Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s8.1

c8.s8.1

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