Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s8: The Position of the Gaṇikās

Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vātsyāyana's Kāmasūtra c8.s8

Language: English

The Position of the Gaṇikās

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In the age of Vātsyāyana, the Gaṇikā, or the educated and accomplished woman about the town, occupied a peculiar position. Though belonging to the class of "public women," still she appears to have been treated with special consideration. But it was not every courtesan that received this appellation: it was only when a woman of this class was marked out by high intellectual attainments, and striking pre-eminence in the arts that she won the coveted title of gaṇikā. She must have her mind cultivated and trained by a thorough education (*śāstraprahatabuddhiḥ*) and Vātsyāyana lays down that it is only when a courtesan is versed in both the series of sixty-four arts or kalās enumerated by him and is endowed with an amiable disposition, personal charms and other winning qualities, that she acquires the designation of a gaṇikā and receives a seat of honour in the assemblies of men. She is always honoured by the king and is highly lauded by men qualified to appreciate merit; her favours and company are sought for, and she becomes, in fact, the observed of all observers, a model and pattern for all.¹ In the *Lalitavistara*, king Śuddhodana desires for the young Siddhārtha a bride who was as much learned in the śāstras and as accomplished in the arts as a gaṇikā.² Bharata's *Nātyaśāstra*, which is a work of the same period, speaks equally, if not more, enthusiastically, about the excellences of the gaṇikā. Bharata describes her as one who knows

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¹ आभिरूप्ययुक्ता वेश्या शीलरूपसमन्विता । लभते गणिकाशब्दं स्थानं च जनसंसदि ॥ पूजिता सा सदा राज्ञा गुणवद्भिश्च संस्तुता । प्रार्थनीयाभिगम्या च लक्ष्यभूता च जायते ॥—*Ibid*, p. 40 (*sūtras* 20-21).

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² शास्त्रे विविद्यकुशला गणिका यथैव ; *Lalitavistara*, xii, 139.

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आभिरूप्ययुक्ता वेश्या शीलरूपसमन्विता ।
लभते गणिकाशब्दं स्थानं च जनसंसदि ॥
पूजिता सा सदा राज्ञा गुणवद्भिश्च संस्तुता ।
प्रार्थनीयाभिगम्या च लक्ष्यभूता च जायते ॥—*Ibid*, p. 40 (*sūtras* 20-21).

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the practical application of various arts, who possesses a deep knowledge of many of the sciences (*śāstras*), who is skilled in the sixty-four *kalās* and in dancing to the accompaniment of music, whose conduct is marked by respect towards superiors, by graceful and engaging manners, by charming gestures and sweet blandishments; who possessed strength and firmness of mind and at the same time modesty and a sweetness of temper; who is free from the characteristic defects of women; who speaks gracefully and clearly; who is clever in work and does not get tired—a woman possessed of all these rare qualities and accomplishments would be called a *gaṇikā*.¹ That she was regarded by Bharata as a woman of great education and culture appears from the fact that the *gaṇikā*, when introduced as a character in a drama, is, according to him, to speak Sanskrit.² The uses to which the *gaṇikā* puts her money are also characterised by a desire for public good and her charity shows the noble tendencies of her cultured mind. The *gaṇikās* of the highest class, says Vātsyāyana, consider it as the highest gain to themselves when they receive sufficient money to spend on the building of temples, excavation of tanks, planting of gardens, erection of bridges and of houses for sacrifice and ceremonies or the institution of permanent arrangements for the worship of the gods. They valued very highly any chance of giving away cows to Brāhmaṇas, of course through a third person, because no Brāhmaṇa would accept anything from a courtesan.³

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¹ *Bhāratīya Nāṭyaśāstra*—(Nirṇaya-Sāgara Press ed.), Chap. xxiv; 109-113.

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² राज्य गणिकायाश्च शिल्पकार्याश्च च । कालावस्थान्तरक योग्य पाठ्य तु संस्कृतम् ॥—Ibid, Chap. xvii, 37-38.

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³ *Kāmasūtra*, p. 340 (*sūtra* 25).

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The *gaṇikā* literally appears to mean a woman who is the member of a *gaṇa* or corporation, whose charms are the common poetry of the whole body of men associated together by a common bond, economic or political. Manu associates the *gaṇa* and the *gaṇikā* in one verse saying that the food offered by both were equally to be refused by a Brahmin.¹ The *gaṇa* might be a corporation of citizens, the *nāgarika-jana-samavāya* of Vātsyāyana like the one to which our *nāgaraka* belonged, or it might be a political body like that of the Licchavis of Vaiśālī whose *gaṇikā*, Ambapālikā, was a glory of their capital and was credited with all the virtues and qualities contemplated by Vātsyāyana and Bharata, thus testifying that their definitions were not fanciful and imaginary. We read in the *Mahāvagga* that she was charming, attractive, graceful, possessed of a fine and tender complexion, generous, and proficient in dancing, song, and music. The wealth and power that the *gaṇikā* of Vaiśālī possessed and the position that she occupied, were in no way inferior to those of the best of the proud Licchavis; her train was as numerous and as sumptuously decorated, her carriages were as magnificent as those of the Licchavis against whom she drove up axle to axle, wheel to wheel, and yoke to yoke. Her presence made the city of Vaiśālī shine forth in great splendour and glory. She constituted, as it were, a valued institution of the city, the high model of beauty and art thus set up by the *gaṇikā* of Vesālī roused a merchant of the rival city of Rājagaha to induce king Bimbisāra to have this institution of *gaṇikā* in his own capital which suffered in this respect in comparison with the chief city of the *gaṇarājya* or republic of the Licchavis.² It shows that in those early times *gaṇikās* were not so numerous as they became in Vātsyāyana's days. But we observe that in the days of Kātyāyana, the author of the *Vārttika-sūtras* of the grammatical school of Pāṇini, there were already guilds of *gaṇikās* (*gaṇikyam*), as explained in the *Mahābhāṣya*, just as we read of the *gaṇikā-saṅgha* in *Vātsyāyana*.¹

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¹ गणाध गणिकाञ्च विदुषा च भुञ्जितम् ।—*Manu*, iv, 209.

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² *Mahāvagga*, vi, 30 and viii, 1.

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¹ केदाराद्यः।—*Pāṇini*, iv, 2, 40. गणिकायाश्च (*Vārttika*) गणिकायाश्चेति वक्तव्यम्। गणिकानां समूहौ गणिकम्। *Mahābhāṣya* of Patañjali. Cf. पुंश्चल्या गणिकार्थेनैनीं को न पूजयेत्—*Kāmasūtra*, p. 182 (*sūtra* 52).

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We may also note the fact that Buddha excludes from his fold the eunuch and the hermaphrodite, but not the *gaṇikā*, who does not appear to have been looked upon as a moral outcaste past redemption. The Buddhist religious books have hardly anything to say against Ambapālikā, the courtesan of Vaiśālī, nor do they suggest that there was anything peculiar or out of the way in the favour that Buddha showed towards her. Reading the *Vinaya-Piṭaka* we are indeed astonished to see how careful and anxious the Buddha was in order not to offend public opinion and to give a decent and respectable appearance to his congregation. He thought it disreputable and exceedingly revolting to the sense of common decency of the people to harbour sinners like the parricide or the matricide, but apparently he experienced no difficulty in ordaining a courtesan who had reformed herself; he could take her in without causing a shock to the moral susceptibilities of the people and in fact some of the noble sisters (*therīs*), whose inspired songs have been compiled in the *Therīgāthā*, had reformed their life which before ordination was not quite above reproach.

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The position that the *gaṇikā* enjoyed may be explained by the fact that in a society characterised by æsthetic refinement as was that of the age of Vātsyāyana, women who possessed special proficiency in the arts were respected for the value of their art, and their company was sought for by all lovers of art; the long training and education needed for the acquisition of such literary and artistic accomplishments as the *gaṇikā* possessed, could not be obtained by a girl who was married and had to manage a household, especially as she was married rather early, though Vātsyāyana's chapter on courtship shows that many of them remained unmarried even after puberty. Moreover, it was certainly not considered decent for such a girl to attend the public schools of art or *gāndharva śālās*, where the daughters of the *gaṇikās* received lessons in the arts, and formed, as Vātsyāyana says, acquaintance with the sons of the wealthy citizens;¹ nor could any but very wealthy parents afford to give their daughters such education at home. Where the parents were very rich, as in the case of the daughters of princes and high officials, they did receive, as we have seen before, a thorough education in the arts and sciences. Gopā was as learned and clever as any *gaṇikā*, as the *Lalitavistara* says. Then again, the wedded wife, on account of her manifold duties in the household, could not cultivate the arts as thoroughly as she would like to; besides, the great regard for purity in the married woman and the strict and rigid rules that guided her conduct even in the age of Vātsyāyana, prohibited, as we have seen above, her receiving lessons in the arts except from her own husband. We see, therefore, that the *gaṇikās*, like the Hetæræ in the Athens of Pericles, were generally more educated and better skilled in the arts than the married women, and the *nāgarakas*, though they had devoted wives at home, as the ideal of a wife drawn by Vātsyāyana shows, were attracted by the intellectual and artistic qualities of the educated *gaṇikā*. Such a noble soul as Bhāsa's *Cārudatta*, though he had a devoted wife at home, who was ready to sacrifice the last bit of her personal property for his sake and for whom he himself had a great regard, had no scruple in falling in love with the actress Vasantasenā, and the *Mṛcchakaṭika* makes him even marry her.² With such ideals of the devoted wife as we have in Vātsyāyana and in Bhāsa's Cārudatta, it cannot be said with any sound reason that the nāgaraka sought the company of the gaṇikā because his life at home was miserable or unbearable, but evidently he was drawn by her accomplishments. Even the general public, though they despised her for the life she led, tolerated her on account of her high artistic qualifications which they found many occasions to enjoy and appreciate at the prekṣaṇakas or performances at the festive assemblies (samājas) such as we have described above.

Linked texts (6)

Mahāvagga — Pāli
Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit
Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
Nāṭyaśāstra — Bharata, Sanskrit
Cārudatta — Bhāsa, Sanskrit
Kāmasūtra — Vātsyāyana Mallanāga, Sanskrit