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Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s7.t1: Literary Art

Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vātsyāyana's Kāmasūtra c8.s7.t1

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English

Literary Art

c8.s7.t1.1

We have already had evidence of the nāgaraka's good taste in house-building and architecture and also of his fondness for poetry and romance. He always had a poetical work on a table in his room, and we have seen from his skill at the goṣṭhīs where kāvya-samasyās or competitions in poetic skill were held every evening, that readiness in versification and a wide reading of poetical literature in general, formed the essential accomplishment of every one of the class to which he belonged. While wooing the maiden of his choice, he was expected to recite sweetly agreeable stories that would just apply to his case, or the romances of Śakuntalā and Avimāraka and of the heroes and heroines of literature who had prospered in their loves. One skilled in reciting these stories and romances had, according to Vātsyāyana, the best chance of success in love-making.¹

c8.s7.t1.2

¹ Kāmasūtra, p. 203 sūtra 17); p. 218 (sūtra 5); p. 252 (sūtra 50); p. 269 (sūtra 2); p. 271 (sūtra 14); p. 302 (sūtra 12).

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