54 The messenger acting for herself is sent as a messenger by another woman, but she herself seduces the man and, pretending not to know that she is seducing him, tells him how she dreamed about enjoying passionate sex with him; or she reproaches him for calling his wife by the wrong name,* and reviles his wife. Under this pretext, she expresses her own jealousy. Or she gives him something marked by her nails and teeth and says, ‘I decided to give this first of all to you.’ And when they are alone together she asks him, ‘Who is lovelier, your wife or I?’ 55He sees the messenger and receives her in a secluded place. 56A woman is also a messenger acting for herself if she makes an agreement with another woman under the pretext of serving as her messenger, but by means of carrying that woman’s messages wins the man for herself and ruins that woman’s chances. 57The man, too, is sometimes said to play that role and woo for himself when he is the messenger for another man.
58 The woman gets the confidence of the man’s naïve wife,* enters in unhindered, and asks her about the man’s doings. She teaches the wife tricks. She dresses her up in a way that sends signals to him. She gets her angry with him and says, ‘This is how you must act.’ And she herself makes the traces of nails and teeth on the wife. Through that means, the woman signals to the man. She, the wife, is the foolish messenger, and 59he uses her to get the woman’s replies.
60 Or the man gets his own foolish wife to get together with the woman to gain her confidence, and he uses her to send signals. He even has his wife talk to the woman about his skill and experience. She is the wife as messenger, and he uses her to get the woman’s signals.
61 Or he sends a young servant girl who knows nothing about wickedness on a project that is not at all wicked. But in the process he secretes a written message or the traces of his nails or of his teeth in a garland or an ear ornament. She is the mute messenger, and he uses her to ask for the woman’s replies.
62 A woman who is a neutral bystander may transmit a statement that bears the identifying mark of a previously arranged matter, that another person could not grasp, or that has both a common meaning and a special double meaning. She is the wind messenger, and he uses her to ask for the woman’s replies. Those are the types of female messengers.
63 And there are verses about this:
A widow, a fortune-teller, a servant girl,
a beggar woman, and a woman artist
quickly enter a woman’s confidence
and understand the duties of a messenger.
64 She inspires hatred of the husband,
describes his sexual charms,
and reveals the various enjoyments of sex,
that other women, too, have had.*
65 And she describes the man’s love for the woman,
and, again, his skill in love-making,
and tells how he is sought by great women,
and remains constant.
66 The messenger, through her skill with words,
can take even an unintended meaning
uttered by mistake
and twist it right around.
CHAPTER FIVE
[47] The Sex Life of a Man in Power
1 Kings and ministers of state
do not enter into other men’s homes,
for the whole populace sees what they do
and imitates it.
2 The three worlds* watch the sun rise
and so they too rise;
then they watch the sun moving
and they too start to act.
3 Therefore, because it is impossible and because they would be blamed, such men do nothing frivolous. 4But when they cannot help doing it, they employ stratagems. 5A young village headman, or a king’s officer, or the son of the superintendent of farming, can win village women just with a word, and then libertines call these women adulteresses. 6Sex with these women takes place when they are engaged in such activities as doing chores, filling granaries, bringing things in and out of houses, cleaning house, working in the field, purchasing cotton, wool, flax, linen, and bark, spinning thread, and buying, selling, and exchanging goods. 7And in the same manner, the man in charge of the cow-herds may take the women of the cow-herds; 8the man in charge of threads* may take widows, women who have no man to protect them, and wandering women ascetics; 9the city police-chief may take the women who roam about begging, for he knows where they are vulnerable, because of his own night-roamings; 10and the man in charge of the market may take the women who buy and sell.
11 On occasions such as the eighth day of the waning half of the month in autumn, the full-moon night in winter, and the spring festival, the women of market-towns, cities, and mountain villages generally attend the parties of the women of the harem in the home of the man in power. 12There, when the drinking party is over, the women of the city go individually, each according to her intimacy with the women of the harem, to the houses devoted to enjoyments, where they sit and tell stories and are honoured and given drinks; and they go home by evening.
13 On such an occasion, a royal servant girl, who has already become acquainted with the woman whom the man wants, is sent there and talks with her. 14She enlists her by showing her lovely things. 15Even before this, when the woman was still in her own home, the royal servant had said to her, ‘While we are all at the party there, I will show you the lovely things that are in the king’s mansion.’ And then, at that time, she enlists the woman, saying, ‘I will show you, outside, a floor inlaid with coral.’ 16And there is a floor made of jewels, and a grove of trees, a vineyard, bath-houses and a rooftop porch, secret passages in the palace walls, paintings, tame deer, mechanical contrivances, cages of birds, tigers, and lions, all the things that she had described before. 17And when they are alone together, she tells the woman that the man in power is in love with her, 18and she describes his expertise in making love. 19She gets the woman to agree and not to tell anyone about their plan.
20 If she does not agree, the man in power comes to her himself, conciliates her with courtesies, makes love with her, reunites her with the servant girl, and then dismisses her lovingly. 21And he accustoms the woman’s husband to receiving favours and after that has that man’s wives brought into the harem all the time, to get him accustomed to it. Then, on this occasion, a royal servant girl is sent, and so forth, just as before.
22 Or, a woman of the harem becomes friendly with the woman the man wants by sending her own servant woman to her. And when the friendship has progressed, she invites the woman to come and see her, under some pretext. When the woman has entered, and has been honoured and given drinks, a royal servant girl is sent, and so forth, just as before.
23 Or, if the woman the man wants is famous for a particular skill, a woman of the harem should treat her with courtesies and invite her to demonstrate that skill. When the woman has entered, a royal servant girl is sent, and so forth, just as before.
24 Or, a beggar woman says to the wife of a man who has lost all his money or is frightened, ‘This woman of the harem, who has won over the king so that he does what she says, listens to my words. Because I am compassionate by nature, I will approach her and get her to let you enter. And she will reverse your husband’s great loss of fortune.’ When the woman agrees, the woman of the harem lets her enter two or three times and dispels the woman’s fears. And when the woman hears that she has nothing to be afraid of, she is overjoyed. Then a royal servant girl is sent, and so forth, just as before. 25This last stratagem is also prescribed for the wives of men who are seeking employment, oppressed by ministers of state, seized by force, weak in practical skills, dissatisfied with their own possessions, hoping to become friends with the king, striving for a rank among the royal families, harassed by their relatives, wishing to harass their relatives, informants, and others embroiled in specific enterprises.
26 Or, if the woman the man wants is already intimate with another man, he has her seized, makes her into a servant girl, and gradually introduces her into the harem. 27Or he has her husband slandered by a
spy, saying, ‘He is an enemy of the king’, and then seizes the woman as the man’s wife, and by this means has her enter the harem.
Those are the secret methods.* They are generally used by the king’s sons.
28 But the man in power should not enter another man’s home in this way. 29‘For when Abhira, the Kotta king, went to another man’s home, a washerman employed by the king’s brother killed him. And the superintendent of horses killed Jayasena the king of Varanasi.’ So it is said.
30 Open sexual affairs may be pursued according to the custom of the region. 31It is said of the people of Andhra that the virgins of the countryside, on the tenth day after they have been given in marriage, take some gift suited for the purpose and enter the harem. As soon as the king has enjoyed them, they are dismissed. 32It is said of the people of Vatsagulma, that the women in the harems of men in power under state ministers go to the king at night to serve him. 33In Vidarbha, the women of the harem invite the beautiful women of the countryside to stay with them for a month or half a month, under the pretext of friendship. 34In the far West, a man will give his own wives, if they are good-looking, to kings and ministers of state as a kind of love-gift. 35And in Surashtra, the women of the city and the women of the countryside, in groups or one by one, enter the royal court in order to serve the king in his erotic games.
36 And there are two verses about this:
These and many other devices
for seducing other men’s wives
were put into circulation by kings,
and are employed in region after region.*
37 But a king who takes pleasure in the welfare of his people*
should absolutely not use these devices.
A man who suppresses the band of six enemies within him
conquers the earth too.
CHAPTER SIX
[48] The Life of the Women of the Harem
1 The women of the harem cannot meet men, because they are carefully guarded; and since they have only one husband shared by many women in common, they are not satisfied. Therefore they give pleasure to one another with the following techniques. 2They dress up a foster-sister or girlfriend or servant girl like a man and relieve their desire with dildos or with bulbs, roots, or fruits that have that form. 3They lie on statues of men that have distinct* sexual characteristics. 4Kings, too, if they are sympathetic to their women even when their passion does not stir, make use of dildos until they achieve their goal, so that in one night they can even go to many women. But when the woman he loves has her turn to sleep with him or is in her fertile season, then the man acts out of desire. Those are the Oriental customs. (5With the very same technique that women use, men, too, if they cannot get any sexual action, are said to relieve their desire in things other than the vagina, in creatures other than the human species, in statues of women, and by simple masturbation.*)
6 The women of the harem generally get their women servants to bring in men-about-town dressed as women. 7Their foster-sisters, too, if they are intimate with the women on the inside, may make an effort to accost these men, showing them what a future there is in it. 8They describe how easy it is to enter, the place where they can get out, the spaciousness of the building, the carelessness of the guards, and the irregularities of the entourage. 9They should not, however, use false representations to get people to enter, for this would be a serious mistake.
10 Vatsyayana says: A man-about-town, however, should not enter a harem even if it is easy to get into, because this usually ends in disaster. 11But if he has considered, with an eye to the rewards, all the factors—if the harem has an exit and is deeply hidden by thick woods, the wall enclosing the harem is long and divided up, the guards are few and careless, and the king is away—and if he has been invited many times, and he has worked out a way over the wall, and the women have shown him the way to do it, he may enter. 12And within the realm of possibility, he should come out every day.
13 He gets close to the guards on the outside through some pretext. 14He represents himself as attached to a servant girl who works inside and who knows his real purposes. And he reveals to the women who go inside the harem his sorrow at not being with that girl, and he gets them to do the whole job of a messenger. 15He finds out who the king’s spies are. 16If, however, the female messenger cannot find a way for him to get in, but the woman he wants has sent him signals, he stations himself where she can see him. 17Even at that very spot, however, he makes some pretext to the guards about his servant girl. 18When the woman’s gaze is fixed on him, he sends messages to her with his gestures and signals. 19Where her gaze falls, there he places a portrait of her, and fragments of songs with double meanings, and little toys with special marks on them, and a ring marked with an impression. 20He perceives her answer to his question. And then he strives to enter.
21 He finds out where she goes all the time and he hides himself right there, ahead of time. 22Or he disguises himself as a guard and enters at a time that she appoints. 23Or he goes in and out clothed in a bedspread or a cloak. 24Or he makes his shadow and his body disappear by means of the magic trick of the ‘pocket-no pocket’.* 25The technique for this is: He cooks the heart of a mongoose, the fruits of a fenugreek plant and a long gourd, and snake eyes, over a fire that does not smoke. Then he rubs into this the same measure of the collyrium used as eye make-up. When he has smeared his eyes with this, he can move about without a shadow or a body. 26And on the nights of the full moon, he can move about by the light of many lamps, or by a subterranean passage.
27 And there is this verse about this:
Also when things are carried out,
and when things to drink are brought in
for festivals and drinking parties, and there is a lot of
confused activity among the maidservants;
and when there is a move from one house to another,
and a changing of the guard,
and an outing to a park or a festival,
and when they return from the festival;
and when the king has gone away on a journey
that will last for a long time—
that is usually when young men enter
and also when they leave.
28 The women of the harem, knowing
one another’s purposes and sharing a single purpose,
may make the rest of the women, too,
defect to their side.
Therefore, by getting them to corrupt one another
and to remain resolute in accomplishing their single purpose,
he immediately becomes safe from being betrayed
and enjoys the fruits that he desires.
29 Among the people of the far West, women who have business in the royal court are the ones who bring likely looking men into the harem, because they are not very well guarded. 30The Abhira women get what they want from the guards of the harem themselves, the ones who call themselves Warriors. 31The Vatsagulma women bring in, together with errand girls, the sons of men-about-town dressed in the girls’ clothing. 32The Vidarbha women use their own sons, who move freely in and out of the harem, each excepting the son she gave birth to. 33The women who rule their own country use their own kinsmen and relatives, who enter the harem in the same way, but no other men. 34The women of Gauda use Brahmins, friends, servants, attendants, and houseboys. 35The women of Sindh use doormen, artisans, and any other men of that sort who are not prevented from entering the harem. 36The men of the Himalayas boldly bribe the guard with money and enter en masse. 37In Vanga, Anga, and Kalinga, the Brahmins of the city, under the pretext of bringing flowers, go to the harem with the king’s full knowledge. They chat with the women from behind a curtain. Once they have met like that, they get together. 38In the East, nine or ten women en masse conceal one young man at a time. That is how a man can seduce other men’s women. That is the life of the women of the harem.*
[49] The Guarding of Wives
39 For these very reasons a man should guard his own wives. 40Scholars
say: ‘Guards stationed in the harem should be proved pure by the trial of desire.’ 41Gonikaputra says: ‘But fear or power may make them let the women use another man; therefore guards should be proved pure by the trials of desire, fear, and power.’* 42Vatsyayana says: Religion prevents treachery. But a man will abandon even religion because of fear. Therefore guards should be proved pure by the trial of religion and fear.
43 The followers of Babhravya say: ‘To find out about his own wives’ purity or impurity, a man should test them through charming women who have deeply hidden their own involuntary signals and who will report what other people say.’ 44But Vatsyayana says: Because corrupt people can succeed among young women, a man should not set in motion, without a reason, the corruption of a person who is not corrupt.
45 The things that ruin women are as follows: too much socializing, not enough restraint,* independence from her husband, unrestrained access to men, separation from her husband during his absence, living abroad, the loss of her means of subsistence, close contact with loose women, and her husband’s jealousy.
46 A man who knows texts and considers, from the text,
the devices whose telltale signs are detailed
in the discussion of the seduction of other men’s wives,
is never deceived by his own wives.
47 But he himself should never seduce other men’s wives,
because these techniques show only one of the two sides
of each case, because the dangers are clearly visible,
and because it goes against both religion and power.
48 This book was undertaken in order
to guard wives, for the benefit of men;
its arrangements should not be learned
in order to corrupt the people.
BOOK SIX · COURTESANS
CHAPTER ONE
[50] Deciding on a Friend, an Eligible Lover, and an Ineligible Lover
Kamasutra Page 17