The World of Courtesans c4.16

c4.16

The *goshthi* is another well known institution of ancient India in which highly cultured members of society met and discussed questions relating to the various arts. They listened to music and enjoyed the company of courtesans. In Vedic literature, however, a *goshtha* denotes a spacious cowstall where a whole clan kept their cattle. The *goshtha* of the Bharata clan conveys a similar meaning. Geldner interprets it as a grazing ground, but Whitney and Bloomfield's interpretation of *goshtha* as a stall or stable is more appropriate. In the *Aitareya Brahmana* the cattle of the Bharatas are said to have been in the *goshtha* in the evening, and this could only mean a stall which was the common property of the whole clan. As observed by Sarkar, "It is thus very probable that the gradually more and more specialized social association and unit of the 'gosthi', often mentioned later, in Buddhist and classical literature, grew out of the merry clan-gatherings at the 'gostha' in the evening after the day's toil and adventures in the fields and pastures."