[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The World of Courtesans](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973) › c4.15 # The World of Courtesans c4.15 The World of Courtesans c4.15 - **Language:** English ### [c4.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.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". - [Previous: c4.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.14) - [Next: c4.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.16) - [Up: c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.15) · Pramāṇa