.
2
The meaning of this word is a superior woman, so it would seem
that a Mahallarika must be a person in authority over the maid
servants of the house.
3
This was also appertaining to the rank of women employed in the
harem. In latter times this place was given to eunuchs.
4
As kings generally had many wives, it was usual for them to
enjoy their wives by turns. But as it happened sometimes that
some of them lost their turns owing to the king's absence, or
to their being unwell, then in such cases the women whose turns
had been passed over, and those whose turns had come, used to
have a sort of lottery, and the ointments of all the claimants
were sent to the king, who accepted the ointment of one of
them, and thus settled the question.
CHAPTER I
OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MEN AND WOMEN. THE REASONS WHY WOMEN REJECT THE
ADDRESSES OF MEN. ABOUT MEN WHO HAVE SUCCESS WITH WOMEN, AND ABOUT WOMEN WHO
ARE EASILY GAINED OVER
THE wives of other people may be resorted to on the occasions already
described in Part I, Chapter V, of this work, but the possibility of
their acquisition, their fitness for cohabitation, the danger to
oneself in uniting with them, and the future effect of these unions,
should first of all be examined. A man may resort to the wife of
another, for the purpose of saving his own life, when he perceives
that his love for her proceeds from one degree of intensity to
another. These degrees are ten in number, and are distinguished by the
following marks:
* Love of the eye
* Attachment of the mind
* Constant reflection
* Destruction of sleep
* Emaciation of the body
* Turning away from objects of enjoyment
* Removal of shame
* Madness
* Fainting
* Death
Ancient authors say that a man should know the disposition,
truthfulness, purity, and will of a young woman, as also the
intensity, or weakness of her passions, from the form of her body, and
from her characteristic marks and signs. But Vatsyayana is of opinion
that the forms of bodies, and the characteristic marks or signs are
but erring tests of character, and that women should be judged by
their conduct, by the outward expression of their thoughts, and by the
movements of their bodies.
Now as a general rule Gonikaputra says that a woman falls in love with
every handsome man she sees, and so does every man at the sight of a
beautiful woman, but frequently they do not take any further steps,
owing to various considerations. In love the following circumstances
are peculiar to the woman. She loves without regard to right or
wrong,1 and does not try to gain over a man simply for the attainment
of some particular purpose. Moreover, when a man first makes up to her
she naturally shrinks from him, even though she may be willing to
unite herself with him. But when the attempts to gain her are repeated
and renewed, she at last consents. But with a man, even though he may
have begun to love, he conquers his feelings from a regard for
morality and wisdom, and although his thoughts are often on the woman,
he does not yield, even though an attempt be made to gain him over. He
sometimes makes an attempt or effort to win the object of his
affections, and having failed, he leaves her alone for the future. In
the same way, when a woman is once gained, he often becomes
indifferent about her. As for the saying that a man does not care for
what is easily gained, and only desires a thing which cannot be
obtained without difficulty, it is only a matter of talk.
The causes of a woman rejecting the addresses of a man are as follows:
* Affection for her husband
* Desire of lawful progeny
* Want of opportunity
* Anger at being addressed by the man too familiarly
* Difference in rank of life
* Want of certainty on account of the man being devoted travelling
* Thinking that the man may be attached to some other person
* Fear of the man's not keeping his intentions secret
* Thinking that the man is too devoted to his friends, and has too
great a regard for them
* The apprehension that he is not in earnest
* Bashfulness on account of his being an illustrious man
* Fear on account of his being powerful, or possessed of too
impetuous passion, in the case of the deer woman
* Bashfulness on account of his being too clever
* The thought of having once lived with him on friendly terms only
* Contempt of his want of knowledge of the world
* Distrust of his low character
* Disgust at his want of perception of her love for him
* In the case of an elephant woman, the thought that he is a hare
man, or a man of weak passion
* Compassion lest anything should befall him on account of his
passion
* Despair at her own imperfections
* Fear of discovery
* Disillusion at seeing his grey hair or shabby appearance
* Fear that he may be employed by her husband to test her chastity
* The thought that he has too much regard for morality
Whichever of the above causes a man may detect, he should endeavour to
remove it from the very beginning. Thus, the bashfulness that may
arise from his greatness or his ability, he should remove by showing
his great love and affection for her. The difficulty of the want of
opportunity, or of his inaccessibility, he should remove by showing
her some easy way of access. The excessive respect entertained by the
woman for him should be removed by making himself very familiar. The
difficulties that arise from his being thought a low character he
should remove by showing his valour and his wisdom; those that come
from neglect by extra attention; and those that arise from fear by
giving her proper encouragement.
The following are the men who generally obtain success with women:
* Men well versed in the science of love
* Men skilled in telling stories
* Men acquainted with women from their childhood Men
* who have secured their confidence
* Men who send presents to them
* Men who talk well
* Men who do things that they like
* Men who have not loved other women previously
* Men who act as messengers
* Men who know their weak points
* Men who are desired by good women
* Men who are united with their female friends
* Men who are good looking
* Men who have been brought up with them
* Men who are their neighbours
* Men who are devoted to sexual pleasures, even though these be with
their own servants
* The lovers of the daughters of their nurse
* Men who have been lately married
* Men who like picnics and pleasure parties
* Men who are liberal
* Men who are celebrated for being very strong (Bull men)
* Enterprising and brave men
* Men who surpass their husbands in learning and good looks, in good
qualities, and in liberality
* Men whose dress and manner of living are magnificent
The following are the women who are easily gained over:
* Women who stand at the doors of their houses
* Women who are always looking out on the street
* Women who sit conversing in their neighbour's house
* A woman who is always staring at you
* A female messenger
* A woman who looks sideways at you
* A woman whose husband has taken another wife without any just
cause
* A woman who hates her husband, or who is hated by him
* A woman who has nobody to look after her, or keep her in check
* A woman who has not had any children
* A woman whose family or caste is not well known
* A woman whose children are dead
* A woman who is very fond of society
* A woman who is apparently very affectionate with her husband
* The wife of an actor
* A widow
* A poor woman
* A woman fond of enjoyments
* The wife of a man with many younger brothers
* A vain woman
* A woman whose husband is inferior to her in rank or abilities
* A woman who is proud of her skill in the arts
* A woman disturbed in mind by the folly of her husband
* A woman who has been married in her infancy to a rich man, and not
liking him when she grows up, desires a man possessing a
disposition, talents, and wisdom suitable to her own tastes.
* A woman who is slighted by her husband without any cause
* A woman who is not respected by other women of the same rank or
beauty as herself
* A woman whose husband is devoted to travelling
* The wife of a jeweller
* A jealous woman
* A covetous woman
* An immoral woman
* A barren woman
* A lazy woman
* A cowardly woman
* A humpbacked woman
* A dwarfish woman
* A deformed woman
* A vulgar woman
* An ill-smelling woman
* A sick woman
* An old woman
There are also two verses on the subject as follows:
`Desire, which springs from nature, and which is increased by art, and
from which all danger is taken away by wisdom, becomes firm and
secure. A clever man, depending on his own ability, and observing
carefully the ideas and thoughts of women, and removing the causes of
their turning away from men, is generally successful with them.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
On peut tout attendre et tout supposer d'une femme amoureuse. -
Balzac
CHAPTER II
ABOUT MAKING ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE WOMAN, AND OF THE EFFORTS TO GAIN HER
OVER
ANCIENT authors are of opinion that girls are not so easily seduced by
employing female messengers as by the efforts of the man himself, but
that the wives of others are more easily got at by the aid of female
messengers than by the personal efforts of the man. But Vatsyayana
lays it down that whenever it is possible a man should always act
himself in these matters, and it is only when such is impracticable,
or impossible, that female messengers should be employed. As for the
saying that women who act and talk boldly and freely are to be won by
the personal efforts of the man, and that women who do not possess
those qualities are to be got at by female messengers, it is only a
matter of talk.
Now when a man acts himself in the matter he should first of all make
the acquaintance of the woman he loves in the following manner:
He should arrange to be seen by the woman either on a natural or
special opportunity. A natural opportunity is when one of them goes to
the house of the other, and a special opportunity is when they meet
either at the house of a friend, or a caste-fellow, or a minister, or
a physician, as also on the occasion of marriage ceremonies,
sacrifices, festivals, funerals, and garden parties.
When they do meet, the man should be careful to look at her in such a
way as to cause the state of his mind to be made known to her; he
should pull about his moustache, make a sound with his nails, cause
his own ornaments to tinkle, bite his lower lip, and make various
other signs of that description. When she is looking at him he should
speak to his friends about her and other women, and should show to her
his liberality and his appreciation of enjoyments. When sitting by the
side of a female friend he should yawn and twist his body, contract
his eyebrows, speak very slowly as if he was weary, and listen to her
indifferently. A conversation having two meanings should also be
carried on with a child or some other person, apparently having regard
to a third person, but really having reference to the woman he loves,
and in this way his love should be made manifest under the pretext of
referring to others rather than to herself. He should make marks that
have reference to her, on the earth with his nails, or with a stick,
and should embrace and kiss a child in her presence, and give it the
mixture of betel nut and betel leaves with his tongue, and press its
chin with his fingers in a caressing way. All these things should be
done at the proper time and in proper places.
The man should fondle a child that may be sitting on her lap, and give
it something to play with, and also take the same back again.
Conversation with respect to the child may also be held with her, and
in this manner he should gradually become well acquainted with her,
and he should also make himself agreeable to her relations.
Afterwards, this acquaintance should be made a pretext for visiting
her house frequently, and on such occasions he should converse on the
subject of love in her absence but within her hearing. As his intimacy
with her increases he should place in her charge some kind of deposit
or trust, and take away from it a small portion at a time; or he may
give her some fragrant substances, or betel nuts to be kept for him by
her. After this he should endeavour to make her well acquainted with
his own wife, and get them to carry on confidential conversations, and
to sit together in lonely places. In order to see her frequently he
should arrange so that the same goldsmith, the same jeweller, the same
basket maker, the same dyer, and the same washerman should be employed
by the two families. And he should also pay her long visits openly
under the pretence of being engaged with her on business, and one
business should lead to another, so as to keep up the intercourse
between them. Whenever she wants anything, or is in need of money, or
wishes to acquire skill in one of the arts, he should cause her to
understand that he is willing and able to do anything that she wants,
to give her money, or teach her one of the arts, all these things
being quite within his ability and power. In the same way he should
hold discussions with her in company with other people, and they
should talk of the doings and sayings of other persons, and examine
different things, like jewellery, precious stones, etc. On such
occasions he should show her certain things with the values of which
she may be unacquainted, and if she begins to dispute with him about
the things or their value, he should not contradict her, but point out
that he agrees with her in every way.
Thus end the ways of making the acquaintance of woman desired.
Now after a girl has become acquainted with the man as above
described, and has manifested her love to him by the various outward
signs and by the motions of her body, the man should make every effort
to gain her over. But as girls are not acquainted with sexual union,
they should be treated with the greatest delicacy, and the man should
proceed with considerable caution, though in the case of other women,
accustomed to sexual intercourse, this is not necessary. When the
intentions of the girl are known, and her bashfulness put aside, the
man should begin to make use of her money, and an interchange of
clothes, flowers should be made. In this the man should take
particular care that the things given by him are handsome and
valuable. He should moreover receive from her a mixture of betel nut
and betel leaves, and when he is going to a party he should ask for
the flower in her hair, or for the flower in her hand. If he himself
gives her a flower it should be a sweet smelling one, and marked with
marks made by his nails or teeth. With increasing assiduity he should
dispel her fears, and by degrees get her to go with him to some lonely
place, and there he should embrace and kiss her. And finally at the
time of giving her some betel nut, or of receiving the same from her,
or at the time of making an exchange of flowers, he should touch and
press her private parts, thus bringing his efforts to a satisfactory
conclusion.
When a man is endeavouring to seduce one woman, he should not attempt
to seduce any other at the same time. But after he has succeeded with
the first, and enjoyed her for a considerable time, he can keep her
affections by giving her presents that she likes, and then commence
making up to another woman. When a man sees the husband of a woman
going to some place near his house, he should not enjoy the woman
then, even though she may be easily gained over at that time. A wise
man having a regard for his reputation should not think of seducing a
woman who is apprehensive, timid, not to be trusted, well guarded, or
possessed of a father-in-law, or mother-in-law.
CHAPTER III
EXAMINATION OF THE STATE OF A WOMAN'S MIND
WHEN a man is trying to gain over a woman he should examine the state
of her mind, and act as follows:
If she listens to him, but does not manifest to him in any way her own
intentions, he should then try to gain her over by means of a
go-between.
If she meets him once, and again comes to meet him better dressed than
before, or comes to him in some lonely place, he should be certain
that she is capable of being enjoyed by the use of a little force. A
woman who lets a man make up to her, but does not give herself up,
even after a long time, should be considered as a trifler in love, but
owing to the fickleness of the human mind, even such a woman can be
conquered by always keeping up a close acquaintance with her.
When a woman avoids the attentions of a man, and on account of respect
for him, and pride in herself, will not meet him or approach him, she
can be gained over with difficulty, either by endeavouring to keep on
familiar terms with her, or else by an exceedingly clever go-between.
When a man makes up to a woman, and she reproaches him with harsh
words, she should be abandoned at once.
When a woman reproaches a man, but at the same time acts
affectionately towards him, she should be made love to in every way.
A woman, who meets a man in lonely places, and puts up with the touch
of his foot, but pretends, on account of the indecision of her mind,
not to be aware of it, should be conquered by patience, and by
continued efforts as follows:
If she happens to go to sleep in his vicinity he should put his left
arm round her, and see when she awakes whether she repulses him in
reality, or only repulses him in such a way as if she was desirous of
the same thing being done to her again. And what is done by the arm
can also be done by the foot. If the man succeeds in this point he
should embrace her more closely, and if she will not stand the embrace
and gets up, but behaves with him as usual the next day, he should
consider then that she is not unwilling to be enjoyed by him. If
however she does not appear again, the man should try to get over her
by means of a go-between; and if, after having disappeared for some
time, she again appears, and behaves with him as usual, the man should
then consider that she would not object to be united with him.
When a woman gives a man an opportunity, and makes her own love
manifest to him, he should proceed to enjoy her. And the signs of a
woman manifesting her love are these:
She calls out to a man without being addressed by him in the first
instance.
She shows herself to him in secret places.
She speaks to him tremblingly and inarticulately.
She has the fingers of her hand, and the toes of her feet moistened
with perspiration, and her face blooming with delight.
She occupies herself with shampooing his body and pressing his head.
When shampooing him she works with one hand only, and with the other
she touches and embraces parts of his body.
She remains with both hands placed on his body motionless as if she
had been surprised by something, or was overcome by fatigue.
She sometimes bends down her face upon his thighs and, when asked to
shampoo them does not manifest any unwillingness to do so.
She places one of her hands quite motionless on his body, and even
though the man should press it between two members of his body, she
does not remove it for a long time.
Lastly, when she has resisted all the efforts of the man to gain her
over, she returns to him next day to shampoo his body as before.
When a woman neither gives encouragement to a man, nor avoids him, but
hides herself and remains in some lonely place, she must be got at by
means of the female servant who may be near her. If when called by the
man she acts in the same way, then she should be gained over by means
of a skilful go-between. But if she will have nothing to say to the
man, he should consider well about her before he begins any further
attempts to gain her over.
Thus ends the examination of the state of a woman's mind.
A man should first get himself introduced to a woman, and then carry
on a conversation with her. He should give her hints of his love for
her, and if he finds from her replies that she receives these hints
favourably, he should then set to work to gain her over without any
fear. A woman who shows her love by outward signs to the man at his
first interview should be gained over very easily. In the same way a
lascivious woman, who when addressed in loving words replies openly in
words expressive of her love, should be considered to have been gained
over at that very moment. With regard to all women, whether they be
wise, simple, or confiding, this rule is laid down that those who make
an open manifestation of their love are easily gained over.
CHAPTER IV
ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF A GO-BETWEEN
IF a woman has manifested her love or desire, either by signs or by
motions of the body, and is afterwards rarely or never seen anywhere,
or if a woman is met for the first time, the man should get a
go-between to approach her.
Now the go-between, having wheedled herself into the confidence of the
woman by acting according to her disposition, should try to make her
hate or despise her husband by holding artful conversations with her,
by telling her about medicines for getting children, by talking to her
about other people, by tales of various kinds, by stories about the
wives of other men, and by praising her beauty, wisdom, generosity and
good nature, and then saying to her: `It is indeed a pity that you,
who are so excellent a woman in every way, should be possessed of a
husband of this kind. Beautiful lady, he is not fit even to serve
you.' The go-between should further talk to the woman about the
weakness of the passion of her husband, his jealousy, his roguery, his
ingratitude, his aversion to enjoyments, his dullness, his meanness,
and all the other faults that he may have, and with which she may be
acquainted. She should particularly harp upon that fault or that
failing by which the wife may appear to be the most affected. If the
wife be a deer woman, and the husband a hare man, then there would be
no fault in that direction, but in the event of his being a hare man,
and she a mare woman or elephant woman, then this fault should be
pointed out to her.
Gonikaputra is of opinion that when it is the first affair of the
woman, or when her love has only been very secretly shown, the man
should then secure and send to her a go-between, with whom she may be
already acquainted, and in whom she confides.
But to return to our subject. The go-between should tell the woman
about the obedience and love of the man, and as her confidence and
affection increase, she should then explain to her the thing to be
accomplished in the following way. `Hear this, Oh beautiful lady, that
this man, born of a good family, having seen you, has gone mad on your
account. The poor young man, who is tender by nature, has never been
distressed in such a way before, and it is highly probable that he
will succumb under his present affliction, and experience the pains of
death.' If the woman listens with a favourable ear, then on the
following day the go-between, having observed marks of good spirits in
her face, in her eyes, and in her manner of conversation, should again
converse with her on the subject of the man, and should tell her the
stories of Ahalya1 and Indra, of Sakoontala2 and Dushyanti, and such
others as may be fitted for the occasion. She should also describe to
her the strength of the man, his talents, his skill in the sixty-four
sorts of enjoyments mentioned by Babhravya, his good looks, and his
liaison with some praiseworthy woman, no matter whether this last ever
took place or not.
In addition to this, the go-between should carefully note the
behaviour of the woman, which if favourable would be as follows: She
would address her with a smiling look, would seat herself close beside
her, and ask her, `Where have you been? What have you been doing?
Where did you dine? Where did you sleep? Where have you been sitting?'
Moreover, the woman would meet the go-between in lonely places and
tell her stories there, would yawn contemplatively, draw long sighs,
give her presents, remember her on occasions of festivals, dismiss her
with a wish to see her again, and say to her jestingly, `Oh,
well-speaking woman, why do you speak these bad words to me?', would
discourse on the sin of her union with the man, would not tell her
about any previous visits or conversations that she may have had with
him, but wish to be asked about these, and lastly would laugh at the
man's desire, but would not reproach him in any way.
Thus ends the behaviour of the woman with the go-between.
When the woman manifests her love in the manner above described, the
go-between should increase it by bringing to her love tokens from the
man. But if the woman be not acquainted with the man personally, the
go-between should win her over by extolling and praising his good
qualities, and by telling stories about his love for her. Here
Auddalaka says that when a man or woman are not personally acquainted
with each other, and have not shown each other any signs of affection,
the employment of a go-between is useless.
The followers of Babhravya on the other hand affirm that even though
they be personally unacquainted, but have shown each other signs of
affection there is an occasion for the employment of a go-between.
Gonikaputra asserts that a go-between should be employed, provided
they are acquainted with each other, even though no signs of affection
may have passed between them. Vatsyayana however lays it down that
even though they may not be personally acquainted with each other, and
may not have shown each other any signs of affection, still they are
both capable of placing confidence in a go-between.
Now the go-between should show the woman the presents, such as the
betel nut and betel leaves, the perfumes, the flowers, and the rings
which the man may have given to her for the sake of the woman, and on
these presents should be impressed the marks of the man's teeth, and
nails, and other signs. On the cloth that he may send he should draw
with saffron both his hands joined together as if in earnest entreaty.
The go-between should also show to the woman ornamental figures of
various kinds cut in leaves, together with ear ornaments, and chaplets
made of flowers containing love letters expressive of the desire of
the man,3 and she should cause her to send affectionate presents to
the man in return. After they have mutually accepted each other's
presents, then a meeting should be arranged between them on the faith
of the go-between.
The followers of Babhravya say that this meeting should take place at
the time of going to the temple of a Deity, or on occasions of fairs,
garden parties, theatrical performances, marriages, sacrifices,
festivals and funerals, as also at the time of going to the river to
bathe, or at times of natural calamities,4 fear of robbers or hostile
invasions of the country.
Gonikaputra is of opinion however that these meetings had better be
brought about in the abodes of female friends, mendicants,
astrologers, and ascetics. But Vatsyayana decides that that place is
only well suited for the purpose which has proper means of ingress and
egress, and where arrangements have been made to prevent any
accidental occurrence, and when a man who has once entered the house
can also leave it at the proper time without any disagreeable
encounter.
Now go-betweens or female messengers are of the following different
kinds:
A go-between who takes upon herself the whole burden of the business
A go-between who does only a limited part of the business
A go-between who is the bearer of a letter only
A go-between acting on her own account
The go-between of an innocent young woman
A wife serving as a go-between
A mute go-between
A go-between who acts the part of the wind
A woman who, having observed the mutual passion of a man and woman,
brings them together and arranges it by the power of her own
intellect, such a one is called a go-between who takes upon herself
the whole burden of the business. This kind of go-between is chiefly
employed when the man and the woman are already acquainted with each
other, and have conversed together, and in such cases she is sent not
only by the man (as is always done in all other cases) but by the
woman also. The above name is also given to a go-between who,
perceiving that the man and the woman are suited to each other, tries
to bring about a union between them, even though they be
not-acquainted with each other.
A go-between who, perceiving that some part of the affair is already
done, or that the advances on the part of the man are already made,
completes the rest of the business, is called a go-between who
performs only a limited part of the business.
A go-between who simply carries messages between a man and a woman,
who love each other, but who cannot frequently meet, is called the
bearer of a Tetter or message.
This name is also given to one who is sent by either of the lovers to
acquaint either the one or the other with the time and place of their
meeting.
A woman who goes herself to a man, and tells him of her having enjoyed
sexual union with him in a dream, and expresses her anger at his wife
having rebuked him for calling her by the name of her rival instead of
by her own name, and gives him something bearing the marks of her
teeth and nails and informs him that she knew she was formerly desired
by him, and asks him privately whether she or his wife is the best
looking, such a person is called a woman who is a go-between for
herself. Now such a woman should be met and interviewed by the man in
private and secretly.
The above name is also given to a woman who having made an agreement
with some other woman to act as her go-between, gains over the man to
herself, by the means of making him personally acquainted with
herself, and thus causes the other woman to fail. The same applies to
a man who, acting as a go-between for another, and having no previous
connection with the woman, gains her over for himself, and thus causes
the failure of the other man.
A woman who has gained the confidence of the innocent young wife of
any man, and who has learned her secrets without exercising any
pressure on her mind, and found out from her how her husband behaves
to her, if this woman then teaches her the art of securing his favour,
and decorates her so as to show her love, and instructs her how and
when to be angry, or to pretend to be so, and then, having herself
made marks of the nails and teeth on the body of the wife, gets the
latter to send for her husband to show these marks to him, and thus
excite him for enjoyment, such is called the go-between of an innocent
young woman. In such cases the man should send replies to his wife
through the same woman.
When a man gets his wife to gain the confidence of a woman whom he
wants to enjoy, and to call on her and talk to her about the wisdom
and ability of her husband, that wife is called a wife serving as a
go-between. In this case the feelings of the woman with regard to the
man should also be made known through the wife.
When any man sends a girl or a female servant to any woman under some
pretext or other, and places a letter in her bouquet of flowers, or in
her ear ornaments, or marks something about her with his teeth or
nails, that girl or female servant is called a mute go-between. In
this case the man should expect an answer from the woman through the
same person.
A person, who carries a message to a woman, which has a double
meaning, or which relates to some past transactions, or which is
unintelligible to other people, is called a go-between who acts the
part of the wind. In this case the reply should be asked for through
the same woman.
Thus end the different kinds of go-betweens.
A female astrologer, a female servant, a female beggar, or a female
artist are well acquainted with the business of a go-between, and very
soon gain the confidence of other women. Any one of them can raise
enmity between any two persons if she wishes to do so, or extol the
loveliness of any woman that she wishes to praise, or describe the
arts practised by other women in sexual union. They can also speak
highly of the love of a man, of his skill in sexual enjoyment, and of
the desire of other women, more beautiful even than the woman they are
addressing, for him, and explain the restraint under which he may be
at home.
Lastly a go-between can, by the artfulness of her conversation, unite
a woman with a man even though he may not have been thought of by her,
or may have been considered beyond her aspirations. She can also bring
back a man to a woman, who, owing to some cause or other, has
separated himself from her.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
The wife of the sage Gautama, she was seduced by Indra the king
of the Gods.
2
The heroine of one of the best, if not the best, of Hindoo
plays, and the best known in Sanscrit dramatic literature. It
was first brought to notice by Sir William Jones, and has been
well and poetically translated by Dr Monier Williams under the
title of Sakoontala, or the lost ring, an Indian drama,
translated into English prose and verse from the Sanscrit of
Kalidasa.
3
It is presumed that something like the following French verses
are intended:
Quand on a juré le plus profond hommage,
Voulez vous qu'infidèle on change de langage;
Vous seul captivez mon esprit et mon coeur
Que je puisse dans vos bras seuls goûter le bonheur;
Je voudrais, mais en vain, que mon coeur en délire
Couche oû ce papier n'oserait vous dire.
Avec soin, de ces vers lisez leurs premiers mots,
Vous verrez quel remède il faut à tous mes maux
Or these:
Quand on vous voit, on vous aime;
Quand on vous aime, oû vous voit on?
4
It is supposed that storms, earthquakes, famines and pestilent
diseases are here alluded to.
CHAPTER V
ABOUT THE LOVE OF PERSONS IN AUTHORITY FOR THE WIVES OF OTHER MEN
KINGS and their ministers have no access to the abodes of others, and
moreover their mode of living is constantly watched and observed and
imitated by the people at large, just as the animal world, seeing the
sun rise, get up after him, and when he sits in the evening, lie down
again in the same way. Persons in authority should not therefore do
any improper act in public, as such are impossible from their
position, and would be deserving of censure. But if they find that
such an act is necessary to be done, they should make use of the
proper means as described in the following paragraphs.
The head man of the village, the king's officer employed there, and
the man1 whose business it is to glean corn, can gain over female
villagers simply by asking them. It is on this account that this class
of woman are called unchaste women by voluptuaries.
The union of the above mentioned men with this class of woman takes
place on the occasions of unpaid labour, of filling the granaries in
their houses, of taking things in and out of the house, of cleaning
the houses, of working in the fields, and of purchasing cotton, wool,
flax, hemp, and thread, and at the season of the purchase, sale, and
exchange of various other articles, as well as at the time of doing
various other works. In the same way the superintendents of cow pens
enjoy the women in the cow pens; and the officers, who crave the
superintendence of widows, of the women who are without supporters,
and of women who have left their husbands, have sexual intercourse
with these women. The intelligent accomplish their object by wandering
at night in the village, and while villagers also unite with the wives
of their sons, being much alone with them. Lastly the superintendents
of markets have a great deal to do with the female villagers at the
time of their making purchases in the market.
During the festival of the eighth moon, i.e. during the bright half of
the month of Nargashirsha, as also during the moonlight festival of
the month of Kartika, and the spring festival of Chaitra, the women of
cities and towns generally visit the women of the king's harem in the
royal palace. These visitors go to the several apartments of the women
of the harem, as they are acquainted with them, and pass the night in
conversation, and in proper sports, and amusement, and go away in the
morning. On such occasions a female attendant of the king (previously
acquainted with the woman whom the king desires) should loiter about,
and accost this woman when she sets out to go home, and induce her to
come and see the amusing things in the palace. Previous to these
festivals even, she should have caused it to be intimated to this
woman that on the occasion of this festival she would show her all the
interesting things in the royal palace. Accordingly she should show
her the bower of the coral creeper, the garden house with its floor
inlaid with precious stones, the bower of grapes, the building on the
water, the secret passages in the walls of the palace, the pictures,
the sporting animals, the machines, the birds, and the cages of the
lions and the tigers. After this, when alone with her, she should tell
her about the love of the king for her, and should describe to her the
good fortune which would attend upon her union with the king, giving
her at the time a strict promise of secrecy. If the woman does not
accept the offer, she should conciliate and please her with handsome
presents befitting the position of the king, and having accompanied
her for some distance should dismiss her with great affection.
Or, having made the acquaintance of the husband of the woman whom the
king desires, the wives of the king should get the wife to pay them a
visit in the harem, and on this occasion a female attendant of the
king, having been sent thither, should act as above described.
Or, one of the king's wives should get acquainted with the woman that
the king desires, by sending one of the female attendants to her, who
should, on their becoming more intimate, induce her to come and see
the royal abode. Afterwards when she has visited the harem, and
acquired confidence, a female confidante of the king, sent thither,
should act as before described.
Or, the king's wife should invite the woman, whom the king desires, to
come to the royal palace, so that she might see the practice of the
art in which the king's wife may be skilled, and after she has come to
the harem, a female attendant of the king, sent thither, should act as
before described.
Or, a female beggar, in league with the king's wife, should say to the
woman desired by the king, and whose husband may have lost his wealth,
or may have some cause of fear from the king: `This wife of the king
has influence over him, and she is, moreover, naturally kind-hearted,
we must therefore go to her in this matter. I shall arrange for your
entrance into the harem, and she will do away with all cause of danger
and fear from the king.' If the woman accepts this offer, the female
beggar should take her two or three times to the harem, and the king's
wife there should give her a promise of protection. After this, when
the woman, delighted with her reception and promise of protection,
again goes to the harem, then a female attendant of the king, sent
thither, should act as directed.
What has been said above regarding the wife of one who has some cause
of fear from the king applies also to the wives of those who seek
service under the king, or who are oppressed by the king's ministers,
or who are poor, or who are not satisfied with their position, or who
are desirous of gaining the king's favour, or who wish to become
famous among the people, or who are oppressed by the members of their
own caste, or who want to injure their caste fellows, or who are spies
of the king, or who have any other object to attain.
Lastly, if the woman desired by the king be living with some person
who is not her husband, then the king should cause her to be arrested,
and having made her a slave, on account of her crime, should place her
in the harem. Or the king should cause his ambassador to quarrel with
the husband of the woman desired by him, and should then imprison her
as the wife of an enemy of the king, and by this means should place
her in the harem.
Thus end the means of gaining over the wives of others secretly.
The above mentioned ways of gaining over the wives of other men are
chiefly practised in the palaces of kings. But a king should never
enter the abode of another person, for Abhira,2 the king of the
Kottas, was killed by a washerman while in the house of another, and
in the same way Jayasana, the king of the Kashis, was slain by the
commandant of his cavalry.
But according to the customs of some countries there are facilities
for kings to make love to the wives of other men. Thus in the country
of the Andhras3 the newly married daughters of the people thereof
enter the king's harem with some presents on the tenth day of their
marriage, and having been enjoyed by the king are then dismissed. In
the country of the Vatsagulmas4 the wives of the chief ministers
approach the king at night to serve him. In the country of the
Vaidarbhas5 the beautiful wives of the inhabitants pass a month in the
king's harem under the pretence of affection for the king. In the
country of the Aparatakas6 the people gave their beautiful wives as
presents to the ministers and the kings. And lastly in the country of
the Saurashtras7 the women of the city and the country enter the royal
harem for the king's pleasure either together or separately.
There are also two verses on the subject as follows:
`The above and other ways are the means employed in different
countries by kings with regard to the wives of other persons. But a
king, who has the welfare of his people at heart, should not on any
account put them into practice.'
`A king, who has conquered the six8 enemies of mankind, becomes the
master of the whole earth.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
This is a phrase used for a man who does the work of everybody,
and who is fed by the whole village.
2
The exact date of the reign of these kings is not known. It is
supposed to have been about the beginning of the Christian era.
3
The modern country of Tailangam which is to the South of
Rajamundry.
4
Supposed to be a tract of the country to the south of Malwa.
5
Now known by the name of Berar. Its capital was Kundinpura,
which has been identified with the modern Oomravati.
6
Also called Aparantakas, being the northern and southern
Concan.
7
The modern provinces of Katteeawar. Its capital was called
Girinaguda, or the modern Junagurh.
8
These are Lust, Anger, Avarice, Spiritual Ignorance, Pride, and
Envy.
CHAPTER VI
ABOUT THE WOMEN OF THE ROYAL HAREM; AND OF THE KEEPING OF ONE'S OWN WIFE
THE women of the royal harem cannot see or meet any men on account of
their being strictly guarded, neither do they have their desires
satisfied, because their only husband is common to many wives. For
this reason among themselves they give pleasure to each other in
various ways as now described.
Having dressed the daughters of their nurses, or their female friends,
or their female attendants, like men, they accomplish their object by
means of bulbs, roots, and fruits having the form of the lingam, or
they lie down upon the statue of a male figure, in which the lingam is
visible and erect.
Some kings, who are compassionate, take or apply certain medicines to
enable them to enjoy many wives in one night, simply for the purpose
of satisfying the desire of their women, though they perhaps have no
desire of their own. Others enjoy with great affection only those
wives that they particularly like, while others only take them,
according as the turn of each wife arrives in due course. Such are the
ways of enjoyment prevalent in Eastern countries, and what is said
about the means of enjoyment of the female is also applicable to the
male.
By means of their female attendants the ladies of the royal harem
generally get men into their apartments in the disguise or dress of
women. Their female attendants, and the daughters of their nurses, who
are acquainted with their secrets, should exert themselves to get men
to come to the harem in this way by telling them of the good fortune
attending it, and by describing the facilities of entering and leaving
the palace, the large size of the premises, the carelessness of the
sentinels, and the irregularities of the attendants about the persons
of the royal wives. But these women should never induce a man to enter
the harem by telling him falsehoods, for that would probably lead to
his destruction.
As for the man himself he had better not enter a royal harem, even
though it may be easily accessible, on account of the numerous
disasters to which he may be exposed there. If however he wants to
enter it, he should first ascertain whether there is an easy way to
get out, whether it is closely surrounded by the pleasure garden,
whether it has separate enclosures belonging to it, whether the
sentinels are careless, whether the king has gone abroad, and then,
when he is called by the women of the harem, he should carefully
observe the localities, and enter by the way pointed out by them. If
he is able to manage it, he should hang about the harem every day, and
under some pretext or other, make friends with the sentinels, and show
himself attached to the female attendants of the harem, who may have
become acquainted with his design, and to whom he should express his
regret at not being able to obtain the object of his desire. Lastly he
should cause the whole business of a go-between to be done by the
woman who may have access to the harem, and he should be careful to be
able to recognize the emissaries of the king.
When a go-between has no access to the harem, then the man should
stand in some place where the lady, whom he loves and whom he is
anxious to enjoy, can be seen.
If that place is occupied by the king's sentinels, he should then
disguise himself as a female attendant of the lady who comes to the
place, or passes by it. When she looks at him he should let her know
his feelings by outward signs and gestures, and should show her
pictures, things with double meanings, chaplets of flowers, and rings.
He should carefully mark the answer she gives, whether by word or by
sign, or by gesture, and should then try and get into the harem. If he
is certain of her coming to some particular place he should conceal
himself there, and at the appointed time should enter along with her
as one of the guards. He may also go in and out, concealed in a folded
bed, or bed covering, or with his body made invisible,1 by means of
external applications, a receipt for one of which is as follows:
The heart of an ichneumon, the fruit of the long gourd (tumbi), and
the eyes of a serpent should all be burnt without letting out the
smoke. The ashes should then be ground and mixed in equal quantities
with water. By putting this mixture upon the eyes a man can go about
unseen.
Other means of invisibility are prescribed by Duyana Brahmans and
Jogashiras.
Again the man may enter the harem during the festival of the eighth
moon in the month of Nargashirsha, and during the moonlight festivals
when the female attendants of the harem are all busily occupied, or in
confusion.
The following principles are laid down on this subject.
The entrance of young men into harems, and their exit from them,
generally take place when things are being brought into the palace, or
when things are being taken out of it, or when drinking festivals are
going on, or when the female attendants are in a hurry, or when the
residence of some of the royal ladies is being changed, or when the
king's wives go to gardens, or to fairs, or when they enter the palace
on their return from them, or lastly, when the king is absent on a
long pilgrimage. The women of the royal harem know each other's
secrets, and having but one object to attain, they give assistance to
each other. A young man, who enjoys all of them, and who is common to
them all, can continue enjoying his union with them so long as it is
kept quiet, and is not known abroad.
Now in the country of the Aparatakas the royal ladies are not well
protected, and consequently many young men are passed into the harem
by the women who have access to the royal palace. The wives of the
king of the Ahira country accomplish their objects with those
sentinels in the harem who bear the name of Kashtriyas. The royal
ladies in the country of the Vatsagulmas cause such men as are
suitable to enter into the harem along with their female messengers.
In the country of the Vaidarbhas the sons of the royal ladies enter
the royal harem when they please and enjoy the women, with the
exception of their own mothers. In the Stri-rajya the wives of the
king are enjoyed by his caste fellows and relations. In the Ganda
country the royal wives are enjoyed by Brahmans, friends, servants and
slaves. In the Samdhava country servants, foster children, and other
persons like them enjoy the women of the harem. In the country of the
Haimavatas adventurous citizens bribe the sentinels and enter the
harem. In the country of the Vanyas and the Kalmyas, Brahmans, with
the knowledge of the king, enter the harem under the pretence of
giving flowers to the ladies, and speak with them from behind a
curtain, and from such conversation union afterwards takes place.
Lastly the women in the harem of the king of the Prachyas conceal one
young man in the harem for every batch of nine or ten of the women.
Thus act the wives of others.
For these reasons a man should guard his own wife. Old authors say
that a king should select for sentinels in his harem such men as have
their freedom from carnal desires well tested. But such men, though
free themselves from carnal desire, by reason of their fear or
avarice, may cause other persons to enter the harem, and therefore
Gonikaputra says that kings should place such men in the harem as may
have had their freedom from carnal desires, their fears, and their
avarice well tested. Lastly Vatsyayana says that under the influence
of Dharma2 people might be admitted, and therefore men should be
selected who are free from carnal desires, fear, avarice, and Dharma.3
The followers of Babhravya say that a man should cause his wife to
associate with a young woman who would tell him the secrets of other
people, and thus find out from her about his wife's chastity. But
Vatsyayana says that, as wicked persons are always successful with
women, a man should not cause his innocent wife to be corrupted by
bringing her into the company of a deceitful woman.
The following are the causes of the destruction of a woman's chastity:
* Always going into society, and sitting in company
* Absence of restraint
* The loose habits of her husband
* Want of caution in her relations with other men
* Continued and long absence of her husband
* Living in a foreign country
* Destruction of her love and feelings by her husband
* The company of loose women
* The jealousy of her husband
There are also the following verses on the subject:
`A clever man, learning from the Shastras the ways of winning over the
wives of other people, is never deceived in the case of his own wives.
No one, however, should make use of these ways for seducing the wives
of others, because they do not always succeed, and, moreover, often
cause disasters, and the destruction of Dharma and Artha. This book,
which is intended for the good of the people, and to teach them the
ways of guarding their own wives, should not be made use of merely for
gaining over the wives of others.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
The way to make oneself invisible, the knowledge of the art of
transmigration, or changing ourselves or others into any shape
or form by the use of charms and spells, the power of being in
two places at once, and other occult sciences are frequently
referred to in all Oriental literature.
2
This may be considered as meaning religious influence, and
alludes to persons who may be gained over by that means.
3
It will be noted from the above remarks that eunuchs do nob
appear to have been employed in the king's harem in those days,
though they seem to have been employed for other purposes. See
Part II, Chapter II.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
THIS Part VI, about courtesans, was prepared by Vatsyayana from a
treatise on the subject that was written by Dattaka, for the women of
Pataliputra (the modern Patna), some two thousand years ago. Dattaka's
work does not appear to be extant now, but this abridgement of it is
very clever, and quite equal to any of the productions of Emile Zola,
and other writers of the realistic school of today.
Although a great deal has been written on the subject of the
courtesan, nowhere will be found a better description of her, of her
belongings, of her ideas, and of the working of her mind, than is
contained in the following pages.
The details of the domestic and social life of the early Hindoos would
not be complete without mention of the courtesan, and Part VI is
entirely devoted to this subject. The Hindoos have ever had the good
sense to recognise courtesans as a part and portion of human society,
and so long as they behaved themselves with decency and propriety they
were regarded with a certain respect. Anyhow, they have never been
treated in the East with that brutality and contempt so common in the
West, while their education has always been of a superior kind to that
bestowed upon the rest of womankind in Oriental countries.
In the earlier days the well-educated Hindoo dancing girl and
courtesan doubtless resembled the Hetera of the Greeks, and, being
educated and amusing, were far more acceptable as companions than the
generality of the married or unmarried women of that period. At all
times and in all countries, there has ever been a little rivalry
between the chaste and the unchaste. But while some women are born
courtesans, and follow the instincts of their nature in every class of
society, it has been truly said by some authors that every woman has
got an inkling of the profession in her nature, and does her best, as
a general rule, to make herself agreeable to the male sex.
The subtlety of women, their wonderful perceptive powers, their
knowledge, and their intuitive appreciation of men and things are all
shown in the following pages, which may be looked upon as a
concentrated essence that has been since worked up into detail by many
writers in every quarter of the globe.
CHAPTER I
OF THE CAUSES OF A COURTESAN RESORTING TO MEN; OF THE MEANS OF ATTACHING TO
HERSELF THE MAN DESIRED; AND OF THE KIND OF MAN THAT IT IS DESIRABLE TO BE
ACQUAINTED WITH
By having intercourse with men courtesans obtain sexual pleasure, as
well as their own maintenance. Now when a courtesan takes up with a
man from love, the action is natural; but when she resorts to him for
the purpose of getting money, her action is artificial or forced. Even
in the latter case, however, she should conduct herself as if her love
were indeed natural, because men repose their confidence on those
women who apparently love them. In making known her love to the man,
she should show an entire freedom from avarice, and for the sake of
her future credit she should abstain from acquiring money from him by
unlawful means.
A courtesan, well dressed and wearing her ornaments, should sit or
stand at the door of her house, and, without exposing herself too
much, should look on the public road so as to be seen by the passers
by, she being like an object on view for sale.1 She should form
friendships with such persons as would enable her to separate men from
other women, and attach them to herself, to repair her own
misfortunes, to acquire wealth, and to protect her from being bullied,
or set upon by persons with whom she may have dealings of some kind or
another.
These persons are:
* The guards of the town, or the police
* The officers of the courts of justice
* Astrologers
* Powerful men, or men with interest
* Learned men
* Teachers of the sixty-four arts
* Pithamardas or confidants
* Vitas or parasites
* Vidushakas or jesters
* Flower sellers
* Perfumers
* Vendors of spirits
* Washermen
* Barbers
* Beggars
And such other persons as may be found necessary for the particular
object to be acquired.
The following kinds of men may be taken up with, simply for the
purpose of getting their money:
* Men of independent income
* Young men
* Men who are free from any ties
* Men who hold places of authority under the king
* Men who have secured their means of livelihood without difficulty
* Men possessed of unfailing sources of income
* Men who consider themselves handsome
* Men who are always praising themselves
* One who is a eunuch, but wishes to be thought a man
* One who hates his equals One who is naturally liberal
* One who has influence with the king or his ministers
* One who is always fortunate
* One who is proud of his wealth
* One who disobeys the orders of his elders
* One upon whom the members of his caste keep an eye
* An only son whose father is wealthy
* An ascetic who is internally troubled with desire
* A brave man
* A physician of the king
* Previous acquaintances
On the other hand, those who are possessed of excellent qualities are
to be resorted to for the sake of love, and fame. Such men are as
follows:
Men of high birth, learned, with a good knowledge of the world, and
doing the proper things at the proper times, poets, good story
tellers, eloquent men, energetic men, skilled in various arts,
far-seeing into the future, possessed of great minds, full of
perseverance, of a firm devotion, free from anger, liberal,
affectionate to their parents, and with a liking for all social
gatherings, skilled in completing verses begun by others and in
various other sports, free from all disease, possessed of a perfect
body, strong, and not addicted to drinking, powerful in sexual
enjoyment, sociable, showing love towards women and attracting their
hearts to himself, but not entirely devoted to them, possessed of
independent means of livelihood, free from envy, and last of all, free
from suspicion.
Such are the good qualifies of a man.
The woman also should have the following characteristics:
She should be possessed of beauty, and amiability, with auspicious
body marks. She should have a liking for good qualifies in other
people, as also a liking for wealth. She should take delight in sexual
unions, resulting from love, and should be of a firm mind, and of the
same class as the man with regard to sexual enjoyment.
She should always be anxious to acquire and obtain experience and
knowledge, be free from avarice, and always have a liking for social
gatherings, and for the arts.
The following are the ordinary qualities of all women:
To be possessed of intelligence, good disposition, and good manners;
to be straightforward in behaviour, and to be grateful; to consider
well the future before doing anything; to possess activity, to be of
consistent behaviour, and to have a knowledge of the proper times and
places for doing things; to speak always without meanness, loud
laughter, malignity, anger, avarice, dullness, or stupidity; to have a
knowledge of the Kama Sutra, and to be skilled in all the arts
connected with it.
The faults of women are to be known by the absence of any of the above
mentioned good qualities.
The following kinds of men are not fit to be resorted to by
courtesans:
One who is consumptive; one who is sickly; one whose mouth contains
worms; one whose breath smells like human excrement; one whose wife is
dear to him; one who speaks harshly; one who is always suspicious; one
who is avaricious; one who is pitiless; one who is a thief; one who is
self-conceited; one who has a liking for sorcery; one who does not
care for respect or disrespect; one who can be gained over even by his
enemies by means of money; and lastly, one who is extremely bashful.
Ancient authors are of opinion that the causes of a courtesan
resorting to men are love, fear, money, pleasure, returning some act
of enmity, curiosity, sorrow, constant intercourse, Dharma, celebrity,
compassion, the desire of having a friend, shame, the likeness of the
man to some beloved person, the search after good fortune, the getting
rid of the love of somebody else, the being of the same class as the
man with respect to sexual union, living in the same place, constancy,
and poverty. But Vatsyayana decides that desire of wealth, freedom
from misfortune, and love are the only causes that affect the union of
courtesans with men.
Now a courtesan should not sacrifice money to her love, because money
is the chief thing to be attended to. But in cases of fear, etc., she
should pay regard to strength and other qualities. Moreover, even
though she be invited by any man to join him, she shoUld not at once
consent to a union, because men are apt to despise things which are
easily acquired. On such occasions she should first send the
shampooers, and the singers, and the jesters, who may be in her
service, or, in their absence the Pithamardas, or confidants, and
others, to find out the state of his feelings, and the condition of
his mind. By means of these persons she should ascertain whether the
man is pure or impure, affected, or the reverse, capable of
attachment, or indifferent, liberal or niggardly; and if she finds him
to her liking, she should then employ the Vita and others to attach
his mind to her.
Accordingly, the Pithamarda should bring the man to her house, under
the pretence of seeing the fights of quails, cocks, and rams, of
hearing the mania (a kind of starling) talk, or of seeing some other
spectacle, or the practice of some art; or he may take the woman to
the abode of the man. After this, when the man comes to her house the
woman should give him something capable of producing curiosity, and
love in his heart, such as an affectionate present, telling him that
it was specially designed for his use. She should also amuse him for a
long time by telling him such stories, and doing such things as he may
take most delight in. When he goes away she should frequently send to
him a female attendant, skilled in carrying on a jesting conversation,
and also a small present at the same time. She should also sometimes
go to him herself under the pretence of some business, and accompanied
by the Pithamarda.
Thus end the means of attaching to herself the man desired.
There are also some verses on the subject as follows:
`When a lover comes to her abode, a courtesan should give him a
mixture of betel leaves and betel nut, garlands of flowers, and
perfumed ointments, and, showing her skill in arts, should entertain
him with a long conversation. She should also give him some loving
presents, and make an exchange of her own things with his, and at the
same time should show him her skill in sexual enjoyment. When a
courtesan is thus united with her lover she should always delight him
by affectionate gifts, by conversation, and by the application of
tender means of enjoyment.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
In England the lower classes of courtesans walk the streets: in
India and other places in the East, they sit at the windows, or
at the doors of their houses.
CHAPTER II
OF LIVING LIKE A WIFE
WHEN a courtesan is living as a wife with her lover, she should behave
like a chaste woman, and do everything to his satisfaction. Her duty
in this respect, in short, is, that she should give him pleasure, but
should not become attached to him, though behaving as if she were
really attached.
Now the following is the manner in which she is to conduct herself, so
as to accomplish the above mentioned purpose. She should have a mother
dependent on her, one who should be represented as very harsh, and who
looked upon money as her chief object in life. In the event of there
being no mother, then an old and confidential nurse should play the
same role. The mother or nurse, on their part, should appear to be
displeased with the lover, and forcibly take her away from him. The
woman herself should always show pretended anger, dejection, fear, and
shame on this account, but should not disobey the mother or nurse at
any time.
She should make out to the mother or nurse that the man is suffering
from bad health, and making this a pretext for going to see him, she
should go on that account. She is, moreover, to do the following
things for the purpose of gaining the man's favour:
Sending her female attendant to bring the flowers used by him on the
previous day, in order that she may use them herself as a mark of
affection, also asking for the mixture of betel nut and leaves that
have remained uneaten by him; expressing wonder at his knowledge of
sexual intercourse, and the several means of enjoyment used by him;
learning from him the sixty-four kinds of pleasure mentioned by
Babhravya; continually practising the ways of enjoyment as taught by
him, and according to his liking; keeping his secrets; telling him her
own desires and secrets; concealing her anger; never neglecting him on
the bed when he turns his face towards her; touching any parts of his
body according to his wish; kissing and embracing him when he is
asleep; looking at him with apparent anxiety when he is wrapt in
thought, or thinking of some other subject than herself; showing
neither complete shamelessness, nor excessive bashfulness when he
meets her, or sees her standing on the terrace of her house from the
public road; hating his enemies; loving those who are dear to him;
showing a liking for that which he likes; being in high or low spirits
according to the state that he is in himself; expressing a curiosity
to see his wives; not continuing her anger for a long time; suspecting
even the marks and wounds made by herself with. her nails and teeth on
his body to have been made by some other woman; keeping her love for
him unexpressed by words, but showing it by deeds, and signs, and
hints; remaining silent when he is asleep, intoxicated, or sick; being
very attentive when he describes his good actions, and reciting them
afterwards to his praise and benefit; giving witty replies to him if
he be sufficiently attached to her; listening to all his stories,
except those that relate to her rivals; expressing feelings of
dejection and sorrow if he sighs, yawns, or falls down; pronouncing
the words `live long' when he sneezes; pretending to be ill, or to
have the desire of pregnancy, when she feels dejected; abstaining from
praising the good qualities of anybody else, and from censuring those
who possess the same faults as her own man; wearing anything that may
have been given to her by him; abstaining from putting on her
ornaments, and from taking food when he is in pain, sick,
low-spirited, or suffering from misfortune, and condoling and
lamenting with him over the same; wishing to accompany him if he
happens to leave the country himself or if he be banished from it by
the king; expressing a desire not to live after him; telling him that
the whole object and desire of her life was to be united with him;
offering previously promised sacrifices to the Deity when he acquires
wealth, or has some desire fulfilled, or when he has recovered from
some illness or disease; putting on ornaments every day; not acting
too freely with him; reciting his name and the name of his family in
her songs placing his hand on her loins, bosom and forehead, and
falling asleep after feeling the pleasure of his touch; sitting on his
lap and falling asleep there; wishing to have a child by him; desiring
not to live longer than he does; abstaining from revealing his secrets
to others; dissuading him from vows and fasts by saying `let the sin
fall upon me'; keeping vows and fasts along with him when it is
impossible to change his mind on the subject; telling him that vows
and fasts are difficult to be observed, even by herself, when she has
any dispute with him about them; looking on her own wealth and his
without any distinction; abstaining from going to public assemblies
without him, and accompanying him when he desires her to do so; taking
delight in using things previously used by him, and in eating food
that he has left uneaten; venerating his family, his disposition, his
skill in the arts, his learning, his caste, his complexion, his native
country, his friends, his good qualifies, his age, and his sweet
temper; asking him to sing, and to do other such like things, if able
to do them; going to him without paying any regard to fear, to cold,
to heat, or to rain; saying with regard to the next world that he
should be her lover even there; adapting her tastes, disposition and
actions to his liking; abstaining from sorcery; disputing continually
with her mother on the subject of going to him, and, when forcibly
taken by her mother to some other place, expressing her desire to die
by taking poison, by starving herself to death, by stabbing herself
with some weapon, or by hanging herself; and lastly assuring the man
of her constancy and love by means of her agents, and receiving money
herself, but abstaining from any dispute with her mother with regard
to pecuniary matters.
When the man sets out on a journey, she should make him swear that he
will return quickly, and in his absence should put aside her vows of
worshipping the Deity, and should wear no ornaments except those that
are lucky. If the time fixed for his return has passed, she should
endeavour to ascertain the real time of his return from omens, from
the reports of the people, and from the positions of the planets, the
moon and the stars. On occasions of amusement, and of auspicious
dreams, she should say `Let me be soon united to him.' If, moreover,
she feels melancholy, or sees any inauspicious omen, she should
perform some rite to appease the Deity.
When the man does return home she should worship the God Kama', and
offer oblations to other Deities, and having caused a pot filled with
water to be brought by her friends, she should perform the worship in
honour of the crow who eats the offerings which we make to the manes
of deceased relations. After the first visit is over she should ask
her lover also to perform certain rites, and this he will do if he is
sufficiently attached to her.
Now a man is said to be sufficiently attached to a woman when his love
is disinterested; when he has the same object in view as his beloved
one; when he is quite free from any suspicions on her account; and
when he is indifferent to money with regard to her.
Such is the manner of a courtesan living with a man like a wife, and
set forth here for the sake of guidance from the rules of Dattaka.
What is not laid down here should be practised according to the custom
of the people, and the nature of each individual man.
There are also two verses on the subject as follows:
`The extent of the love of women is not known, even to those who are
the objects of their affection, on account of its subtlety, and on
account of the avarice, and natural intelligence of womankind.'
`Women are hardly ever known in their true light, though they may love
men, or become indifferent towards them, may give them delight, or
abandon them, or may extract from them all the wealth that they may
possess.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
Kama, i.e. the Indian Cupid.
CHAPTER III
OF THE MEANS OF GETTING MONEY, OF THE SIGNS OF THE CHANGE OF A LOVER'S
FEELINGS, AND OF THE WAY TO GET RID OF HIM
MONEY is got out of a lover in two ways:
By natural or lawful means, and by artifices. Old authors are of
opinion that when a courtesan can get as much money as she wants from
her lover, she should not make use of artifice. But Vatsyayana lays
down that though she may get some money from him by natural means, yet
when she makes use of artifice he gives her doubly more, and therefore
artifice should be resorted to for the purpose of extorting money from
him at all events.
Now the artifices to be used for getting money from her lover are as
follows:
Taking money from him on different occasions, for the purpose of
purchasing various articles, such as ornaments, food, drink,
flowers, perfumes and clothes, and either not buying them, or
getting from him more than their cost.
Praising his intelligence to his face.
Pretending to be obliged to make gifts on occasion of festivals
connected with vows, trees, gardens, temples, or tanks.1
Pretending that at the time of going to his house, her jewels have
been stolen either by the king's guards, or by robbers.
Alleging that her property has been destroyed by fire, by the
falling of her house, or by the carelessness of her servants.
Pretending to have lost the ornaments of her lover along with her
own.
Causing him to hear through other people of the expenses incurred
by her in coming to see him.
Contracting debts for the sake of her lover.
Disputing with her mother on account of some expense incurred by
her for her lover, and which was not approved of by her mother.
Not going to parties and festivities in the houses of her friends
for the want of presents to make to them, she having previously
informed her lover of the valuable presents given to her by these
very friends.
Not performing certain festive rites under the pretence that she
has no money to perform them with.
Engaging artists to do something for her lover.
Entertaining physicians and ministers for the purpose of attaining
some object.
Assisting friends and benefactors both on festive occasions, and in
misfortune.
Performing household rites.
Having to pay the expenses of the ceremony of marriage of the son
of a female friend.
Having to satisfy curious wishes including her state of pregnancy.
Pretending to be ill, and charging her cost of treatment.
Having to remove the troubles of a friend.
Selling some of her ornaments, so as to give her lover a present.
Pretending to sell some of her ornaments, furniture, or cooking
utensils to a trader, who has been already tutored how to behave in
the matter.
Having to buy cooking utensils of greater value than those of other
people, so that they might be more easily distinguished, and not
changed for others of an inferior description.
Remembering the former favours of her lover, and causing them
always to be spoken of by her friends and followers.
Informing her lover of the great gains of other courtesans.
Describing before them, and in the presence of her lover, her own
great gains, and making them out to be greater even than theirs,
though such may not have been really the case.
Openly opposing her mother when she endeavours to persuade her to
take up with men with whom she has been formerly acquainted, on
account of the great gains to be got from them.
Lastly, pointing out to her lover the liberality of his rivals.
Thus end the ways and means of getting money.
A woman should always know the state of the mind, of the feelings, and
of the disposition of her lover towards her from the changes of his
temper, his manner, and the colour of his face.
The behaviour of a waning lover is as follows:
He gives the woman either less than is wanted, or something else
than that which is asked for.
He keeps her in hopes by promises.
He pretends to do one thing, and does something else.
He does not fulfil her desires.
He forgets his promises, or does something else than that which he
has promised.
He speaks with his own servants in a mysterious way.
He sleeps in some other house under the pretence of having to do
something for a friend.
Lastly, he speaks in private with the attendants of a woman with
whom he was formerly acquainted.
Now when a courtesan finds that her lover's disposition towards her is
changing, she should get possession of all his best things before he
becomes aware of her intentions, and allow a supposed creditor to take
them away forcibly from her in satisfaction of some pretended debt.
After this, if the lover is rich, and has always behaved well towards
her, she should ever treat him with respect; but if he is poor and
destitute, she should get rid of him as if she had never been
acquainted with him in any way before.
The means of getting rid of a lover are as follows:
Describing the habits and vices of the lover as disagreeable and
censurable, with the sneer of the lip, and the stamp of the foot.
Speaking on a subject with which he is not acquainted.
Showing no admiration for his learning, and passing a censure upon
it.
Putting down his pride.
Seeking the company of men who are superior to him in learning and
wisdom.
Showing a disregard for him on all occasions.
Censuring men possessed of the same faults as her lover.
Expressing dissatisfaction at the ways and means of enjoyment used
by him.
Not giving him her mouth to kiss.
Refusing access to her jaghana, i.e. the part of the body between
the navel and the thighs.
Showing a dislike for the wounds made by his nails and teeth.
Not pressing close up against him at the time when he embraces her.
Keeping her limbs without movement at the time of congress.
Desiring him to enjoy her when he is fatigued.
Laughing at his attachment to her.
Not responding to his embraces.
Turning away from him when be begins to embrace her.
Pretending to be sleepy.
Going out visiting, or into company, when she perceives his desire
to enjoy her during the daytime.
Mis-constructing his words.
Laughing without any joke, or, at the time of any joke made by him,
laughing under some pretence.
Looking with side glances at her own attendants, and clapping her
hands when he says anything.
Interrupting him in the middle of his stories, and beginning to
tell other stories herself.
Reciting his faults and his vices, and declaring them to be
incurable.
Saying words to her female attendants calculated to cut the heart
of her lover to the quick.
Taking care not to look at him when he comes to her.
Asking him what cannot be granted.
And, after all, finally dismissing him.
There are also two verses on this subject as follows:
`The duty of a courtesan consists in forming connections with suitable
men after due and full consideration, and attaching the person with
whom she is united to herself; in obtaining wealth from the person who
is attached to her, and then dismissing him after she has taken away
all his possessions.'
`A courtesan leading in this manner the life of a wife is not troubled
with too many lovers, and yet obtains abundance of wealth.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
On the completion of a vow a festival takes place. Some trees,
such as the Peepul and Banyan trees, are invested with sacred
threads like the Brahman's, and on the occasion of this
ceremony a festival is given. In the same way when gardens are
made, and tanks or temples built, then also festivals are
observed.
CHAPTER IV
ABOUT RE-UNION WITH A FORMER LOVER
WHEN a courtesan abandons her present lover after all his wealth is
exhausted, she may then consider about her reunion with a former
lover. But she should return to him only if he has acquired fresh
wealth, or is still wealthy, and if he is still attached to her. And
if this man be living at the time with some other woman she should
consider well before she acts.
Now such a man can only be in one of the six following conditions:
He may have left the first woman of his own accord, and may even
have left another woman since then.
He may have been driven away from both women.
He may have left the one woman of her own accord, and been driven
away by the other.
He may have left the one woman of his own accord, and be living
with another woman.
He may have been driven away from the one woman, and left the other
of his own accord.
He may have been driven away by the one woman, and may be living
with another.
Now if the man has left both women of his own accord, he should not be
resorted to, on account of the fickleness of his mind, and his
indifference to the excellences of both of them.
As regards the man who may have been driven away from both women, if
he has been driven away from the last one because the woman could get
more money from some other man, then he should be resorted to, for if
attached to the first woman he would give her more money, through
vanity and emulation to spite the other woman. But if he has been
driven away by the woman on account of his poverty, or stinginess, he
should not then be resorted to.
In the case of the man who may have left the one woman of his own
accord, and been driven away by the other, if he agrees to return to
the former and give her plenty of money beforehand, then he should be
resorted to.
In the case of the man who may have left the one woman of his own
accord, and be living with another woman, the former (wishing to take
up with him again) should first ascertain if he left her in the first
instance in the hope of finding some particular excellence in the
other woman, and that not having found any such excellence, he was
willing to come back to her, and to give her much money on account of
his conduct, and on account of his affection still existing for her.
Or, whether, having discovered many faults in the other woman, he
would now see even more excellences in herself than actually exist,
and would be prepared to give her much money for these qualities.
Or, lastly, to consider whether he was a weak man, or a man fond of
enjoying many women, or one who liked a poor woman, or one who never
did anything for the woman that he was with. After maturely
considering all these things, she should resort to him or not,
according to circumstances.
As regards the man who may have been driven away from the one woman,
and left the other of his own accord, the former woman (wishing to
reunite with him) should first ascertain whether he still has any
affection for her, and would consequently spend much money upon her;
or whether, being attached to her excellent qualities, he did not take
delight in any other woman; or whether, being driven away from her
formerly before completely satisfying his sexual desires, he wished to
get back to her, so as to be revenged for the injury done to him; or
whether he wished to create confidence in her mind, and then take back
from her the wealth which she formerly took from him, and finally
destroy her; or, lastly, whether he wished first to separate her from
her present lover, and then to break away from her himself. If, after
considering all these things, sire is of opinion that his intentions
are really pure and honest, she can reunite herself with him. But if
his mind be at all tainted with evil intentions, he should be avoided.
In the case of the man who may have been driven away by one woman, and
be living with another, if the man makes overtures to return to the
first one, the courtesan should consider well before she acts, and
while the other woman is engaged in attracting him to herself, she
should try in her turn (though keeping herself behind the scenes) to
gain him over, on the grounds of any of the following considerations:
That he was driven away unjustly and for no proper reason, and now
that he has gone to another woman, every effort must be used to
bring him back to myself.
That if he were once to converse with me again, he would break away
from the other woman.
That the pride of my present lover would be put down by means of
the former one.
That he has become wealthy, has secured a higher position, and
holds a place of authority under the king.
That he is separate from his wife.
That he is now independent.
That he lives apart from his father, or brother.
That by making peace with him, I shall be able to get hold of a
very rich man, who is now prevented from coming to me by my present
lover.
That as he is not respected by his wife, I shall now be able to
separate him from her.
That the friend of this man loves my rival, who hates me cordially,
I shall therefore by this means separate the friend from his
mistress.
And lastly, I shall bring discredit upon him by bringing him back
to me, thus showing the fickleness of his mind.
When a courtesan is resolved to take up again with a former lover, her
Pithamarda and other servants should tell him that his former
expulsion from the woman's house was caused by the wickedness of her
mother; that the woman loved him just as much as ever at that time,
but could not help the occurrence on account of her deference to her
mother's will; that she hated the union of her present lover, and
disliked him excessively. In addition to this, they should create
confidence in his mind by speaking to him of her former love for him,
and should allude to the mark of that love that she has ever
remembered. This mark of her love should be connected with some kind
of pleasure that may have been practised by him, such as his way of
kissing her, or manner `of having connection with her.
Thus end the ways of bringing about a reunion with a former lover.
When a woman has to choose between two lovers, one of whom was
formerly united with her, while the other is a stranger, the Acharyas
(sages) are of opinion that the first one is preferable, because his
disposition and character being already known by previous careful
observation, he can be easily pleased and satisfied; but Vatsyayana
thinks that a former lover, having already spent a great deal of his
wealth, is not able or willing to give much money again, and is not
therefore to be relied upon so much as a stranger. Particular cases
may however arise differing from this general rule on account of the
different natures of men.
There are also verses on the subject as follows:
`Reunion with a former lover may be desirable so as to separate some
particular woman from some particular man, or some particular man from
some particular woman, or to have a certain effect upon the present
lover.'
`When a man is excessively attached to a woman, he is afraid of her
coming into contact with other men; he does not then regard or notice
her faults and he gives her much wealth through fear of her leaving
him.'
`A courtesan should be agreeable to the man who is attached to her,
and despise the man who does not care for her. If while she is living
with one man, a messenger comes to her from some other man, she may
either refuse to listen to any negotiations on his part, or appoint a
fixed time for him to visit her, but she should not leave the man who
may be living with her and who may be attached to her.'
`A wise woman should only renew her connection with a former lover, if
she is satisfied that good fortune, gain, love, and friendship, are
likely to be the result of such a reunion.'
CHAPTER V
OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF GAIN
WHEN a courtesan is able to realize much money every day, by reason of
many customers, she should not confine herself to a single lover;
under such circumstances, she should fix her rate for one night, after
considering the place, the season, and the condition of the people,
and having regard to her own good qualities and good looks, and after
comparing her rates with those of other courtesans. She can inform her
lovers, and friends, and acquaintances about these charges. If,
however, she can obtain a great gain from a single lover, she may
resort to him alone, and live with him like a wife.
Now the sages are of opinion that, when a courtesan has the chance of
an equal gain from two lovers at the same time, a preference should be
given to the one who would give her the kind of thing which she wants.
But Vatsyayana says that the preference should be given to the one who
gives her gold, because it cannot be taken back like some other
things, it can be easily received, and is also the means of procuring
anything that may be wished for. Of such things as gold, silver,
copper, bell metal, iron, pots, furniture, beds, upper garments, under
vestments, fragrant substances, vessels made of gourds, ghee, oil,
corn, cattle, and other things of a like nature, the first - gold - is
superior to all the others.
When the same labour is required to gain any two lovers, or when the
same kind of thing is to be got from each of them, the choice should
be made by the advice of a friend, or it may be made from their
personal qualities, or from the signs of good or bad fortune that may
be connected with them.
When there are two lovers, one of whom is attached to the courtesan,
and the other is simply very generous, the sages say that the
preference should be given to the generous lover, but Vatsyayana is of
opinion that the one who is really attached to the courtesan should be
preferred, because he can be made to be generous, even as a miser
gives money if he becomes fond of a woman, but a mail who is simply
generous cannot be made to love with real attachment. But among those
who are attached to her, if there is one who is poor, and one who is
rich, the preference is of course to be given to the latter.
When there are two lovers, one of whom is generous, and the other
ready to do any service for the courtesan, some sages say that the one
who is ready to do the service should be preferred, but Vatsyayana is
of opinion that a man who does a service thinks that he has gained his
object when he has done something once, but a generous man does not
care for what he has given before. Even here the choice should be
guided by the likelihood of the future good to be derived from her
union with either of them.
When one of the two lovers is grateful, and the other liberal, some
sages say that the liberal one should be preferred, but Vatsyayana is
of opinion that the former should be chosen, because liberal men are
generally haughty, plain spoken, and wanting in consideration towards
others. Even though these liberal men have been on friendly terms for
a long time, yet if they see any fault in the courtesan, or are told
lies about her by some other woman, they do not care for past
services, but leave abruptly. On the other hand the grateful man does
not at once break off from her, on account of a regard for the pains
she may have taken to please him. In this case also the choice is to
be guided with respect to what may happen in future.
When an occasion for complying with the request of a friend, and a
chance of getting money come together, the sages say that the chance
of getting money should be preferred. But Vatsyayana thinks that the
money can be obtained tomorrow as well as today, but if the request of
a friend be riot at once complied with, he may become disaffected.
Even here, in making the choice, regard must be paid to future good
fortune.
On such an occasion, however, the courtesan might pacify her friend by
pretending to have some work to do, and telling him that his request
will be complied with next day, and in this way secure the chance of
getting the money that has been offered her.
When the chance of getting money and the chance of avoiding some
disaster come at the same time, the sages are of opinion that the
chance of getting money should be preferred, but Vatsyayana says that
money has only a limited importance, while a disaster that is once
averted may never occur again. Here, however, the choice should be
guided by the greatness or smallness of the disaster.
The gains of the wealthiest and best kind of courtesans are to be
spent as follows:
Building temples, tanks, and gardens; giving a thousand cows to
different Brahmans; carrying on the worship of the Gods, and
celebrating festivals in their honour; and lastly, performing such
vows as may be within their means.
The gains of other courtesans are to be spent as follows:
Having a white dress to wear every day; getting sufficient food and
drink to satisfy hunger and thirst; eating daily a perfumed tambula,
i.e. a mixture of betel nut and betel leaves; and wearing ornaments
gilt with gold. The sages say that these represent the gains of all
the middle and lower classes of courtesans, but Vatsyayana is of
opinion that their gains cannot be calculated, or fixed in any way, as
these depend on the influence of the place, the customs of the people,
their own appearance, and many other things.
When a courtesan wants to keep some particular man from some other
woman; or wishes to get him away from some woman to whom he may be
attached or to deprive some woman of the gains realized by her from
him; or if she thinks that she would raise her position or enjoy some
great good fortune or become desirable to all men by uniting herself
with this man; or if she wishes to get his assistance in averting some
misfortune; or is really attached to him and loves him; or wishes to
injure some body through his means; or has regard to some former
favour conferred upon her by him; or wishes to be united with him
merely from desire; for any of the above reasons, she should agree to
take from him only a small sum of money in a friendly way.
When a courtesan intends to abandon a particular lover, and take up
with another one; or when she has reason to believe that her lover
will shortly leave her, and return to his wives; or that having
squandered all his money, and become penniless, his guardian, or
master, or father would come and take him away; or that her lover is
about to lose his position or, lastly, that he is of a very fickle
mind, she should, under any of these circumstances, endeavour to get
as much money as she can from him as soon as possible.
On the other hand, when the courtesan thinks that her lover is about
to receive valuable presents; or get a place of authority from the
king; or be near the time of inheriting a fortune; or that his ship
would soon arrive laden with merchandise; or that he has large stocks
of corn and other commodities; or that if anything was done for him it
would not be done in vain; or that he is always true to his word; then
should she have regard to her future welfare, and live with the man
like a wife.
There are also verses on the subject as follows:
`In considering her present gains, and her future welfare, a courtesan
should avoid such persons as have gained their means of subsistence
with very great difficulty, as also those who have become selfish and
hard-hearted by becoming the favourites of kings.'
`She should make every endeavour to unite herself with prosperous and
well-to-do people, and with those whom it is dangerous to avoid, or to
slight in any way. Even at some cost to herself she should become
acquainted with energetic and liberal-minded men, who when pleased
would give her a large sum of money, even for very little service, or
for some small thing.'
CHAPTER VI
OF GAINS AND LOSSES; ATTENDANT GAINS AND LOSSES; AND DOUBTS; AS ALSO OF THE
DIFFERENT KINDS OF COURTESANS
IT sometimes happens that while gains are being sought for, or
expected to be realized, losses only are the result of our efforts.
The causes of these losses are:
* Weakness of intellect
* Excessive love
* Excessive pride
* Excessive self conceit
* Excessive simplicity
* Excessive confidence
* Excessive anger
* Carelessness
* Recklessness
* Influence of evil genius
* Accidental circumstances
The results of these losses are:
* Expense incurred without any result
* Destruction of future good fortune
* Stoppage of gains about to be realized
* Loss of what is already obtained
* Acquisition of a sour temper
* Becoming unamiable to every body
* Injury to health
* Loss of hair and other accidents
Now gain is of three kinds: gain of wealth, gain of religious merit,
and gain of pleasure; and similarly loss is of three kinds: loss of
wealth, loss of religious merit, and loss of pleasure. At the time
when gains are sought for, if other gains come along with them, these
are called attendant gains. When gain is uncertain, the doubt of its
being a gain is called a simple doubt. When there is a doubt whether
either of two things will happen or not, it is called a mixed doubt.
If while one thing is being done two results take place, it is called
a combination of two results, and if several results follow from the
same action, it is called a combination of results on every side.
We shall now give examples of the above.
As already stated, gain is of three kinds, and loss, which is opposed
to gain, is also of three kinds.
When by living with a great man a courtesan acquires present wealth,
and in addition to this becomes acquainted with other people, and thus
obtains a chance of future fortune, and an accession of wealth, and
becomes desirable to all, this is called a gain of wealth attended by
other gain.
When by living with a man a courtesan simply gets money, this is
called a gain of wealth not attended by any other gain.
When a courtesan receives money from other people besides her lover,
the results are the chance of the loss of future good from her present
lover; the chance of disaffection of a man securely attached to her;
the hatred of all; and the chance of a union with some low person,
tending to destroy her future good. This gain is called a gain of
wealth attended by losses.
When a courtesan, at her own expense, and without any results in the
shape of gain, has connection with a great man, or an avaricious
minister, for the sake of diverting some misfortune, or removing some
cause that may be threatening the destruction of a great gain, this
loss is said to be a loss of wealth attended by gains of the future
good which it may bring about.
When a courtesan is kind, even at her own expense, to a man who is
very stingy, or to a man proud of his looks, or to an ungrateful man
skilled in gaining the hearts of others, without any good resulting
from these connections to her in the end, this loss is called a loss
of wealth not attended by any gain.
When a courtesan is kind to any such man as described above, but who
in addition is a favourite of the king, and moreover cruel and
powerful, without any good result in the end, and with a chance of her
being turned away at any moment, this loss is called a loss of wealth
attended by other losses.
In this way gains and losses, and attendant gains and losses in
religious merit and pleasures may become known to the reader, and
combinations of all of them may also be made.
Thus end the remarks on gains and losses, and attendant gains and
losses.
In the next place we come to doubts, which are again of three kinds:
doubts about wealth, doubts about religious merit, and doubts about
pleasures.
The following are examples:
When a courtesan is not certain how much a man may give her, or spend
upon her, this is called a doubt about wealth.
When a courtesan feels doubtful whether she is right in entirely
abandoning a lover from whom she is unable to get money, she having
taken all his wealth from him in the first instance, this doubt is
called a doubt about religious merit.
When a courtesan is unable to get hold of a lover to her liking, and
is uncertain whether she will derive any pleasure from a person
surrounded by his family, or from a low person, this is called a doubt
about pleasure.
When a courtesan is uncertain whether some powerful but low principled
fellow would cause loss to her on account of her not being civil to
him this is called a doubt about the loss of wealth.
When a courtesan feels doubtful whether she would lose religious merit
by abandoning a man who is attached to her without giving him the
slightest favour, and thereby causing him unhappiness in this world
and the next,1 this doubt is called a doubt about the loss of a
religious merit.
When a courtesan is uncertain as to whether she might create
disaffection by speaking out, and revealing her love and thus not get
her desire satisfied, this is called a doubt about the loss of
pleasure.
Thus end the remarks on doubts.
Mixed Doubts
The intercourse or connection with a stranger, whose disposition is
unknown, and who may have been introduced by a lover, or by one who
possessed authority, may be productive either of gain or loss, and
therefore this is called a mixed doubt about the gain and loss of
wealth.
When a courtesan is requested by a friend, or is impelled by pity to
have intercourse with a learned Brahman, a religious student, a
sacrificer, a devotee, or an ascetic who may have all fallen in love
with her, and who may be consequently at the point of death, by doing
this she might either gain or lose religious merit, and therefore this
is called a mixed doubt about the gain and loss of religious merit.
If a courtesan relies solely upon the report of other people (i.e.
hearsay) about a man, and goes to him without ascertaining herself
whether he possesses good qualities or not, she may either gain or
lose pleasure in proportion as he may be good or bad, and therefore
this is called a mixed doubt about the gain and loss of pleasure.
Uddalika has described the gains and losses on both sides as follows:
If, when living with a lover, a courtesan gets both wealth and
pleasure from him, it is called a gain on both sides.
When a courtesan lives with a lover at her own expense without getting
any profit out of it, and the lover even takes back from her what he
may have formerly given her, it is called a loss on both sides.
When a courtesan is uncertain whether a new acquaintance would become
attached to her, and, moreover, if he became attached to her, whether
he would give her anything, it is then called a doubt on both sides
about gains.
When a courtesan is uncertain whether a former enemy, if made up by
her at her own expense, would do her some injury on account of his
grudge against her; or, if becoming attached to her, would take away
angrily from her anything that he may have given to her, this is
called a doubt on both sides about loss.
Babhravya has described the gains and losses on both sides as follows:
When a courtesan can get money from a man whom she may go to see, and
also money from a man whom she may not go to see, this is called a
gain on both sides.
When a courtesan has to incur further expense if she goes to see a
man, and yet runs the risk of incurring an irremediable loss if she
does not go to see him, this is called a loss on both sides.
When a courtesan is uncertain whether a particular man would give her
anything on her going to see him, without incurring expense on her
part or whether on her neglecting him another man would give her
something, this is called a doubt on both sides about gain.
When a courtesan is uncertain whether, on going at her own expense to
see an old enemy, he would take back from her what he may have given
her, or whether by her not going to see him he would cause some
disaster to fall upon her, this is called a doubt on both sides about
loss.
By combining the above, the following six kinds of mixed results are
produced:
* Gain on one side, and loss on the other
* Gain on one side, and doubt of gain on the other
* Gain on one side, and doubt of loss on the other
* Loss on one side, and doubt of gain on the other
* Doubt of gain on one side, and doubt of loss on the other
* Doubt of loss on one side, and loss on the other
A courtesan, having considered all the above things and taken counsel
with her friends, should act so as to acquire gain, the chances of
great gain, and the warding off of any great disaster. Religious merit
and pleasure should also be formed into separate combinations like
those of wealth, and then all should be combined with each other, so
as to form new combinations.
When a courtesan consorts with men she should cause each of them to
give her money as well as pleasure. At particular times, such as the
Spring Festivals, etc., she should make her mother announce to the
various men, that on a certain day her daughter would remain with the
man who would gratify such and such a desire of hers.
When young men approach her with delight, she should think of what she
may accomplish through them.
The combination of gains and losses on all sides are gain on one side,
and loss on all others; loss on one side and gain on all others; gain
on all sides, loss on all sides.
A courtesan should also consider doubts about gain and doubts about
loss with reference both to wealth, religious merit, and pleasure.
Thus ends the consideration of gain, loss, attendant gains, attendant
losses, and doubts.
The different kinds of courtesans are:
* A bawd
* A female attendant
* An unchaste woman
* A dancing girl
* A female artisan
* A woman who has left her family
* A woman living on her beauty
* And, finally, a regular courtesan
All the above kinds of courtesans are acquainted with various kinds of
men, and should consider the ways of getting money from them of
pleasing them, of separating themselves from them, and of reuniting
with them. They should also take into consideration particular gains
and losses, attendant gains and losses, and doubts in accordance with
their several conditions.
Thus end the considerations of courtesans.
There are also two verses on the subject as follows:
`Men want pleasure, while women want money, and therefore this part,
which treats of the means of gaining wealth, should be studied.'
`There are some women who seek for love, and there are others who seek
for money; for the former the ways of love are told in previous
portions of this work, while the ways of getting money, as practised
by courtesans, are described in this part.
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
The souls of men who die with their desires unfulfilled are
said to go to the world of the Manes, and not direct to the
Supreme Spirit.
CHAPTER I
ON PERSONAL ADORNMENT; ON SUBJUGATING THE HEARTS OF OTHERS; AND ON TONIC
MEDICINES
WHEN a person fails to obtain the object of his desires by any of the
ways previously related, he should then have recourse to other ways of
attracting others to himself.
Now good looks, good qualities, youth, and liberality are the chief
and most natural means of making a person agreeable in the eyes of
others. But in the absence of these a man or a woman must have resort
to artificial means, or to art, and the following are some recipes
that may be found useful.
An ointment made of the tabernamontana coronaria, the costus speciosus
or arabicus, and the flacourtia cataphracta, can be used as an unguent
of adornment.
If a fine powder is made of the above plants, and applied to the wick
of a lamp, which is made to burn with the oil of blue vitrol, the
black pigment or lamp black produced therefrom, when applied to the
eyelashes, has the effect of making a person look lovely.
The oil of the hogweed, the echites putescens, the sarina plant, the
yellow amaranth, and the leaf of the nymphae, if applied to the body,
has the same effect.
A black pigment from the same plants produces a similar effect.
By eating the powder of the nelumbrium speciosum, the blue lotus, and
the mesna roxburghii, with ghee and honey, a man becomes lovely in the
eyes of others.
The above things, together with the tabernamontana coronaria, and the
xanthochymus pictorius, if used as an ointment, produce the same
results.
If the bone of a peacock or of a hyena be covered with gold, and tied
on the right hand, it makes a man lovely in the eyes of other people.
In the same way, if a bead, made of the seed of the jujube, or of the
conch shell, be enchanted by the incantations mentioned in the
Atharvana Veda, or by the incantations of those well skilled in the
science of magic, and tied on the hand, it produces the same result as
described above.
When a female attendant arrives at the age of puberty, her master
should keep her secluded, and when men ardently desire her on account
of her seclusion, and on account of the difficulty of approaching her,
he should then bestow her hand on such a person as may endow her with
wealth and happiness.
This is a means of increasing the loveliness of a person in the eyes
of others.
In the same way, when the daughter of a courtesan arrives at the age
of puberty, the mother should get together a lot of young men of the
same age, disposition, and knowledge as her daughter, and tell them
that she would give her in marriage to the person who would give her
presents of a particular kind.
After this the daughter should be kept in seclusion as far as
possible, and the mother should give her in marriage to the man who
may be ready to give her the presents agreed upon. If the mother is
unable to get so much out of the man, she should show some of her own
things as having been given to the daughter by the bridegroom.
Or the mother may allow her daughter to be married to the man
privately, as if she was ignorant of the whole affair, and then
pretending that it has come to her knowledge, she may give her consent
to the union.
The daughter, too, should make herself attractive to the sons of
wealthy citizens, unknown to her mother, and make them attached to
her, and for this purpose should meet them at the time of learning to
sing, and in places where music is played, and at the houses of other
people, and then request her mother, through a female friend, or
servant, to be allowed to unite herself to the man who is most
agreeable to her.1
When the daughter of a courtesan is thus given to a man, the ties of
marriage should be observed for one year, and after that she may do
what she likes. But even after the end of the year, when otherwise
engaged, if she should be now and then invited by her first husband to
come and see him, she should put aside her present gain, and go to him
for the night.
Such is the mode of temporary marriage among courtesans, and of
increasing their loveliness, and their value in the eyes of others.
What has been said about them should also be understood to apply to
the daughters of dancing women, whose mothers should give them only to
such persons as are likely to become useful to them in various ways.
Thus end the ways of making oneself lovely in the eyes of others.
If a man, after anointing his lingam with a mixture of the powders of
the white thorn apple, the long pepper and, the black pepper, and
honey, engages in sexual union with a woman, he makes her subject to
his will.
The application of a mixture of the leaf of the plant vatodbhranta, of
the flowers thrown on a human corpse when carried out to be burnt, and
the powder of the bones of the peacock, and of the jiwanjiva bird
produces the same effect.
The remains of a kite who has died a natural death, ground into
powder, and mixed with cowach and honey, has also the same effect.
Anointing oneself with an ointment made of the plant emblica
myrabolans has the power of subjecting women to one's will.
If a man cuts into small pieces the sprouts of the vajnasunhi plant,
and dips them into a mixture of red arsenic and sulphur, and then
dries them seven times, and applies this powder mixed with honey to
his lingam, he can subjugate a woman to his will directly that he has
had sexual union with her, or if, by burning these very sprouts at
night and looking at the smoke, he sees a golden moon behind, he will
then be successful with any woman; or if he throws some of the powder
of these same sprouts mixed with the excrement of a monkey upon a
maiden, she will not be given in marriage to anybody else.
If pieces of the arris root are dressed with the oil of the mango, and
placed for six months in a hole made in the trunk of the sisu tree,
and are then taken out and made up into an ointment, and applied to
the lingam, this is said to serve as the means of subjugating women.
If the bone of a camel is dipped into the juice of the plant eclipta
prostata, and then burnt, and the black pigment produced from its
ashes is placed in a box also made of the bone of a camel, and applied
together with antimony to the eye lashes with a pencil also made of
the bone of a camel, then that pigment is said to be very pure, and
wholesome for the eyes, and serves as a means of subjugating others to
the person who uses it. The same effect can be produced by black
pigment made of the bones of hawks, vultures, and peacocks.
Thus end the ways of subjugating others to one's own will.
Now the means of increasing sexual vigour are as follows:
A man obtains sexual vigour by drinking milk mixed with sugar, the
root of the uchchata plant, the piper chaba, and liquorice.
Drinking milk, mixed with sugar, and having the testicle of a ram or a
goat boiled in it, is also productive of vigour.
The drinking of the juice of the hedysarum gangeticum, the kuili, and
the kshirika plant mixed with milk, produces the same effect.
The seed of the long pepper along with the seeds of the sanseviera
roxburghiana, and the hedysarum gangeticum plant, all pounded
together, and mixed with milk, is productive of a similar result.
According to ancient authors, if a man pounds the seeds or roots of
the trapa bispinosa, the kasurika, the tuscan jasmine, and liquorice,
together with the kshirakapoli (a kind of onion), and puts the powder
into milk mixed with sugar and ghee, and having boiled the whole
mixture on a moderate fire, drinks the paste so formed, he will be
able to enjoy innumerable women.
In the same way, if a man mixes rice with the eggs of the sparrow, and
having boiled this in milk, adds to it ghee and honey, and drinks as
much of it as necessary, this will produce the same effect.
If a man takes the outer covering of sesamum seeds, and soaks them
with the eggs of sparrows, and then, having boiled them in milk, mixed
with sugar and ghee, along with the fruits of the trapa bispinosa and
the kasurika plant, and adding to it the flour of wheat and beans, and
then drinks this composition, he is said to be able to enjoy many
women.
If ghee, honey, sugar and liquorice in equal quantities, the juice of
the fennel plant, and milk are mixed together, this nectar-like
composition is said to be holy, and provocative of sexual vigour, a
preservative of life, and sweet to the taste.
The drinking of a paste composed of the asparagus racemosus, the
shvadaushtra plant, the guduchi plant, the long pepper, and liquorice,
boiled in milk, honey, and ghee, in the spring, is said to have the
same effect as the above.
Boiling the asparagus racemosus, and the shvadaushtra plant, along
with the pounded fruits of the premna spinosa in water, and drinking
the same, is said to act in the same way.
Drinking boiled ghee, or clarified butter, in the morning during the
spring season, is said to be beneficial to health and strength and
agreeable to the taste.
If the powder of the seed of the shvadaushtra plant and the flower of
barley are mixed together in equal parts, and a portion of it, i.e.
two palas in weight, is eaten every morning on getting up, it has the
same effect as the preceding recipe.
There are also verses on the subject as follows:
`The means2 of producing love and sexual vigour should be learnt from
the science of medicine, from the Vedas, from those who are learned in
the arts of magic, and from confidential relatives. No means should be
tried which are doubtful in their effects, which are likely to cause
injury to the body, which involve the death of animals, and which
bring us in contact with impure things. Such means should only be used
as are holy, acknowledged to be good, and approved of by Brahmans, and
friends.'
_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
1
It is a custom of the courtesans of Oriental countries to give
their daughters temporarily in marriage when they come of age,
and after they have received a education in the Kama Sutra ad
other arts. Full details are given of this in Early Ideas, a
group of Hindoo stories, collected and collated by Anarya, W.
H. Allen and Co., London, 1881.
2
`From the earliest times Oriental authors have occupied
themselves about aphrodisiacs. The following note on the
subject is taken from a translation of the Hindoo Art of Love,
otherwise the Anunga Runga, alluded to in the preface of this
work, Part I, pages 87 and 88. `Most Eastern treatises divide
aphrodisiacs into two different kinds; 1. the mechanical or
natural, such as scarification, flagellation, etc; and 2. the
medicinal or artifIcial. To the former belong the application
of insects, as is practised by some savage races; and all
orientalists will remember the tale of the old Brahman, whose
young wife insisted upon his being again stung by a wasp.'
CHAPTER II
OF THE WAYS OF EXCITING DESIRE, AND MISCELLANEOUS EXPERIMENTS, AND RECIPES
IF a man is unable to satisfy a Hastini, or Elephant woman, he should
have recourse to various means to excite her passion. At the
commencement he should rub her yoni with his hand or fingers, and not
begin to have intercourse with her until she becomes excited, or
experiences pleasure. This is one way of exciting a woman.
Or, he may make use of certain Apadravyas, or things which are put on
or around the lingam to supplement its length or its thickness, so as
to fit it to the yoni. In the opinion of Babhravya, these Apadravyas
should be made of gold, silver, copper, iron, ivory, buffalo's horn,
various kinds of wood, tin or lead, and should be soft, cool,
provocative of sexual vigour, and well fitted to serve the intended
purpose. Vatsyayana, however, says that they may be made according to
the natural liking of each individual.
The following are the different kinds of Apadravyas:
`The armlet' (Valaya) should be of the same size as the lingam, and
should have its outer surface made rough with globules.
`The couple' (Sanghati) is formed of two armlets.
`The bracelet' (Chudaka) is made by joining three or more armlets,
until they come up to the required length of the lingam.
`The single bracelet' is formed by wrapping a single wire around the
lingam, according to its dimensions.
The Kantuka or Jalaka is a tube open at both ends, with a hole through
it, outwardly rough and studded with soft globules, and made to fit
the side of the yoni, and tied to the waist.
When such a thing cannot be obtained, then a tube made of the wood
apple, or tubular stalk of the bottle gourd, or a reed made soft with
oil and extracts of plants, and tied to the waist with strings, may be
made use of, as also a row of soft pieces of wood tied together.
The above are the things that can be used in connection with or in the
place of the lingam.
The people of the southern countries think that true sexual pleasure
cannot be obtained without perforating the lingam, and they therefore
cause it to be pierced like the lobes of the ears of an infant pierced
for earrings.
Now, when a young man perforates his lingam he should pierce it with a
sharp instrument, and then stand in water so long as the blood
continues to flow. At night, he should engage in sexual intercourse,
even with vigour, so as to clean the hole. After this he should
continue to wash the hole with decoctions, and increase the size by
putting into it small pieces of cane, and the wrightia
antidysenterica, and thus gradually enlarging the orifice. It may also
be washed with liquorice mixed with honey, and the size of the hole
increased by the fruit stalks of the simapatra plant. The hole should
also be anointed with a small quantity of oil.
In the hole made in the lingam a man may put Apadravyas of various
forms, such as the `round', the `round on one side', the `wooden
mortar', the `flower', the `armlet', the `bone of the heron', the
`goad of the elephant', the `collection of eight balls', the `lock of
hair', the `place where four roads meet', and other things named
according to their forms and means of using them. All these Apadravyas
should be rough on the outside according to their requirements.
The ways of enlarging the lingam must be now related.
When a man wishes to enlarge his lingam, he should rub it with the
bristles of certain insects that live in trees, and then, after
rubbing it for ten nights with oils, he should again rub it with the
bristles as before. By continuing to do this a swelling will be
gradually produced in the lingam, and he should then lie on a cot, and
cause his lingam to hang down through a hole in the cot. After this he
should take away all the pain from the swelling by using cool
concoctions. The swelling, which is called `Suka', and is often
brought about among the people of the Dravida country, lasts for life.
If the lingam is rubbed with the following things, the plant physalis
flexuosa, the shavara-kandaka plant, the jalasuka plant, the fruit of
the egg plant, the butter of a she buffalo, the hastri-charma plant,
and the juice of the vajrarasa plant, a swelling lasting for one month
will be produced.
By rubbing it with oil boiled in the concoctions of the above things,
the same effect will be produced, but lasting for six months.
The enlargement of the lingam is also effected by rubbing it or
moistening it with oil boiled on a moderate fire along with the seeds
of the pomegranate, and the cucumber, the juices of the valuka plant,
the hastri-charma plant, and the eggplant.
In addition to the above, other means may be learnt from experienced
and confidential persons.
The miscellaneous experiments and recipes are as follows:
If a man mixes the powder of the milk hedge plant, and the kantaka
plant with the excrement of a monkey and the powdered root of the
lanjalika plant, and throws this mixture on a woman, she will not love
anybody else afterwards.
If a man thickens the juice of the fruits of the cassia fistula, and
the eugenia jambolana by mixing them with the powder of the soma
plant, the vernonia anthelmintica, the eclipta prostata, and the
lohopa-jihirka, and applies this composition to the yoni of a woman,
and then has sexual intercourse with her, his love for her will be
destroyed.
The same effect is produced if a man has connection with a woman who
has bathed in the buttermilk of a she-buffalo mixed with the powders
of the gopalika plant, the banu-padika plant and the yellow amaranth.
An ointment made of the flowers of the nauclea cadamba, the hog plum,
and the eugenia jambolana, and used by a woman, causes her to be
disliked by her husband.
Garlands made of the above flowers, when worn by the woman, produce
the same effect.
An ointment made of the fruit of the asteracantha longifolia
(kokilaksha) will contract the yoni of a Hastini or Elephant woman,
and this contraction lasts for one night.
An ointment made by pounding the roots of the nelumbrium speciosum,
and of the blue lotus, and the powder of the plant physalis flexuosa
mixed with ghee and honey, will enlarge the yoni of the Mrigi or Deer
woman.
An ointment made of the fruit of the emblica myrabolans soaked in the
milky juice of the milk hedge plant, of the soma plant, the calotropis
gigantea, and the juice of the fruit of the vernonia anthelmintica,
will make the hair white.
The juice of the roots of the madayantaka plant, the yellow amaranth,
the anjanika plant, the clitoria ternateea, and the shlakshnaparin
plant, used as a lotion, will make the hair grow.
An ointment made by boiling the above roots in oil, and rubbed in,
will make the hair black, and will also gradually restore hair that
has fallen off.
If lac is saturated seven times in the sweat of the testicle of a
white horse, and applied to a red lip, the lip will become white.
The colour of the lips can be regained by means of the madayantika and
other plants mentioned above.
A woman who hears a man playing on a reed pipe which has been dressed
with the juices of the bahupadika plant, the tabernamontana coronaria,
the costus speciosus or arabicus, the pinus deodora, the euphorbia
antiquorum, the vajra and the kantaka plant, becomes his slave.
If food be mixed with the fruit of the thorn apple (dathura) it causes
intoxication.
If water be mixed with oil and the ashes of any kind of grass except
the kusha grass, it becomes the colour of milk.
If yellow myrabolans, the hog plum, the shrawana plant, and the
priyangu plant be all pounded together, and applied to iron pots,
these pots become red.
If a lamp, trimmed with oil extracted from the shrawana and priyangu
plants, its wick being made of cloth and the slough of the skins of
snakes, is lighted, and long pieces of wood placed near it, those
pieces of wood will resemble so many snakes.
Drinking the milk of a white cow who has a white calf at her foot is
auspicious, produces fame, and preserves life.
The blessings of venerable Brahmans, well propitiated, have the same
effect.
There are also some verses in conclusion:
`Thus have I written in a few words the "Science of love", after
reading the texts of ancient authors, and following the ways of
enjoyment mentioned in them.'
`He who is acquainted with the true principles of this science pays
regard to Dharma, Artha, Kama, and to his own experiences, as well as
to the teachings of others, and does not act simply on the dictates of
his own desire. As for the errors in the science of love which I have
mentioned in this work, on my own authority as an author, I have,
immediately after mentioning them, carefully censured and prohibited
them.'
`An act is never looked upon with indulgence for the simple reason
that it is authorised by the science, because it ought to be
remembered that it is the intention of the science, that the rules
which it contains should only be acted upon in particular cases. After
reading and considering the works of Babhravya and other ancient
authors, and thinking over the meaning of the rules given by them, the
Kama Sutra was composed, according to the precepts of Holy Writ, for
the benefit of the world, by Vatsyayana, while leading the life of a
religious student, and wholly engaged in the contemplation of the
Deity.'
`This work is not intended to be used merely as an instrument for
satisfying our desires. A person, acquainted with the true principles
of this science, and who preserves his Dharma, Artha, and Kama, and
has regard for the practices of the people, is sure to obtain the
mastery over his senses.'
`In short, an intelligent and prudent person, attending to Dharma and
Artha, and attending to Kama also, without becoming the slave of his
passions, obtains success in everything that he may undertake.'
CONCLUDING REMARKS
THUS ends, in seven parts, the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, which might
otherwise be called a treatise on men and women, their mutual
relationship, and connection with each other.
It is a work that should be studied by all, both old and young; the
former will find in it real truths, gathered by experience, and
already tested by themselves, while the latter will derive the great
advantage of learning things, which some perhaps may otherwise never
learn at all, or which they may only learn when it is too late (`too
late' those immortal words of Mirabeau) to profit by the learning.
It can also be fairly commended to the student of social science and
of humanity, and above all to the student of those early ideas, which
have gradually filtered down through the sands of time, and which seem
to prove that the human nature of today is much the same as the human
nature of the long ago.
It has been said of Balzac the great, if not the greatest of French
novelists, that he seemed to have inherited a natural and intuitive
perception of the feelings of men and women, and has described them
with an analysis worthy of a man of science. The author of the present
work must also have had a considerable knowledge of the humanities.
Many of his remarks are so full of simplicity and truth, that they
have stood the test of time, and stand out still as clear and true as
when they were first written, some eighteen hundred years ago.
As a collection of facts, told in plain and simple language, it must
be remembered that in those early days there was apparently no idea of
embellishing the work, either with a literary style, a flow of
language, or a quantity of superfluous padding. The author tells the
world what he knows in very concise language, without any attempt to
produce an interesting story. From his facts how many novels could be
written! Indeed much of the matter contained in Parts III, IV, V and
VI has formed the basis of many of the stories and the tales of past
centuries.
There will be found in Part VII some curious recipes. Many of them
appear to be as primitive as the book itself, but in later works of
the same nature these recipes and prescriptions appear to have
increased, both as regards quality and quantity. In the Anunga Runga
or `The Stage of Love', mentioned at page 85 of the Preface, there are
found no less than thirty-three different subjects for which one
hundred and thirty recipes and prescriptions are given.
As the details may be interesting, these subjects are described as
follows:
* For hastening the paroxysm of the woman
* For delaying the orgasm of the man
* Aphrodisiacs
* For thickening and enlarging the lingam, rendering it sound and
strong, hard and lusty
* For narrowing and contracting the yoni
* For perfuming the yoni
* For removing and destroying the hair of the body
* For removing the sudden stopping of the monthly ailment
* For abating the immoderate appearance of the monthly ailment
* For purifying the womb For causing pregnancy
* For preventing miscarriage and other accidents
* For ensuring easy labour and ready deliverance
* For limiting the number of children
* For thickening and beautifying the hair
* For obtaining a good black colour to it
* For whitening and bleaching it
* For renewing it
* For clearing the skin of the face from eruptions that break out
and leave black spots upon it
* For removing the black colour of the epidermis
* For enlarging the breasts of women
* For raising and hardening pendulous breasts
* For giving a fragrance to the skin
* For removing the evil savour of perspiration
* For anointing the body after bathing
* For causing a pleasant smell to the breath
* Drugs and charms for the purposes of fascinating, overcoming, and
subduing either men or women
* Recipes for enabling a woman to attract and preserve her husband's
love
* Magical collyriums for winning love and friendship
* Prescriptions for reducing other persons to submission
* Philtre pills, and other charms
* Fascinating incense, or fumigation
* Magical verses which have the power of fascination
Of the one hundred and thirty recipes given, many of them are absurd,
but not more perhaps than many of the recipes and prescriptions in use
in Europe not so very long ago. Love-philtres, charms, and herbal
remedies have been, in early days, as freely used in Europe as in
Asia, and doubtless some people believe in them still in many places.
And now, one word about the author of the work, the good old sage
Vatsyayana. It is much to be regretted that nothing can be discovered
about his life, his belongings, and his surroundings. At the end of
Part VII, he states that he wrote the work while leading the life of a
religious student [probably at Benares] and while wholly engaged in
the contemplation of the Deity. He must have arrived at a certain age
at that time, for throughout he gives us the benefit of his
experience, and of his opinions, and these bear the stamp of age
rather than of youth; indeed the work could hardly have been written
by a young man.
In a beautiful verse of the Vedas of the Christians it has been said
of the peaceful dead, that they rest from their labours, and that
their works do follow them. Yes indeed, the works of men of genius do
follow them, and remain as a lasting treasure. And though there may be
disputes and discussions about the immortality of the body or the
soul, nobody can deny the immortality of genius, which ever remains as
a bright and guiding star to the struggling humanities of succeeding
ages. This work, then, which has stood the test of centuries, has
placed Vatsyayana among the immortals, and on This, and on Him no
better elegy or eulogy can be written than the following lines:
`So long as lips shall kiss, and eyes shall see,
So long lives This, and This gives life to Thee.'