Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c6.5

c6.5

A few places in the Central Division of India are referred to by Vātsyāyana in his work and the general name Madhyadeśa also has been employed by him in one passage where he says that in the Madhyadeśa, there being a preponderance of Āryas, that is, of persons of decent character who were pure in their habits, the ladies in that region disliked unclean practices like kissing, pressing the nails and biting by the other sex.¹ This Madhyadeśa is no doubt the same as the Madhyamā Dik of Vedic literature; and may be considered to have the same limits as the Madhyadeśa of Manu who defines it as the country between the Himavat and the Vindhya mountains, to the west of Prayāga and to the east of Vinaśana, that is, of the spot where the river Sarasvatī disappears²; but more probably, it is the region between the Ganges and the Jumna, that is, the land of the Āryas according to one of the views pointed out by Vasiṣṭha and Baudhāyana in their Dharmasutras.³ The commentary, Jayamaṅgalā is inclined to adopt this definition of the boundaries of the Madhyadeśa, because, as it says, this is mainly intended by the author of the Kama-Śastra.⁴