The World of Courtesans c4.15

c4.15

In the sexual life of the Vedic people certain institutions seem to have played an important part, the *samana* being one such institution where free love seems to have been encouraged. In the *samana* which was held during tournaments, women were present and they seemed specially attracted to chariot-racing. They spent whole nights wooing their lovers and dispersed at dawn. Mothers also attended the *samana* to help the lovers adorn themselves and Sarkar suggests that Indrani was worshipped there. The *samana* was, as a matter of fact, a convivial gathering of young boys and girls. Here they met, played and made love, perhaps as a preliminary to marriage. One is constrained to agree with Pischel that the *samana* was "a general popular festivity to which women went to enjoy themselves—young women and elderly women sought there to find a husband, and courtesans to make profit of the occasion".