The World of Courtesans c6.8

c6.8

According to Jain sources prostitution was so rampant in the country that Jain nuns were cautioned against it. *Apanagrihas* (drinking houses) and houses with markets in lanes on one or both of their sides were considered dangerous because from these houses the nuns could see the prostitutes who carried on their profession in the adjacent houses. But the greatest danger was from the young voluptuaries who visited the prostitutes. Resplendent in colourful flowers, ornaments and perfumes, they joked and laughed and manifested sexual desire in their movements. They were thus a menace to the locality. From their quarters, the nuns could see prostitutes engaged in their toilet and surrounded by unchaste women and swindlers. Their show of haughty indifference and their lascivious embraces roused the dormant passion in the nuns. Wedding *pandals* richly decorated, and crowds of relatives and guests also reminded them of their past. Similarly the royal procession with its pomp and show, the royal insignia and the umbrella, the *chauri* and other auspicious symbols and the king's army also had an emotional impact on the nuns