The World of Courtesans c7.18

c7.18

As the degree of beauty and artistic accomplishment governed the income of the *ganikas*, the state made arrangements for their instruction in the various arts: *Ganikas*, *dasis*, and actresses were taught singing, instrumental music, recitation, dancing, acting, writing, painting, playing on the *vina*, the pipe, and the drum, thought-reading, manufacture of scents and garlands, shampooing, and skills in the arts of prostitutes. The list of the arts in which the courtesans were trained by state-employed teachers crystallized at a later period into the sixty-four arts, and proficiency in these was considered desirable.