The World of Courtesans c12.32

c12.32

The *Shringaramanjari Katha* by Bhoja (c 1010-1054) is remarkable inasmuch as the entire work is devoted to stories of courtesans. Unfortunately they are written in a very cramped literary style and the action is slow. The work is a *katha* which was supposed to have been related in the Dharagriha or the Fountain House at the request of his friend and at a time when spring was almost over. Then follows a description of the beauty of Shringaramanjari, the favourite courtesan of Bhoja. Her hair was braided; her curved temple was smeared with sandal paste. The nose ridge was long and the tip a little raised; the large dark eyes were elongated at the corners; the eyebrows were dark and arched; the lips were red like the *bimba* fruit The conch-like neck had a triple-line, the arms were slender like creepers and the hands like red lotuses. The breasts were plump and well-formed, the abdomen embellished by a delicate line of hair; the thighs appeared like plantain trees and her feet were like lotuses. She wore emerald earrings and a necklace, her cheeks were painted with a creeper design (*patralata*). She wore beautiful clothes, she knew the local dialects. She was skilled in the sixty-four arts and mainly in the art of love. She was bold in repartee and good at solving riddles She was a poet, a musician, a composer of essays. She was fond of amusements and she was also a psychologist. She drank very moderately As a matter of fact she was endowed with every quality that was desirable in a courtesan.