Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c7.47
Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vātsyāyana's Kāmasūtra c7.47
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c7.47.1
In the first place, the M a h ā m ā t r a is mentioned many times in the book, side by side with the king, as of a very high position in society. Vātsyāyana, when writing his work, had in mind as his prospective readers the daughters of kings and Mahāmātras who were likely to profit by his book, because in the first place, as he observes, among females it was specially they who received a liberal education—had their intellect sharpened by a study of the literature on a subject (śāstra)³. On festive occasions near the house of the Mahāmātra, a lover would try to meet and win over the lady he loved¹. A person who was in the good books of the Mahāmātra was considered a desirable lover by the hetaeræ². The favour of the Mahāmātras was sought to be won by men in some parts of India in ways that were far from honorable, and certainly not sanctioned by codes of morality³. Vātsyāyana advises the Mahāmātras never to enter another’s house on any amorous expedition, because other people would imitate the conduct of great men themselves, and he adds that just as the sun, high up in the sky, is watched by all people in his journey across the heavens, similarly the movements of the Mahāmātras are keenly watched by men; therefore they should not do anything that was unworthy or dishonourable.
c7.47.2
Vātsyāyana also speaks of persons that were harassed by the Mahāmātras⁵ and he speaks in similar terms of the Rājavallabha or the favourite of the king⁶ who was marked generally by violent and sinister conduct. The Mahāmātra of Vātsyāyana appears to be, as in the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya⁷, a designation for high government officials in general, including provincial governors, as in Aśoka’s edicts. Besides the Mahāmātra, Vātsyāyana also mentions the M a n t r i n on whose shoulders rested the heavy burden of state,¹ as a person who should never have anything to do with filthy practices.² This M a n t r i n, the pillar of the state, seems to be the Prime-minister and superior to the Mahāmātras, or he may be a member of the Mantri-pariṣad of Kauṭilya.³ Of the superior officers, Vātsyāyana also speaks of the D h a r m a s t h a s or D h a r m ā d h i k a r a ṇ a s t h a s, the dispensers of law and justice⁴ and four of the A d h y a k ṣ a s or superintendents in charge of the departments of state, beside the U t t a r ā d h y a k ṣ a or a superior officer in general.⁵ These adhyakṣas or departmental superintendents mentioned by Vātsyāyana, are only such as come in contact with women in the ordinary course of their duties and have thus opportunities, as Vātsyāyana avers, of winning their love without much risk to themselves.
c7.47.3
Such an officer is the G a v ā d h y a k ṣ a who had access to cowherdesses.⁶ The S ū t r ā d h y a k ṣ a, the Superintendent of spinning and weaving, had dealings with widows, helpless women and female mendicants⁷ who spun yarn for the Government and brought it to him for his approval and also for their wages; Kauṭilya gives a fuller list of such women—"Widows, cripple women, mendicant or ascetic women (pravrajitā), women compelled to work in default of paying fines (daṇḍa-pratikāriṇī), mothers of prostitutes, old women-servants of the king, and prostitutes (*devadāsī*) who have ceased to attend temples on service, shall be employed to cut wool, fibre, cotton, panicle (*tūla*), hemp and flax,"¹ The P a ṇ y ā d h y a k ṣ a - the Superintendent of merchandise-the same as the *Paṇyādhyakṣa* of Kauṭilya, has dealings with women in the course of purchase and sale of various articles².
c7.47.4
But he says that honest women also often earn a living for themselves by spinning: "Those women who do not stir out of their houses (*aniṣkāsinyaḥ*), those whose husbands are gone abroad, and those who are cripple or girls, may when obliged to work for subsistence, be provided with work (spinning out threads) in due courtesy through the medium of maid-servants (of the weaving establishment)." He therefore prescribes strict rules so that they may work with honour: "Those women who can present themselves at the weaving house shall at dawn be enabled to exchange their spinning for wages (*bhaṇḍavetanavini-mayam*). Only so much light as is enough to examine the threads shall be kept." Besides, he provides punishment if the Superintendent is tempted to look at the faces of such women or presumes to talk with them on any other topic except that of the business immediately in hand.³