The World of Courtesans c4.29

c4.29

A suggestion has been made by Sarkar that prostitution in India originated and developed in the Kuru-Panchala region (eastern Punjab and western U.P.). There is, however, a possibility that the Punjab and the Sindh (inhabited by the Madras and Sindhusauvirakas in the post-Vedic period) very possibly contributed to the institution of free love, including prostitution. In this connection the invective of Karna against the Madras (in the *Mahabharata*), though perhaps prejudiced, is a pointer to the actual state of affairs. Karna describes Shalya, the ruler of the Madras (who inhabited Sialkot, now in West Pakistan) as born of an evil country. A Brahman had informed Karna in the presence of Dhritarashtra that in the country of the Madras close relatives, friends, guests, slaves, both male and female were promiscuous and the women mixed freely with friends and strangers. Parched barley meal-gruel (*saktumantha*), strong drinks (*sidhu*) and beef formed a part of the diet of the Madras, and their meals were followed by sexual orgies. Men and women talked to each other loudly and drunken women threw off their clothes and paired without restraint like animals (*M.B.* VIII. 27).