Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c9.19

v1.c9.19

² In like wise Kṛiṣhṇa when he comes back to Dvārakā (Bhāgavatapur., i, 11.20) is, among other things, given a festal welcome by the servants of love, driving in chariots; and the Abbé Dubois, moreover, tells us that “ Ordinary politeness requires that when persons of any distinction make formal visits to each other they must be accompanied by a certain number of these courtesans ” (p. 585). But on the next page he stresses that in public the Indian prostitutes are far better behaved than their European sisters, and are treated there correspondingly. Taken by itself, the translation could also be: “ All the fair maidens from the city who wish to go to see Janārdana must go there naked.” But, as already explained, anāvṛita in the MBh. does not seem to mean “ unclothed ”. Furthermore cp. say xv, 22.22. Then, again, such a piece of lewdness would seem to be foreign to the Indian of old, however little squeamish he often is. It is mainly confined to the West, especially to the older history of the Christian lands. There it often happened that the fairest maidens of the town or city, and these the daughters of the patricians, went to meet a distinguished guest in the costume of Eve in paradise, and escorted him in. On the