The World of Courtesans c11.146

c11.146

The Seventh Chapter opens with a description of spring with its flowering trees and breezes. In this pleasant season Kanka, the barber, fixed a meeting of Panka and Kalavati Kalavati decorated her cheeks with a creeper design drawn with musk; on her forehead there appeared a *tilaka*, pearls enriched her hair, her body shone brightly and was gilded with saffron paint She was anxious to receive her new lover Panka All kinds of rogues watched the meeting. Panka wore a ring studded with pearls, heavy gold ear-rings, a talismanic necklace and silver anklets studded with lapis lazuli His mother had placed mustard seeds in his hair. They were a kind of protective charm. His *dhoti* had broad borders and his lips savoured of lime and betel. To Panka were presented seven *vitas*, a loafer, a clerk, a dance teacher, a weigher, an accountant and the son of a doctor.