Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.38

c8.38

Vātsyāyana also quotes another rule about the name of the girl—“A girl bearing the name of a constellation, a river, or of a tree is objectionable and besides a girl, the last letter but one of whose name is *l* or *r*, is to be avoided in wooing.” ¹ A woman who is too white or too dark in complexion, should be avoided even as a mistress and *pari passu* as a wife, and similar prohibition holds in the case of a woman afflicted with leprosy, insanity etc., ² It may be observed here that inspite of the insistence of law-givers and Vātsyāyana's support of them, the defects about names have never been considered in India as a serious disability, and they appear to have been more obeyed in their breach than in their observance. Thus in ancient times as at the present day, some of the most popular names are names, of constellations like Rohiṇī and Citrā, of rivers like Gaṅgā and Yamunā, or names with penultimate 'l' or 'r' like Apālā and Viśvavārā—authoresses of Ṛgvedic hymns ³, and Kamalā and Tārā of later days.