Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c7.47.4

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