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Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s4: The Daily Life of the Nāgaraka

Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vātsyāyana's Kāmasūtra c8.s4

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English

The Daily Life of the Nāgaraka

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Vātsyāyana has left us a description of the occupation of the *nāgaraka* during the whole of the day, which though brief, yet brings up very beautifully the man of fashion of those days before our eyes. Our *nāgaraka* gets up early in the morning and after attending to his morning duties and cleaning his mouth and teeth, proceeds to his toilet. The first article in this toilet is the *anulepana*, a fragrant ointment ordinarily made of fine sandal-wood paste, or of preparations of a variety of sweet-smelling substances.¹ He applies a suitable quantity of this ointment to his person; it would be considered bad taste if he used too much of this perfume; he then scents his clothes in the sweet-smelling smoke of incense (*dhūpa*) thrown into the fire and wears a garland on the head, or hangs it round his neck. He applies collyrium made of various substances to his eyes. To his lips, already reddened by the betel he has chewed, he applies *alaktaka* (a red dye made from lac), to impart a deeper crimson to them and then rubs them over with wax to make the dye fast. Then he looks at himself in a glass, chews spiced betel-leaves to perfume his mouth, and proceeds to attend to his business.² He attends to his hair and wears rings on his fingers that are sometimes of great value.³ He generally wears two garments, a *vāsas* or *vastra* and an *uttarīya* or a wrap for the upper part of the body. This upper garment was sometimes very highly scented with rich perfumes or flowers.⁴ Bhāsa tells us that the rich fragrance of Cārudatta's wearing apparel assured Vasantasenā that though impoverished, he was not quite unmindful of the amenities of youthful society.¹ At Nanda's house at Kapilavastu when Buddha entered it, some of the maids were preparing the perfumed paste while others were perfuming the clothes.² In the *Lalita-vistara* we read that King Suddhodana ordered that all those who would attend on Māyādevī on her journey to the garden of Lumbinī, should wear clothes, soft and fine, coloured with pleasant dyes and smelling sweet with the best of the scents. Similarly, in another place in the same book, we read of a perfumed garment of the exquisite colour of the *nāgakesara*.³

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¹ अच्छोदकं चन्दनमभ्यनुलेपनं ।—Ibid, p. 173 (*sūtra* 14).

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² स प्रातस्त्नाय कृतनियतकृत्यः, गृहीतदन्तधावनः, सावयाऽनुलेपनं धूपं चजमिति गृहीत्वा, दला शियकमलक्तकं च हष्टाऽऽदयं मुखम्, गृहीतमुखवासताम्बूलः, कार्याभ्यनतिष्ठेत् ।—Ibid, pp. 45-46 (*sūtra* 16). Jayamaṅgalā explains—सावयेति, प्रभूतानुलेपनादियहणादनागरकः स्यात्, कार्यातुष्ठानि प्रस्तुतत्वात् ।—p. 46.

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³ अङ्गलीयकम च निधानम् ।—Ibid, p. 292 (*sūtra* 20) etc. अनेकशतसहस्रमूल्यमङ्ग-लीयकम ।—*Lalita-vistara* (ed. by Lefmann), xiii. 142.

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⁴ See *Kāmasūtra*, pp. 274, 196, etc.; also तत्र महार्हगन्धसत्तरीय 'कुसुमं चार्लोत्र स्यादङ्गलीयकं च तदसाताम्बूलवदणं गोष्ठीगमनीयतस्य केशश्मश्रुप्रसाधनम् ।—Ibid, p. 261 (*sūtra* 21).

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¹ गविष्ठा—( प्रावारकं गृहीत्वा सहर्षम् ) अणदासीणं जीवणं से पडवासगन्धो सूएदि ।—Bhāsa, Cārudatta (Trivandrum Sans. Series), Act I, p. 26.

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² काचित् पिषेमान्तिविलेपनं हि बासोऽन्या काचित् अवासयत् ।—Saundarananda-Kāvya, iv. 26.

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³ वरसुरभिसुगन्धा भावरक्ता विचित्रा । वसन मट मनोज्ञा प्रावृणीया उदयाः ॥—Lalita-vistara (ed. by Lefmann), vii. 80; शीघ्रं गच्छ नागपुष्पचिरा वस्त्रा सुगन्धा शुभा ।—Ibid, xviii. 282.

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Sweet scents, we thus see, played a very important part in the toilet of the nāgaraka. He made an abundant use of flowers, he rubbed sweet-scented ointments over his body and besides, he used other perfumes—*saugandhikas*—and a box of scents, a *saugandhika-puṭikā*, was kept handy by every nāgaraka. He perfumes his mouth with betel-leaves prepared with sweet-scented spices. The fragrant smoke of incense was made to circulate through his rooms and impart a perfume to his clothes. The *Lalita-vistara* corroborates Vātsyāyana about the plentiful use of perfumes. Besides the scented ointment or *anulepana*, the *Lalita-vistara* mentions scented waters of various kinds, perfumed oils and fragrant powders of sandal, flowers or other sweet-smelling things.⁴ These objects—flowers, perfumes and betel-leaves formed the most ordinary gifts exchanged between friends and lovers.¹

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⁴ विविधगन्धोदकपूर्णघटपरिगृहीतैः ।—Ibid, xv. 218. See also ibid, vii. 96 and xiv. 269; दिव्यगन्धपरिवसित-तैलपरिगृहीतानि ।—Ibid, vii. 96; दैन्ती पुष्यांगरु-तगर-चन्दन-चूर्ण-वर्षा ।—Ibid, xxi. 342.

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¹ Kāmasūtra, pp. 259, 261, 274, 308, 319.

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After attending to his business in the morning, the nāgaraka takes his bath; this he does every day but there are other attendant circumstances that are repeated at varying intervals. Every other day he gets his limbs massaged and shampooed (utsādana); every third day he cleanses his person with soap-like substances that yield a lather with water (phenaka). This last was considered an indispensable article for one who aspired to decent life in those days, as we see that even when a man became too poor to maintain himself as a nāgaraka and became a pīthamarda, his phenaka or soap marked him out from ordinary men. As regards shaving, the nāgaraka was behind the modern man of fashion; he got his chin and lips cleaned every fourth day and this was probably considered conducive to long life (āyuṣyam) and a more thorough tonsorial operation was performed every fifth or every tenth day. This completes the bath.² Though he was thus not so fastidious as our modern dandies as regards the hair on his face, he was certainly more careful about his finger nails. They were specially dressed, particularly those of the left hand; the points of the nails should always be fine and sometimes they were cut into three or more teeth like a saw. The nails must be well-set, smooth, bright, scrupulously clean, not broken, and soft and glossy in appearance. The people of Gauḍa (modern Bengal) had very fine and long nails that imparted a grace to their hands and were very attractive to women, and the southerners (the Dākṣiṇātyāḥ) had small nails which were good for work but of which they made very great artistic use, and the people of Mahārāṣṭra were midway between the two. The use of the nails was a great art which the nāgaraka took great pains in acquiring; with them, he skilfully and without causing pain, affixed on his beloved, marks that might be straight, curved, circular, semicircular like the crescent moon, or which might resemble the tiger's claw, the peacock's foot, the leap of a hare or the leaf of a blue lotus.¹ Similar care was taken of the teeth and artistic use made of them, because, Vātsyāyana says, no other art increases love so much as the clever use of the nails and teeth.² Besides attending to the daily ablution and the other things noted above, for keeping his person clean, the nāgaraka must always carry a handkerchief (karpaṭa) with himself for removing perspiration.³

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² नित्यं स्नानं, द्वितीयकमुत्सादनं, तृतीयकः फेनकः, चतुर्थममायुष्यम्, पञ्चमकं दशमकं वा प्रत्यायुष-मित्यदीनम् ।—Ibid, p. 46 (sūtra 17).

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¹ Ibid, pp. 112-20 (sūtras 1-31).

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² Ibid, pp. 121-30 (sūtras 1-42).

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³ सातव्याश्च संहतवाचाश्चापनोदः।—Ibid, p. 47 (sūtra 18).

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He takes two meals a day, in the forenoon, and the afternoon, but according to Cārāyaṇa, and earlier teacher, the last meal had better be taken in the evening.⁴ Three kinds of hard or soft food and drinks, bhakṣya, bhojya and peya corresponding to the khādanīya, bhojanīya and pāna of the Buddhist sacred books,⁵ have been mentioned by Vātsyāyana. Among his articles of diet we notice rice, wheat, barley, pulses, a large number of vegetables, milk and its preparations including ghee, meat and sweets, besides salt and oil. Among the sweets, we have molasses (guḍa) and sugar (śarkarā) as well as sweetmeats (khaṇḍa-khādyāni).⁶ Fish is nowhere mentioned by our author as an article of diet. Meat was eaten boiled as soup, and dry or roasted. To desist from eating meat, as prescribed in the law books, was considered to be an act of merit (dharma).⁷ The nāgaraka's drinks (*pānakāni*) were also various: besides water and milk, he drank fresh juice, perhaps of the various kinds of palm, extracts of meat, *congey* (or rice gruel), sherbets, juice of fruits such as mangoes and citrons mixed with sugar; of stronger drinks, he used various wines like *surā*, *madhu*, *maireya* and *āsava*,—which he drank from a *chaṣaka*, a vessel of wood or metal, often accompanied by various kinds of sweets, and savouries of bitter and acrid taste in order to impart a relish to drink.¹

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⁴ पूर्वापराह्नयोर्भोजनम्। साय' चारायणस्य।—Ibid, p. 47 (sūtras 19 and 20).

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⁵ Mahāvagga, vi. 28. 10 and vi. 35. 2.

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⁶ See Kāmasūtra, pp. 228-30, 337, 369-71; also जम्मानुपानं वा खण्डखाद्यं कम्यदा प्रहतिसाक्मयुक्तासुभावप्यप्यजीयाताम्।—Ibid, p. 174 (sūtra 16).

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⁷ मद्येभ्यश्च मांसभक्षणादिभ्यः शास्त्रादेव निवारणं धर्मः।—Ibid, p. 12 (sūtra 7).

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¹ अम्बरसकय-धूमसयवायू भृष्टमांसोपदेशानि पानकानि चूतफलानि शुष्कमांसं मातुलुङ्गचक्रकाणि सशर्कराणि च यथादिशसात्मा च । चषकतः पाययेत् ।—Ibid, p. 174 (*sūtras* 17 and 15); तत्र मधुमैरेयासवान् विविधलवणफलहरितशाकतिक्तकटुकौषधैश्च वेश्याः पाययेयुस्तपिषियु ।—Ibid, p. 52 (*sūtra* 38).

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After the midday meal the *nāgaraka* enjoys his siesta, he diverts himself by pleasant talk with his friends, the *pīthamarda*, the *viṭa* or the *vidūṣaka*, listens to the talk of parrots, views fights between cocks, quails or rams, or is engaged in various kinds of artistic enjoyments. Besides the animals mentioned above, he also kept for his own amusement a number of cuckoos for their sweet melody and peacocks for their glorious plumage and also monkeys. At the king's palace, besides these animals of sport, lions and tigers were also kept in cages.²

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² भोजननन्तरं शुकसारिकालापनव्यापाराः लावककुकुटमेषयुद्धानि तासाय कलाक्रीडाः, पीठमर्दविट-विदूषकता व्यापार, दिवाशया च ।—Ibid, p. 47 (*sūtra* 21). . भेषजक टलावकसारिका परभृत-मयूरवानरगणानामवर्धणम् ।—Ibid, p. 229 (*sūtra* 33). क्रीडामृगान् यक्षापि शृङ्गानान् व्याघ्रसिंह-पञ्चरादीनि च ।—Ibid, p. 284 (*sūtra* 17); see also p. 307 (*sūtra* 25).

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In the afternoon, after he has dressed himself, the *nāga-raka* goes out to attend a *goṣṭhī* or a social gathering where he engages, as we shall see below, in pleasant intellectual diversions with his friends and in tests of skill in the various arts. At night-fall, our *nāgaraka* enjoys music, vocal and instrumental, occasionally attended with dances. After music, in his own room which has been made sweet and clean and gay with flowers, and while its fragrant air is charged with the breath of sweet incense circulating through it, the *nāgaraka* with his associates and friends, awaits there the arrival of his mistress. This completes his daily life.¹

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¹ गृहीतप्रसाधनस्थापरा' गोष्ठीविहाराः। प्रदोपे च संगीतकानि। सदनं च प्रसाधिते वासगृहे संचारितसुरभिधूपे ससहायस्य शय्यायामभिसारिकाणां प्रतीक्षणं, दूतीनां प्रेषणं, स्वयं वा गमनम्।—Ibid, pp. 47-48 (*sūtras* 22-24). नागरकः सह मित्रजनेन परिचारकैश्च सतपुषोपहारै संचारितसुरभिधूपे रत्यावासे प्रसाधिते वासगृहे etc. सप्तममद्यं वा गीतं वादितं।—Ibid, p. 172 (*sūtras* 1 and 7).

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A word here about the *nāgaraka*'s friends whom we meet again and again in the *Kāmasūtra*, will not be out of place. Besides the many artists and craftsmen who served him in his quest of love and pleasure and who are called his *mitras* or companions by Vātsyāyana, the *nāgaraka* appears to have possessed some real, true and devoted friends. Vātsyāyana says that fast and genuine friendship often sprang up among those who had grown up together from infancy tended by the same nurse, who in early boyhood were fellow playmates or were at school together, those who were marked by the same temperament and the same tastes in pleasure and sport, were attached to each other by mutual obligations and whose closest secrets were known to each other. Vātsyāyana regards it particularly fortunate in friendship when the friendship has come down between two families for several generations, has never been tainted by selfishness or greed, nor has been changed by time or by any considerations whatsoever and where the mutual secrets have never been betrayed.²

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² सहपांसुक्रीडितसुपकारसंबद्ध' समानशीलव्यसनं सखाध्यायिनं यथास्य मर्माणि रहस्यानि च विद्याइ यस्य चाय' विद्यादा चापत्यं सहसंबद्ध' मिवम्। पितृपं तामहमविसंवादकमदृष्ट'कृतं वश्य' ध्रुवमलोभशील-मपरिहाथ्यममत्त्विस्रावीति मितसंपत्।—Ibid, pp. 68-69 (*sūtras* 35-36); see also *sūtras* 37 and 38.

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