Erotic Classics I

by Various Authors

  20. Proper disposition of jewels and decorations, and adornment in dress.

  21. Magic or sorcery.

  22. Quickness of hand or manual skill.

  23. Culinary art, i.e., cooking and cookery.

  24. Making lemonades, sherbets, acidulated drinks, and spirituous extracts with proper flavour and colour.

  25. Tailor’s work and sewing.

  26. Making parrots, flowers, tufts, tassels, bunches, bosses, knobs, etc., out of yarn or thread.

  27. Solution of riddles, enigmas, covert speeches, verbal puzzles and enigmatical questions.

  28. 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.

  29. The art of mimicry or imitation.

  30. Reading, including chanting and intoning.

  31. 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.

  32. Practice with sword, single stick, quarter staff, and bow and arrow.

  33. Drawing inferences, reasoning or inferring.

  34. Carpentry, or the work of a carpenter.

  35. Architecture, or the art of building.

  36. Knowledge about gold and silver coins, and jewels and gems.

  37. Chemistry and mineralogy.

  38. Colouring jewels, gems and beads.

  39. Knowledge of mines and quarries.

  40. Gardening; knowledge of treating the diseases of trees and plants, of nourishing them, and determining their ages.

  41. Art of cock fighting, quail fighting and ram fighting.

  42. Art of teaching parrots and starlings to speak.

  43. Art of applying perfumed ointments to the body, and of dressing the hair with unguents and perfumes and braiding it.

  44. The art of understanding writing in cypher, and the writing of words in a peculiar way.

  45. 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.

  46. Knowledge of language and of the vernacular dialects.

  47. Art of making flower carriages.

  48. Art of framing mystical diagrams, of addressing spells and charms, and binding armlets.

  49. 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.

  50. Composing poems.

  51. Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies.

  52. Knowledge of ways of changing and disguising the appearance of persons.

  53. 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.

  54. Various ways of gambling.

  55. Art of obtaining possession of the property of others by means of muntras or incantations.

  56. Skill in youthful sports.

  57. Knowledge of the rules of society, and of how to pay respects and compliments to others.

  58. Knowledge of the art of war, of arms, of armies, etc.

  59. Knowledge of gymnastics.

  60. Art of knowing the character of a man from his features.

  61. Knowledge of scanning or constructing verses.

  62. Arithmetical recreations.

  63. Making artificial flowers.

  64. 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.

  * * *

  11 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.

  12 The qualification of being married applies to all the teachers.

  Chapter IV—The Life of a Citizen

  Having thus acquired learning, a man, with the wealth that he may have gained by gift, conquest, purchase, deposit, 13 or inheritance from his ancestors, should become a householder, and pass the life of a citizen. 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 flowers 14 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, 15 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, 16 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, 17 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 18 substance 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.
19 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, 20 and then should be taken the midday sleep. 21 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.

  1. Holding festivals 22 in honour of different Deities.

  2. Social gatherings of both sexes.

  3. Drinking parties.

  4. Picnics.

  5. Other social diversions.

  Festivals

  On some particular auspicious day, an assembly of citizens should be convened in the temple of Saraswati. 23 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, 24 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 Pithamarda 25 is a man without wealth, alone in the world, whose only property consists of his Mallika, 26 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 Vita 27 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 householder, 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 Vidushaka 28 (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 old 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, 29 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.

  * * *

  13 Gift is peculiar to a Brahman, conquest to a Kshatrya, while purchase, deposit, and other means of acquiring wealth belongs to the Vaishya.

  14 Natural garden flowers.

  15 Such as quails, partridges, parrots, starlings, etc.

  16 The calls of nature always performed by the Hindus the first thing in the morning.

  17 A colour made from lac.

  18 This would act instead of soap, which was not introduced until the rule of the Mahomedans.

  19 Ten days are allowed when the hair is taken out with a pair of pincers.

  20 These are characters generally introduced in the Hindu drama; their characteristics will be explained further on.

  21 Noonday sleep is only allowed in summer, when the nights are short.

  22 These are very common in all parts of India.

  23 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 further information about her, see Edward Moor’s Hindu Pantheon.

  24 The public women, or courtesans (Vesya), of the early Hindus 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 Hindus, in two volumes, Trubner & Co., 1871. It may be fairly considered that the courtesan was one of the elements, and an important element too, of early Hindu society, and that her education and intellect were both superior to that of the women of the household. Wil
son 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.”

  25 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 citizens.

  26 A seat in the form of the letter T.

  27 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.

  28 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.

  29 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 V—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 are 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, 30 is neither enjoined nor prohibited. The object of practising Kama with such women is pleasure only.