The World of Courtesans c11.99

c11.99

At Vijayeshvara another chapter in her life opened. There she gave out that she was the daughter of a minister. Her dissipated life had aged her, but she wanted to appear young. To gain her end, she raised her flat breasts, applied thick collyrium to her eyes, tied a silken scarf to her hair and veiled her face. Those were the expedients she used to attract clients. But one man curious to see her undressed just once, did see her and then refused to come back to her again. She now fell on evil days. She closed her house and she began soliciting men on the streets. She could no longer gain her livelihood and she joined hands with a Shaiva mendicant. They agreed to share the alms they received. In order to pass off as a female Shaiva mendicant, she smeared her body with ashes, applied collyrium to her eyes, wore a crystal and *rudraksha* necklaces round her neck and went on her begging rounds. But during a famine when the alms were scarce, she robbed her partner of some ceremonial implements and fled to Krityashrama.