Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.45

c8.45

“He will be a happy husband who marries the woman on whom his heart and his eye are set. Let a man not think of any other. So some say.” ¹ Here Vātsyāyana approves of a selection made not according to minute and detailed technical rules, but on the general impression produced by the whole appearence. As in the everyday world, people were likely to be guided by this impression at first sight. Hence Vātsyāyana advises the parents and relatives of a girl when she has reached the marriageable age, to array her in a smart dress, and thus dressed she should sport every afternoon with her girl friends; at festivities like sacrifices, marriage celebrations, and, in fact, wherever there is a concourse of people, care should be taken to show her to advantage in society, for the reason, Vātsyāyana asserts, that such a girl is of the nature of an article of trade. ²