[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) › c4.35 # The World of Courtesans c4.35 The World of Courtesans c4.35 - **Language:** English ### [c4.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.35) \*Vesya\* in the \*Mahabharata\* is considered an important adjunct of urban culture. On the eve of the Great War when both sides were ready for battle, Yudhishthira sent his greetings to these granters of delight: "My dear friend, ask after the welfare of the fair-decked, fair-clad, scented, pleasing, happy, pleasure-fraught women of the houses of joy (\*veshastriyah\*) whose glance and speech glide so easily and sweetly along (M.B. V. 30.38).” The grim and severe life of the camp was made bearable to a certain extent by the presence of the women of pleasure, and soldiers were less solitary and more gay. The army of the Pandavas, while marching to the battlefield of Kurukshetra, apparently included wagons carrying the women who offered their bodies for sale—\*Shakatahpatanveshashcha yanayugam cha sarvashah\* (\*M.B.\* V. 151, 51-58). - [Previous: c4.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.34) - [Next: c4.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.36) - [Up: c4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4) ## Linked texts (1) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.5.30.38) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.chandra-1973.c4.35) · Pramāṇa