Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s8.13

c8.s8.13

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.