[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) › c4.17 # The World of Courtesans c4.17 The World of Courtesans c4.17 - **Language:** English ### [c4.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.17) The Vedic \*sabha\* usually connotes an assembly as well as the hall where it met, and though there seem to have been several types of \*sabha\*, it is possible that the same \*sabha\* served multiple functions. It is also reasonable to suppose that with the increasing complexity of functions, the \*sabha\* divided itself into several correlated institutions also called \*sabhas\*. For instance, gambling from the very beginning was closely associated with the \*sabha\*. This might perhaps have meant the growth of a spacious gambling hall and it would have left other members free to perform more serious duties. In some passages in the later \*Samhitas\*, the \*sabha\* evidently refers to a sort of drawing room of a private house. One might read in \*sabhavati yosha\* of the \*Rig Veda\*, a reference in this particular context to women visiting a \*sabha\* hall. If this interpretation is correct. \*sabhavati yosha\* may have meant a courtesan. Bearing in mind the pejorative sense of the word \*sabha\* as a place where gamblers gathered, the presence of courtesans there is probable for in later times gambling, drinking and prostitution went hand in hand. - [Previous: c4.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.16) - [Next: c4.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.18) - [Up: c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4) ## Linked texts (1) - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.17) · Pramāṇa