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Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s6.t1: The Nāgaraka's Wife

Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vātsyāyana's Kāmasūtra c8.s6.t1

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The Nāgaraka's Wife

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While the life of a *nāgaraka* has been painted by Vātsyāyana as a round of pleasures, that of his wife presents a striking contrast and is a round of duties. The picture presented by him of a wife is in no way inferior to the ideal held up in the *Dharmaśāstras* and in many respects he gives greater details.¹ She attends on her husband with all the love and devotion a devotee shows to the deity he worships. She ministers to his personal needs, looks after his food and drink, as well as his toilet and his amusements; she tries to appreciate his likes and dislikes, welcomes his friends with proper presents, respects and loves his parents and relatives and is liberal to his servants; when she finds that he is coming home, she hastens to meet him and waits upon him herself; in his games and sports she follows him; even when offended, she does not speak too bitterly to him. She may attend a festive assembly only with his permission and in the company of her friends. She does not even give away anything without his knowledge. She should do nothing that might rouse his suspicion against her fidelity; she should avoid the company of women of questionable character such as female ascetics, actresses, fortune-tellers, or women given to the practice of black art (mūlakārikā), nor should she loiter about in solitary parts of the house. She might take lessons in the Kāmasūtra or in the subsidiary arts, if her husband so wishes, and he may occasionally himself give these lessons.¹ One is here reminded of Bhāsa's Udayana who calls his beloved queen "his dear disciple,"² and of the beautiful line of Kālidāsa (with whom our author has so many points of contact) where Aja mourns the loss of Indumatī, his "beloved pupil in the fine arts."³

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¹ For the section of the *Kāmasūtra* dealing with the character of the virtuous wife see pp. 224-46. This section has not been dealt with here in detail as the whole of it has been translated by Prof. P. Peterson in his paper on "Vātsyāyana on the Duties of a Hindu Wife," read before the Anthropological Society of Bombay (16th December, 1891) and published in the *Journal of the Anthro. Soc. of Bom.* 1892, pp. 459-66. The same learned Professor has written upon "Courtship in Ancient India," as given in the section of the *Kāmasūtra* dealing with it (*Jour. Bom. Br. R.A.S.* xviii), and hence, we have omitted a consideration of that section including the rules of marriage.

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¹ Kāmasūtra, p. 28 (sūtras 2 and 3); p. 197 (sūtra 36), and चतुःषष्टी विशलम् | p. 310 (sūtra 9).

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² Bhāsa's Svapnavāsavadattam, Act V, हा प्रिये, हा प्रियशिष्ये etc.

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³ प्रियशिष्या ललिते कलाविधौ |—Raghuvamśa, viii. 57.

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There is an atmosphere of control and restraint about her. In her talk she is moderate and never speaks or laughs aloud; she does not return an answer when reproved by her husband's parents. She does not give herself airs when she enjoys great good fortune. In her dress she practises moderation: when going out on festive occasions, she wears a few ornaments and only a few garments of fine and soft texture, uses perfumes and ointments very moderately and adorns herself only with white flowers. But when she is going to meet her husband, she takes the greatest care with her toilet; then she makes herself tidy, sweet and clean, she puts on many ornaments, wears flowers of various hues and smells, uses perfumes and in every way makes herself attractive. Flowers were worn in garlands hanging from the neck (sraj), or in chaplets (āpīḍa) on the head, or were simply put in the hair,⁴ or in elaborate ornaments for the ears (karṇapūra or karṇapatra). Another item of a woman's toilet was the paint or the dots and patches on the forehead and cheeks, put on in various designs (*viśeṣaka*). Sometimes leaves of such plants as *tamāla* were used with it, as we find in the *Saundarananda-Kāvya*.¹ Vātsyāyana advises a wife never to present herself before her husband without some ornaments on her person even when alone with him.² This idea is found in Indian literature as early as the time of Yāska, who says, "to the man who understands her meaning, the Veda shows herself as a loving wife shows herself to her husband in all her rich apparel." As Yāska here is quoting a verse of the *Ṛgveda* where it occurs at least four times, the idea belongs to the very earliest period of Indian thought.³ But when the husband is away from home the wife goes, as it were, into mourning; she puts away all her ornaments and finery with the exception of those that mark her married condition, such as the bangles of shells, only one on each wrist.⁴ At that time she also practises fasts and austerities in honour of the gods and does not go to visit even the near relatives except in very urgent cases when they are in some danger, or when there are some festivities there, and even then, she must not change her quiet dress indicating the separation (*pravāsa-veṣa*); and she should never go there but in the company of her husband's people and must not stay there long. When the husband returns home she goes to meet him as she is, then she worships the gods, specially Kāmadeva, the god of love, and offers gifts of food to men and birds.

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⁴ प्रकीर्णकमेककुसुमा—Kāmasūtra, p. 152 (sūtra 3); केशेषु कुसुमवासैः Bhāsa, Cārudatta, Act I.

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¹ *Kāmasūtra*, p. 124 (*sūtra* 19); p. 206 (*sūtra* 32); also *Saundarananda Kāvya*, chap. iv.

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² नायकस्य च न विमुक्ताभूषणं विजने संदर्शने तिष्ठेत् तु।—*Kāmasūtra*, p. 226 (*sūtra* 13)

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³ Quoted by Prof. Peterson in *Journal of the Anth. Soc. of Bom.*, 1891, p. 463. The Vedic passage is जायेव पत्य उशती सुवासाः, *Ṛv.* i. 124. 7; see also iv. 3. 2; x. 71. 4 and x. 91. 13. Cf. also जाया पतिमिव वाससा *Av.* xviii. 2. 51.

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⁴ *Kāmasūtra*, p. 231 (*sūtra* 43), also एवं शंखवलय वा धारयेत्, pp. 315-16 (*sūtra* 44).

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Ordinarily also it is the wife who looks after the performance of the daily worship of gods at the household temple and the due performance of rites and the offering of gifts at the three fixed periods in the day—morning, mid-day and evening. She takes upon herself the observance of the vows and fasts that fall to the share of her husband. Sometimes the lady vowed gifts and offerings to the gods, and when her lord acquired some wealth, or obtained success in any venture, or regained his health after some illness, she carried out her vow.¹ To institute the worship of some deity was one of the dear desires of the women.² The qualities enumerated by Suddhodana as requisite for a bride for the young Siddhartha³ are very much the same as those in the picture given above by Vātsyāyana of a virtuous and devoted wife.

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¹ ततश्चाधिगम्यैभिर्मे तसिद्धि शरीरोपचये वा पूर्वसभावित इष्टदेवतोपचारः।—Ibid, p. 341 (sūtra 20).

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² देवतातां पूजोपचारप्रवसनम्।—Ibid, p. 340 (sūtra 25).

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³ Lalita-vistara, chap. xii, 138ff.

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With the permission of her husband the wife takes upon herself the whole care and management of the family. She prepares a budget for the whole year and regulates the expenditure in proportion with the annual income. She must also know how to keep the daily accounts and total up the daily receipts and expenditure; Manu also lays down that the husband should appoint the wife to receive and spend the wealth, by keeping accounts, as Medhātithi explains.⁴ When the husband is inclined to spend beyond his means, or to run into improper expenditure, she remonstrates with him in secret. She lays in a stock of all articles necessary for consumption and replenishes her stores at the proper season. She knows how to calculate and pay the wages and salaries of the servants, has to look after agriculture and cattle, and also to take care of the animals and birds kept for sport by the master of the house. We have seen that the garden also is a special charge of the lady of the house. When the husband is absent from home she also looks after his affairs and tries to administer them carefully so that they may not suffer by his absence; on such occasions she endeavours to minimise the expenditure to the best of her power and to increase the resources of the family by sales and purchases carried on through trusty servants. She has to attend to the kitchen, and besides, she employs her leisure in spinning cotton and also in doing some weaving.

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⁴ साम्प्रत्सरिकं आयं संख्याय तदनुरूपं व्ययं कुर्यात्। दैवसिकाव्ययपियीकरषमिति च विधात्—Kāmasūtra, p. 229 (sūtras 32-33); अर्थस्य संग्रहं चैनां व्यये चैव नियोजयेत्।—Manu x. 11 where Medhātithi explains संग्रहं, संख्यादिना परिच्छिद्य र्चार्यं वेश्मनि विधानम्।

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