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Kamasutra 5.4.2

Text edited by Jean Fezas (with notes) 5.4.2

Language
Sanskrit

5.4.2

saināṃ śīlato 'nupraviśyākhyāna-kapaṭaiḥ subhagaṃ-karaṇa-yogair loka-vṛttāntaiḥ kavi-kathābhiḥ pāradārika-kathābhiś ca tasyāś ca rūpa-vijñāna-dākṣiṇya-śīlānupraśaṃsābhiś ca tāṃ rañjayet.

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 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 failing by which the wife may appear to be 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.

Richard Francis Burton & Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot 1883, The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana

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