The Courtesan and the Birth of Ars Erotica

in the Kmastra: A History of Erotics

in the Wake of Foucault
SANJAY K. GAUTAM
University of Colorado at Boulder

THIS A R T I C L E I N V E S T I G A T E S T H E role played by the courtesan in

determining the nature and origin of the Kdmastra (Treatise on pleasure),
the Sanskrit text from ancient India, in critical engagement with Michel
Foucault's notion of ars erotica.^ In particular, this article focuses on the
courtesan as the historical anchor of a subtlebut criticalaffinity between
erotics and the discourse and practice of theater evident in the Kdmasutra.
An understanding of this affinity is crucial for determining the nature of
pleasure and the precise mode of its pursuit in this foundational text on
erotics. What is at the heart of this affinity, this article contends, is the
question of identity as it relates to the discourse and practice of pleasure.
More generally, this article argues that it was the courtesan and the set of
practices that developed around her that constituted not only the historical
and cultural context of the Kdmastra but also one of its most important
sources of ideas. The courtesan thus holds the key to both the nature and
historical origin of ars erotica as it took form in India.
The Kdmastra., attributed to Vtsyyana, was composed in the third
century of the Common Era.^ After its translation into English for the first
time in 1883, the Kdmastra emerged worldwide as an iconic text in the
field of erotics.^ Its impact in India, however, was felt far beyond its own

' Devadatta Shastri, ed., Kmastra of Vtsyyana, with the Commentary ofTashodhara
(Varanasi: Chaukhambha Sanskrit Sansthan, 1964); Damodar Lai Goswami, ed., Kmastra
of Vtsyyana, with the Commentary of Tashodhara (Varanasi; Chaukhambha Sanskri
Sansthan, 1912). See also Wendy Doniger and Sudhir Kakar, eds., Vtsyyana Kmastra:
A New, Complete Translation of the Sanskrit Text (titw York: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Translations from the Kmastra are my own.
^ According to Doniger and Kakar, the Kmastra was most likely written in the second
half of the third century CE ( Vtsyyana Kmastra, Iln2).
' Richard Burton was the first to translate the Kmastra into English in 1883. Richard
F. Burton, ed.. The Kmastra of Vtsyyana: The Classic Hindu Treatise on Love and Social
Conduct (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1962). For a discussion of the Kmasutra's transhtions
Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 23, No. 1, January 2014
2014 by the University of Texas Press
DOI: 10.7560/JHS23101
2 SANJAY K . GAUTAM

field of erotics on literature and culture in general.'' Given its significance,

however, the Kmastra has attracted surprisingly little scholarly attention.
With rare exceptions, the Kmastra continues to be out of bounds for
much of the academic world.^ Ivo Fiser, a historian of eroticsor "sexol-
ogy," as he characterizes itin premodern India felt compelled to con-
clude after a survey of existing scholarly literature on the Kmastm that
"ancient Indian sexology is by far the most neglected discipline in the
wide spectrum of Indological studies, however much lip-service has been
paid to it in the past. It shows clearly that the 'Victorian mind' is by far
not a thing of the past."*
The contrast of ars erotica, or the erode arts, and sdentia sexualis, or the
science of sexuality, played a key role in Foucault's problematization of the
history of sexuality in the West.^ Yet, in view of its critical significance for
the formulation of his original project, Foucault's own comments on the
subject of ars erotica are all too brief Given that Foucault's works on the
history of sexuality have been decisive in setting the agenda for a history
of sexual practices not only in the West but also for much of the rest of the
world, a historical exploration into the Kmastrathe most iconic work
in the domain of ars eroticaacquires enormous significance. Aside fi-om
occasional comments and criticisms, there has been no serious attempt to
explore the nature and origin of the discourse and practice of ars erotica in
the Kmastra in light of Foucault's observations on the subject.*
into European languages, particularly into English by Burton and its impact, see Doniger
and Kakar, Vatsyyana Kmastra, 50-60.
* See Vishwanath K. Hampiholi, Kmastra in Classical Sanskrit Literature (Delhi:
Ajanta, 1988).
" Apart from the introduction to her translation of the Kmastra, Wendy Doniger has
also published a number of other articles in recent years on various topics in the Kmastra.
See her "The Kmastra: It Isn't All about Sex," Kenyon Review 25, no. 1 (2003): 18-37;
and her "On Translating the Kmastra: A Gurudaskhina for Daniel H. H. Ingalls," Journal
of Indian Philosophy 29, nos. 1-2 (2001): 81-94.
' Ivo Fiser, "The Kmastra of Vtsyyana: A Bibliographicai Study," in Lex et Litterae:
Studies in Honour of Professor Oscar Botto, ed. Siegfried Lienhard and Irma Piovano (Turin:
Edizioni deirOrso, 1997), 208-9. In recent years, the Kmastra seems to have attracted
a few more scholars. A number of these efforts seem to have been provoked by a reading of
Foucault. See the special issue "Rethinking the Histor>' of the Kama World in Early India,"
Journal of Indian Philosophy 39, no. 1 (2011). See especially Daud Ali's introductory essay,
"Rethinking the History of the iiTwa World," 1-13, for an expanded notion of kma that
extends to the domains of aesthetics, ethics, and cosmopolitan culture. This introduction
also contains a brief histodographical review of the secondary literature on the Kmastra
and also on the history of kma in general in Indian culture.
' Michel Foucauit, History of Sexuality, vol. 1, An Introduction, trans. Robert Hurley
(NewYork: Vintage, 1990).
It is interesting that Foucault himself never referred directly to the Kmastra when
discussing his notion of ars erotica, though he listed India as one of the non-Western cultures
that developed ars erotica. He did, however, refer to China in this regard. After evaluating
van Gulik's work on sexual practices in ancient China in light of Foucault's thoughts on ars
erotica, Richard Schusterman concludes: "Since discussion of the aesthetic aspect of these
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 3

While broadly delineating the field of the history of sexuality, Foucault

noted that, "historically, there have heen two great procedures for produc-
ing the truth of sex": ars erotica and scientia sexualis. While ars erotica
flourished in a numher of non-Western cultures that included India, the
West alone developed scientia sexualis.' One of the ways in which Foucault
distinguishes ars erotica from scientia sexualis is in terms of the contrasting
relationship between identity or self and pleasure in the two discourses.
While in scientia sexualis pleasure is subordinated to the notion of identity,
in ars erotica it was the notion of identity that was subordinated to pleasure:
"If identity is only a game, if it is only a procedure to have relations, social
and sexualpleasure relationships that create new friendships, it is useful.
. . . The relationships we have to have with ourselves are not ones of identity,
rather, they must be relationships of differentiation, of creation, of innova-
tion. . . . We must not exclude identity if people find their pleasure through
this identity, but we must not think of this identity as an ethical universal
rule."'" As we can see in this comment, Foucault takes pleasure out of the
jurisdiction of the notion of self and identity and sets it free. Identity is
nothing more than a game; it is not something always already there to be
discovered but something to be invented and constructed in the pursuit
of pleasure. It was as if, for Foucault, erotics as a discourse anchored in
pleasure constituted a space akin to theater.
It is in light of Foucault's problematization of the precise relationship
between pleasure and identity that I want to situate one of the curious
features of the Kmastra, a feature that goes to the heart of the nature
of erotics developed in the Kmastra: its use of the words nyaka- (actor)
and nyik (actress) to describe the partners in an erotic affair. In the choice
of these terms, the Kmastra., it seems, subtly reveals its understand-
ing of the nature of erotics it sought to construct. It appears that for the
Kmastra, just as for Foucault, one could enter the domain of erotics only
under an invented identity. What is also interesting is that the Kmastra
never quite problematizes its choice of these terms, this sudden irruption
of the language of theater in a discourse of erotics. I argue in this article
that the Kmastra did not feel the need to problematize and explain its

dements is rather limited and is overwjielmingly overshadowed by the emphasis on health

issues, the case for the aesthetic character of the erotic arts can be much better made by mov-
ing from Chinese to Indian sexual theory" ( "Asian Ars Erotica and the Question of Sexual
Aesthetics," Journal ofAesthetics and Art Criticism 65, no. 1 [2007]: 6 1 , referring to R. H.
van Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society ca.
1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D. [Leiden: Brill, 2003]).
' Given that Foucault situates the dramatically different approaches to sex in terms of
the difference between East and West, it has predictably given rise to some uneasiness. Jyoti
Pud, for example, finds "orientalist legacies embedded in Foucault's history of sexualit)'
in Western "Europe" ("Concerning ''Kmastra^: Challenging Narratives of History and
Sexuality," Signs21, no. 3 [2002]: 632).
' Michel Foucault, Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (New York: New Press, 1997), 166.
4 SANJAY K . GAUTAM

choice of terms because it found them to be self-evident in the figure of

the courtesan. In other words, it was in and through the figure of the
courtesan that the discourse and practice of erotics came to resemble that
of theater. Insofar as the issues of pleasure and identity or the self wove a
complex web in the courtesan's life as she went about her daily routine,
it was in her that the discourse and practice, thought and history of ars
erotica encountered each other. As a historical exploration into the nature
and origin of ars erotica, this article must, therefore, follow the footprints
of the courtesan in the ICmastra.

THE COURTESAN AS THE KING IN THE DOMAIN OF ARS EROTICA

As a treatise the Kmastra is divided into seven books of uneven lengths

dedicated to different topics. The seven books are fiirther subdivided into
chapters, which contain the individual stras (aphoristic formulations) on
the topics under discussion. Book 1 deals with the place ofkma (pleasure-
love) in a life of multipleand often competing and conflictingdemands.
It also constructs the everyday profile of the nfaraka, the man-about-town,
members of the male elite of the city to whom the Kmastra wzs primar-
ily addressed. Book 2 describes different kinds of sexual practices. Book
3 is about ways to court a girl for marriage. Book 4 focuses on the wife
and provides her with strategies to win and retain the love of her husband.
Book 5 elaborates on ways to win the love of another man's wife. Book 6
is about courtesans and how best they can manage their lives of inherent
complexity and risks. Book 7, the last, provides instructions on esoteric
sexual methods and devices.
The word kma means "pleasure," "erotic love," and also "desire."'' In
the Kmastra, it carries the specific meaning of sexual or erotic pleasure
and love in their unity.'^ The text of the Kmastra establishes kma as a
separate and relatively autonomous domain of discourse and practice in the
first three chapters of the very first book.'^ In ancient Indian tradition, kma
was recognized as one of the four purusrthas (ultimate human goals) along
with dharma (law, duty, and morality), artha (meaning here power and
wealth), and moksa (spiritual liberation). The word purusrtha is made up
of two words, purusa (human being) and artha (meaning here end, goal,
or purpose). The domain of dharma includes the discourse and practice of
law, duty, and morality. Artha as power covers the entire domain of politics
and state. The last but also the highest human goal is that of moksa, which

" For a brief survey of the concept ofkma in Indian intellectual tradition, see Joanna
Macy, "The Dialectics of Desire," Numen 22, no. 2 (1975): 145-60.
In a very perceptive observation, Wendy Doniger notes that "Sanskrit intermingles
concepts of passion, love, and pleasure, which English tends to hold separate" (Doniger and
Kakar, Vatsyayatia Kmastra, 64).
" Shastri, Kmastra, 1:1-3.
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 5

requires complete renunciation of the world.'* The centrality of the notion

of purusrtha to the Kmastra can be gauged from the fact that the text
opens with a salutation to dharma, artha, and kma as if they were three
deities and then goes on to situate the pursuit of kma in relation to the
other human ends.'
Since the word artha also means "meaning," the purusrtha system
seems to suggest that human existence becomes meaningful only in
light of its pursuit of these four ultimate ends. In other words, what is at
stake in the purusrtha system is the very intelligibility of human existence
in the broadest and most comprehensive way.^*" It is not surprising, there-
fore, that much of Indian intellectual tradition is organized along these
four ends of man. In time the purusrtha system gave rise to four distinct
domains of knowledge or discursive formations known as dharmasdstra
(discourse of dharma, or law and moral duty), arthasdstra (discourse of
politics), kdmasdstra (discourse of pleasure), and moksasdstra (discourse
of spiritual liberation).
The Kdmastra as the text that launched the discourse of kma was
written after the other three discursive formations had already found their
most decisive and enduring articulations. The Kdmastra follows a general
sense of hierarchy among the human ends that put dharma, artha, and kma
in descending order; none of the four domains, however, had complete
legislative primacy over the others. What was implied was that each end,
while claiming its own autonomy, would leave the others as much room for
autonomy as possible in their own domains. Each end carried some degree of
autonomy, though that is not to say that there was no attempt to encroach on
another domain. The question of relative autonomy of the four domains was
less a matter of principle and more one of constant intellectual maneuvering.
The very composition of the Kdmastra wzs one such instance of intel-
lectual maneuvering meant to give the domain of erotic pleasure-love some
autonomy in the face of the increasingly influential, socially conservative
vision of the Mdnava Dharmas'dstra {Manu's Code of Law)., which was
anchored in caste and patriarchal identityBrahmin, Ksatrya, Vaisya, and
'* Tiiis last goal of spiritual liberation, with some differences, is common to all Indian
religionsHinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
'" Shastri, Kmastra, 1:1:1. Insofar as moksa as the last of the four purusarthas is radically
different from the first three, the Kmastra often mentions only dharma, artha, and kma
together as trivarga., or set of three, while also acknowledging the fourth in other places.
"Sheldon Pollock thinks of the purusrtha as "one of the primary geschichtliche
Grundbegriffe,^ or "historical core concepts," in the "ideal-typical template of Indian
culture" that took on the "character of common sense" (The Ends of Man at the End of
Premodernity [Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005], 10).
According to Arvind Sharma, who sees the purusarthas as the "fundamental building blocks
of Hindu axiology," "it is a sobering thought that all Hindu cultural enterprisessocial,
political, spiritual, and any otherhave always vindicated themselves in light of this doctrine
which provided them with an axiological basis and justification" ( The Purusrtha: A Study in
Hindu Axiolqgy [East Lansing: Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University, 1982], 40).
 6 SANJAY K . GAUTAM

Sdracomposed sometime between thefirstcentury BCE and the first century

CE. The Mdnava Dharmas'dstra, a central text of the discourse of dharma
and one of the most important texts in Indian culture as a whole, sought to
bring kma under tbe legislative sovereignty of dbarma so as to enforce caste
identity and secure its purity and authenticity. It was thus that the discourse of
dbarma came to focus on the institution of tbe family and laid tbe groundwork
for patriarchy. Yet if caste and family identity were to become tbe basis of society,
a law of identity had to be imposed on sexual practices. Complete fi-eedom in
sexual practices, aiter all, would bave tbreatened tbese identities. Tbus sexual
practices came to be subordinated to tbe sovereign discourse of dharma.
Under such historical and discursive circumstances, tbe Kdmastra,
wbile claiming relative autonomy for pleasure as a distinct domain of
erodes, inevitably confronted an important question: Given tbe general
subordination of pleasure to dharma and artba, was tbere any context
or instance in wbicb pleasure alone stood supreme in its autonomy, an
instance in wbicb it expressed itself fully and revealed its nature witbout
constraints.' In response to tbis implied question, tbe Kdmastra stated
that despite tbe general primacy of dharma, kma acquires complete au-
tonomy in tbe figure of the courtesan just as artba finds sovereignty in tbe
figure of tbe king.'^ No sooner bad tbe Kdmastra laid out the relative
position of tbe three purusartbas tban it pointed at exceptions when mo-
rality lost its general primacy to power and pleasure in tbe two historical
figures and institutions of the king and the courtesan, respectively.

Probably more than any other text in Indian history, the Mnava Dharmasstra
has determined the Western understanding of Indian society. See Patrick Olivelle, Manu's
Code of Law: A Critical Edition and Translation of the Mnava Dharmasstra (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2005); see also Olivelle, ed., Dharma: Studies in Semantic, Cul-
tural and Reliious History (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2009). Though the Kmastra
overtly seems to comply with the Dharmas'stra\ vision of a society based on caste identity
(see, for example, Shastri, Kmastra, 1:2:25), covertly much of what it goes on to say
runs counter to the ethos and principles of dharma. While interpreting the Kmastra's
apparent compliance with the discourse of dharma, one needs to keep in mind that it was
strategic in nature. After all, as I argue, the Kmastra pitches its figure of the courtesan
against the Dharmas'dstrafigureof the wife.
Shastri, Kmastra, 1:2:14-15. With the exception of Burton and Upadhyaya, most
translators and commentators of the Kmastra have translated this passage to mean that for
the courtesan, as for the king, artha has primacy. This reading involves a misunderstanding:
although the aphoristic brevity of tlie Kmastra and an obvious aspect of the courtesan's
existence seem to leave some ambiguity, the train of thought leading up to this point leaves
no doubt about the meaning. It should be noted that the second chapter of the first book
is called "Trivarga-Pratipatti-Prakarnam" and focuses on the set of three purusrthas. The
order in which the Kmastra discusses them is dharma, artha, and kma. They appear in
the same order in the opening salutation of the Kmastra. This is the order the Kmastra
has in view when it lays down die general rule about the relative value of the three when
compared: thefirsthas primacy over the second, the second over the third. The author then
points out exceptions to this general rule. The king as an exception belongs to the domain
of artha, while the courtesan belongs to the domain of kma. See S. C. Upadhyaya, The
Kmastra: The Hindu Art of Love (London: Watkins, 2004), 71; Burton, The Kmastra
of Vtsyyana, 64.
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 7

What the Kmastra was arguing in effect was that the courtesan was
in the domain of erotics what the king was in the domain of politics: an
exceptional and sovereign figure." The fact that pleasure as an end found
its autonomy in the figure of the courtesan also suggests that pleasure as
a discourse and practice found its fullest expression in her. The courtesan
is thus at the very origin of the Kmastra as the model and measure in
the domain of erotics. Without the courtesan an authoritative discourse of
pleasure would not have been possible. The question about the nature of
ars erotica as articulated in the Kmastra, therefore, is neither abstract
nor theoretical but anchored in the historical figure of the courtesan.
Historically, the Kmastra is best seen not as the creation of a single
author but rather as a culmination of a long evolution centered on the figure
of the courtesan. Even a casual reading of the Kmastra brings home the
fact that it was written by someone who had observed the goings-on in the
part of the city reserved for courtesans for a considerable period of time.
The minute and subde details and generalizations about different kinds
of men and women, their physical features, and their cultural and sexual
habits would have been impossible without the opportunity to observe for
a prolonged period a diverse group of men and women engaged in amo-
rous acts. The text must be seen in this light as the culmination of a long
historical process of accumulating, editing, compiling, and theorizing.
It is significant that in addition to numerous references to vesys (cour-
tesans) throughout the text, book 6 of the Kmastra, called Vaisika (Of
courtesans), is devoted exclusively to their lives. This book describes in great
detail the activities of the courtesans, their role and place in society. It is
important to note that this book is addressed to courtesans and had been
written with their interests in mind. Not surprisingly, therefore, it instructs
them about how best to manage a life of inherent difficulty and complex-
ity. Written fi"om the perspective of the courtesan and not her patrons, it
teaches courtesans ways to seduce new patrons and discard oid ones.^ This
is remarkable for a text that is otherwise primarily directed to men.
Even though stray references to what could only be termed the earliest
prototypes of the figure of the courtesan are found in the Vedic period
(1500-900 BCE), the profession started to come into its own as a social
institution beginning in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE.^^ This period

" According to Ludwik Sternbach, in classical Sanskrit courtesans were compared to

kings more often than to any other social or political figure. The reason, it seems from the
citations collected by Sternbach, was the popular perception of their shared duplicity: the
king was interested in power alone even as he made public professions of his people's wel-
fare, while the courtesan was interested in nothing but money even as she put on a show of
love to her patron. See Ludwik Sternbach, Ganik-v rtta-samgrahah: Or Texts on Courtesans
in Classical Sanskrit {Y{o%\(\zr!\ir. Visheshvarananda Vedic Research Institute, 1953), 143.
^'' Shastri, Kmastra, 6:3.
'' On courtesans in ancient India, see Sternbach, Ganik-v rtta-sarngrahah; Ludwik
Sternbach, "Legal Position of Prostitutes According to Kautilya's Arthasstra," Journal of
the American Oriental Society 7\, no. 1 (1951): 25-60; Sukumari Bhattacharji, "Prostitution
in Ancient India," Social Scientist 15, no. 2 (1987): 32-61; Monika Saxena, "'Ganikas in
 8 SANJAY K . GAUTAM

was marked by the beginning of a phase of rapid urbanization in northern

and western India as refiected in the growth of long-distance trade net-
works, the emergence of large and prosperous cities, and the advent of an
economy based on money.^^ Courtesans were a historical by-product of
these factors and the breakdown of tribal society.^^ Even as the word vesya
was used to cover all categories of courtesans, the c fanik wzs usually
reserved for the highest-ranked courtesans in ancient India.^* Ganikas were
lcnown for their artistic achievements in fields such as dance, music, and
theater. They were perhaps as responsible for the development and spread
of the arts in ancient India as any other historical figure.^^ Every major city
had a chief courtesan known as the naarasohhini (ornament of the city).^*
In the Buddhist sources going back to the fifth century BCE, references
to courtesans suddenly become more frequent and vivid, suggesting that
they had become a familiar feature of everyday life in the cities. Some very
famous courtesans were well-known donors to Buddhist monasteries.^^ The
Buddha is said to have ordained Amrapali, a celebrated ganik, into the
Buddhist order.^* In these sources, courtesans also find mention for their
other charitable public works, such as building bridges, temples, and inns.^'
Even though the denunciations of courtesans in the Manava
Dharmas'astra may give the impression that prostitution was outlawed in
ancient India and courtesans were reviled figures, prostitution remained
legal throughout ancient and early medieval India. It is significant that an
entire chapter in the ArthaMstra, a treatise on state and politics dating back

Early India," Social Scientist 34, no. 11/12 (2006): 2-17; Shonaleeka Kaul, "Women about
Town: An Exploration of the Sanskrit iCv^a Tradition," Studies in History 22, no. 1 (2006):
59-76; S. N. Sinha, N. K. Basu, and Rita Sil, History of Marriage and Prostitution: Vedas
to Vtsyyana (New Delhi: Khama, 1992); Moti Chandra, The World of Courtesans (Delhi:
Vikas, 1973); Santosh Kumar Mukherji, Prostitution in India (New Delhi: Inter India, 1986).
For a very insightful analysis of courtesans in modern India, see Veena Talwar Oldenburg,
"Lifestyle as Resistance: The Case of the Courtesans of Lucknow, India," Feminist Studies
16, no. 2(1990): 259-87.
" G. P. Singh, Republics, Kingdoms, Towns and Cities in Ancient India (New Delhi: D. K.
Printworld, 2003 ), 212-13 ; see also Patrick Olivelle, ed., Between the Empires: Society in India,
300 BCE to 400 C (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 5-166; Vijay Kumar Thakur,
Urbanization in Ancient India (New Delhi: Abhinav, 2003); and R. Champakalakshmi,
Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India, 300 BC to 1300 AD (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1998).
Bhattacharji, "Prostitution in Ancient India," 33; see also Shonaleeka Kaul, Imagining
the Urban: Sanskrit and the City in Early India (New York: Seagull, 2011).
^^ Based on his survey of the ancient and early medieval Indian sources in Sanskrit,
Sternbach concluded that "the word ganik always denotes the highest degree of prosti-
tutesa courtesan" {Ganik-v rtta-samgrahah, 26).
^^ A. S. Altekar refers to them as the "custodians of fine arts" (The Position of Women in
Hindu Civilization [New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas, 1938], 181-82).
^'^ Bhattacharji, "Prostitution in Ancient India," 43.
" Ibid., 43-44.
^^ Santosh Kumar Mukherji, Prostitution in India (New Delhi: Inter India, 1986), 65-66.
Battacharji, "Prostitution in Ancient India," 56.
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 9

to the third century BCE, is devoted to the office of the anik-adhyaks a.,
the government superintendent of courtesans responsible for the part of
the city reserved for the courtesans.'" In describing in great detail the duties
of this official, the Arthas'stra has left one of the most detailed pictures
of the state of courtesans and their profession in ancient India.'' Indeed,
according to the Arthas'stra., the state was advised to control, supervise,
manage, and, indeed, profit from the business of courtesans.'^ What be-
comes amply evident is that by the time of the Arthas'stra, the profession
of courtesans had acquired a great deal of complexity in terms of both the
kinds of courtesans (categorized, and often ranked, according to their skill
and training) and the nature of their activity. The variety' in the profession
is also reflected in the fact that, by Ludwik Sternbach's estimate, there are
over 250 synonyms for the word "prostitute" in the Sanskrit lexicon.''
A celebrated ganik, the highest-ranking courtesan, effortlessly straddled
the worlds of both the fine arts and erotics, which became in her life parts
of a single continuum. The courtesan was at the heart of the ICmastra's
vision of ars erotica: "A courtesan who is well versed [in the arts mentioned
above] and is also endowed with a good nature, beauty, and other qualities
earns the tide of ganik and finds a place in public forums. She is always
honored by the king and admired by good men; approached and solicited
[by all], she also becomes a role model."'* As is clear from this passage, the
vesy had to "earn the title of ganik" through long and hard work in a set of
sixty-four arts and crafts that included dance, music, theater, and painting.'^
What is also significant is that such a woman was "honored" by no less a
person than the king and "admired" by the learned, the elites of society. As
the Kmastra states, the courtesan not only was "solicited" by all but also
became a "role model," a term that ought not to be interpreted solely, or
even primarily, in terms of the courtesan's sexual accomplishments.'* Rather,

R. P. Kangle, ed., Kautilya: Arthasstra (Bombay: University of Bombay, 1965).

'' For a comprehensive study of the legal status of prostitutes and the state of prostitution
in the Arthasstra, see Sternbach, "Legal Position of Prostitutes," 25-60.
'^ It should be noted, however, that the Arthasstra is the only text from ancient India
to use the wor^ganik exclusively to describe those courtesans who were also state servants.
See Sternbach, "Legal Position of Prostitutes," 35. Given that the Arthasstra was a formal
treatise on statecraft, it is possible that these references were part of B^utilya's vision of what
a state ought to do with the ganikas in its territory, not a description of what they really did.
Even so, there is no doubt that the Arthasstra assumed the ganikas to be the most accom-
plished and the very best kind of courtesan.
^^ Sternbach, "Legal Position of Prostitutes," 25.
^''Shastri, Kmastra, 1:3:17-18.
^^ According to the Arthas'stra, it was the duty of the state, which employed ganiks, to
offer them education in these sLxty-four arts. See Sternbach, "Legal Position of Prostitutes," 35.
' ' My translation differs from that of Doniger and Kakar (Vtsyyana Kmastra, 16),
who translate the very last part of the verse cited here as "and she is a standard for other
courtesans to strive for." The context in which these verses appear puts the ganik within a
larger social context that includes not only the leading people of society but also the king.
Also, here the ganik is being characterized not in terms of her skills in sex but in terms of
 10 SANJAY K . GAUTAM

she was given the status of a role model because it was in her that erotics
itself was transformed into a form of art. There was, it seems, more than a
grudging admiration for the courtesan: with her artistic accomplishments
and her status as a cultural icon, she came to be seen as the symbol of the
glamour and the grandeur of the kingdom fortunate enough to host her.
It was not surprising, therefore, that kingdoms with famous courtesans
aroused envy in their rivals.'^

THE COURTESAN AS AN ACTRESS OF LOVE

It is significant that the Kdmastra does not directly problematize its choice
of the figure of the courtesan as exemplary and exceptional in the domain
of erotics; it simply assumes the choice to be self-evident and requiring no
ftirther justification. Still, the only way to get to the basic nature of erotics
and its historical origin in the Kdmastra is to problematize this choice by
asking those questions that the Kdmastra did not feel the need to ask:
What was it about the courtesan and the nature and mode of her existence
that made her an exceptional and exemplary figure in the domain of erotics.'
Conversely, what was it about the nature of erotics in the Kdmastra that
found in the courtesan its most complete expression? What was it about
erotics, moreover, that joined it to the arts in the figure of the courtesan.'
A clue to the deeper conceptual links between the nature of erotics at
stake in the Kdmastra and the figure of the courtesan can be found in
a set of crucial terms of great significance that slipped unquestioned into
the text. The Kdmastra uses the twin technical terms ndyaka (actor) and
ndyikd (actress), rather than simply "man" and "woman," to designate the
male and the female partners in a sexual act or an amorous relationship.'^
The words belong, of course, to the language of theater, and they sug-
gest something significant about the text's approach to the entire domain

her accomplishments in what would fall in the category of fine arts. Although sexual arts are
mentioned immediately before these verses, any elaboration is deferred, because sexual arts
did not belong in this chapter focused on the fine arts, which are of course part of the erode
arts at a much broader level. It was because of her artistic accomplishments that the ganik
was respected by the king and adored by even the good men of society. The words abhigamya
(approached) and prrthanya (solicited) also need to be seen in light of this context: a
courtesan is approached and solicited for the sake of her artistic accomplishments. It was as
the most accomplished figure in the arts that she became a lakfybhta (role model) for the
people at large and not merely for other courtesans.
" This was despite the fact that courtesans, including the ganikas, were denounced in the
strongest terms by much of the didactic and dharma literature of ancient and early medieval
India. After a wide-ranging survey of classical Sanskrit, Sternbach concludes that "courtesans
[were] considered as the most condemnable creatures" ("Legal Position of Prostitutes,"
151). Bhattacharji also notes this dual attitude toward courtesans in ancient India ("Prostitu-
tion in Ancient India," 53, 55-56).
'* Shastri, Kmastra., 1:5:3.
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 11

of pleasure.'' It was as if for tbe Kdmastra, erotics belonged to a realm

akin to tbeater, as if tbe space opened up by the discourse of erotics was
more like a stage. Tbe crucial question that arises is, Wbat was it about
erotics as a domain of discourse and practice tbat required tbis sbift from
tbe space of everyday life to tbat of theater.' Wbat distinguishes an actor
from a common man or woman is tbat an actor plays a cbaracter tbat be
is not. In otber words, tbe actor assumes an identity tbat is nothing more
tban a mask. No matter bow absorbed an actor is in tbe role be is playing,
he retains a distance toward or difference fi'om tbe cbaracter be is playing.
Tbe Kdmastra''& assumed analogy witb tbeater suggests tbat one does not
extend one's everyday identity or self into the space of erotics; one bas to
invent or construct an identity, a role for oneself. Erotics, it would appear,
was tbe invention of a new mode of beingbeing as acting or playing.
It was only as anotber tbat one could inbabit tbe space of erotics. Where
does this necessity of losing one's identity come fi-om.' Is tbere sometbing
incompatible between identity and the erotic experience.' Tbe answer tbat
the Kdmastra assumes witbout directly formulating it is tbat tbe pursuit
of pleasure-love carries one beyond tbe circle of identity.
Now, since tbe courtesan was tbe exceptional figure tbat embodied ars
erotica in tbe fullest sense, it is not surprising that she was also tbe historical
source for tbe terminology of actor and actress. Tbe Kdmastra lists four
possible types of nyiks: tbe kanyd (unmarried girl), tbe punarbh (remar-
ried woman), tbe pdksikt (anotber man's wife), and tbe vesya.*" On tbe face
of it, it seems tbat tbe courtesan is only one of tbe four types of actresses,
but a close look reveals tbat she is assumed to be the most representative
of tbe four. Indeed, studied closely, tbis list of potential actresses is marked
as mucb by tbe figure tbat it excludes as by tbe ones it includes. One figure
that is conspicuous by its absence in tbis list is the wife. Tbe unmarried girl
could be a potential wife but is not one yet. Tbe otber man's wife as a type

^' To my knowledge Doniger is the only scholar to have noted and attached significance
to this theatrical aspect of the Kmastra. According to her introduction to her translation,
"Beneath the veneer of a sexual textbook, the Kmastra resembles a work of dramatic fic-
tion, more than anything else. The man and woman whose sex lives are described here are
called the nyaka and nyik (male and female protagonists), and the men who assist the
nyaka are called pithamarda, vita, and vidusaka (the libertine, pander, and clown). All
of these are terms for stock characters in Sanskrit dramasthe hero and heroine, sidekick,
supporting player, and jesteraccording to yet another textbook, the one attributed to
Bharata and dealing with dramatic writing, acting, and dancing, the Ntyas'dstra. The very
last line of the Kmastra speaks of a man playing the part of lover, as if on the stage. Is the
Kmastra a play about sex? Certainly it has a dramatic sequence, and, like most classical
Indian dramas, it has seven acts" (Doniger and Kakar, Vtsyyana Kmastra, 25-28). My
focus, in contrast to that of Doniger, is not so much on the resemblance of the Kmastra
to a play as on the question of the nature of erotics itself as a pursuit of pleasure that deploys
the language of theater. Also, I draw attention to the historical figure of the courtesan upon
which the Kmastra drew.
*" Shastri, Kmastra, 1:5:3.
12 SANJAY K. GAUTAM

of potential erotic actress refers only to a woman in an extramarital amorous

relationship in violadon of her marriage vows; it was only as an adulteress that
the vwfe could become an actress. The endre fifth book of the Kmastra,
called Paradrika (Of other men's wives), is dedicated to her and her suitor.
The punarbh, in contrast, either has been abandoned by her previous
husband or, having divorced him, has married a new man of her choice.*' It is
possible that some of these women were involved in extramarital erode affairs
and remarried because they eventually ended up leaving their husbands and
marrying their lovers. Accordingly, the remarried woman was no ordinary
wife. Even though the ICmastra includes a discussion of the remarried
woman in the book on the wife, she was far fi-om being a regular wife; the
nature of her second marriage, it is clear, was radically different ftom that
of her first. First of all, the Kmastra never mendons a remarried woman
as the only wife; she invariably appears in the company of another wife, or
wives, if her husband had more than one. It was as if the remarried woman
could not be the sole wifeshe could only appear in a complementary role.
The remarried woman is very clearly disdnguished by the Kmastra ftom
other wives in terms of her dudes and expectadons. She is never said to have
her own children but is instructed to take good care of the children of her
husband with his other wives.*^ The figure of the remarded woman in the
Kmastra is thought of almost exclusively in terms of pleasure, then, not in
terms of bearing children. Unlike other wives, who were generally confined
to the home, the remarded woman could accompany her husband in public
and interact with her husband's ftiends without any inhibidons.*' Indeed, the
Kmastra tquztts her with the figure of the courtesan: "Like the courtesan,
sex with a remarried woman, even ftom a higher caste, is not a violadon of
morality [dharma].""^ As is evident, the remarded woman occupied a posi-
don halfway between a wife and a courtesan.
The vesya as a potendal erode actress not only is not a wife but is the
and thesis of the very idea of "wife"; the wife and the courtesan are mutually
exclusive social figures. What is common, therefore, to all four categodes of
actresses is what separates them ftom the wife. The set of four actresses, in
other words, is pardy defined by what it excludesthe wife and the behavior
appropriate to her. Given that the courtesan stands at the farthest point
ftom the very nodon of the wife, she, more than the others, embodies all
the eharaeterisdes of an actress in its completeness. The courtesan, in short,
is the most representadve of all the actresses. The primacy of the courtesan
is also brought out by the fact that, when faced with the need to elaborate
the potendal types of male actors in the erotic field, the Kmastra defers

"Ibid., 4:2:31-35.
*" Ibid., 4:2:44.
*' Ibid., 4:2:42, 44,
Ibid., 1:5:6. Doniger and Kakar translate punarbh as "second-hand woman"
( Vtsyyana Kmastra, 100).
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 13

it, promising to come back to the subject in the Vaisika book, which deals
with courtesans.*" If the discussion of types of potential actors belonged
in the book on the courtesan, then that was precisely because it was as a
patron of the courtesan that a man could best become an erotic actor.
Given that the list of actresses was an enumeration of the female char-
acters in the domain of erotics, it was almost as if the Kmastra assumed
that the wife did not belong in the domain of erotics at all. Yet, it was as a
married couple that most men and women were likely to spend much of
their lives. What was it about erotics that made the figure of the wife unfit or
unwelcome.^ It was as if erotics and marriage were incompatible and exclusive
pursuits. The TCmastra., once again, does not ask these questions, nor does
it problematize the absence of the wife. Yet, by excluding the wife from its
list of dramatic personae, the Kmastra assumes something vital about
the nature of erotics and its essential character. In this regard, a seemingly
minor detail in the Kmastrais very revealing: "[Sexual intercourse] with a
courtesan and a remarried woman is neither approved [sista] nor forbidden
[pratisiddha]., because [after all, it is only] for pleasure [sukharthatvt].'"
While making this characterization, the Kmastra has in viewunstated
though it isthe distinction, indeed contrast, between a man's sexual rela-
tionship with his wife and his relationship with a courtesan. While a man's
relationship with a courtesan or remarried woman is characterized entirely
by pleasure, his relationship with his wife is characterized by the pursuit of
a child, preferably a son, to carry on the lineage and identity of the family.
For the Kmastra, erotics as the pursuit of pleasure found its purest
and most complete expression in a man's relationship with a courtesan. In
other words, given that pleasure was the determining goal in erotics, that
goal found its fiilfillment in the figure of the courtesan, whose relationship
vwth her male patron was defined exclusively in terms of pleasure. Not
surprisingly, therefore, while the Mnava Dharmas'astra focused on the
husband-wife relationship, the Kmastra, in contrast, placed the courtesan
at the very foundation of erotics as an exceptional and exemplary figure. It
also becomes evident here why the Kmastra dropped the wife from the
list of actresses even as it included her in the moment of transgression of
her marriage vow as an adulteress. If it was only as an adulteress that the
wife could become an actress, then that was because it was only in adultery
that the pursuit of pleasure within marriage attained its autonomy.

THE COURTESAN AND THE BIRTH OE ARS EROTICA AS THEATER

A question remains, however: What was it about the nature and pursuit
of pleasure that transformed the figure of the courtesan into an actress.'
What was it about erotics that transformed it into a domain of theater.' It
*^ Shastri, Kmastra, 1:5:28.
''Ibid., 1:5:2.
 14 SANJAY K . GAUTAM

is worth repeating that for the Kmastra., pleasure did not consist merely
of sex. Far fi-om it: the sexual act had to occur within a narrative of love,
and the pursuit of pleasure consisted of the pursuit of both pleasure and
love, because kma, means both "pleasure" and "love." That is why the
TCmastra insists that a courtesan must first set up a narrative of love
before it is followed with sex. The courtesan's skill in staging love and in
making her patron believe that she was genuinely in love with him was
often as important as sex.
Yet to maintain the appearance of love could not have been easy for a
courtesan, given that the profession was also her only means of livelihood.
The real challenge for the narrative of love was to survive the inevitable
contact with that reality. The TCmastra addresses directly what seems like
the central issue in the life of a courtesan:
By its very nature the company of men for the courtesan is both out of
love-pleasure [rati] as well as the profession or money [vrtti]. When
[she is] prompted by love-pleasure it is natural [svabhvikam], [but
when] the purpose is money [iri/?;] it is artificial [krtrm]. [Even when
her love for her patron is only for the purpose of malcing money],
however, she should act as if it is natural, because only those women
who appear to be driven by love [kmaparsu] are worthy of a man's
trust. For the purpose of proving [the truth of her love to the man],
let her show complete absence of greed; and to protect her fiiture
[relationship with him] she should refrain fi-om acquiring money from
him by wrongfiil means.*^

As the Kmastra sets it up in this, the very first lines of the book on cour-
tesans, the courtesan's relationship to her patron consisted of two conflicting
elements: rati and vrtti. Given that they were self-evidendy incompatible,
the courtesan carried a conflict at the very heart of her existence. Not only
did she need to maintain the appearance of real love, but she also had to
temper her love for someone with the knowledge that she was also practic-
ing her profession, that the relationship could not and must not result in
marriage. The distinction between artificial and natural love is not a real
distinction. As the Kmastra itself adds, even ardficial love must appear
natural, while the natural love of the courtesan must always be accompanied
with the awareness that it was also part of her profession.
The theater of erotics or erodes as theater was born directly out of this
existendal conflict at the heart of the courtesan's being and the impera-
tive, equally existendal, of reconciling the conflict.*^ The most important

*" Ibid., 6:1:1-6.

Based on his collection of aphorisms from classical Sanskrit in which courtesans are
compared to actresses, Sternbach concludes: "Courtesans' behavior is very often compared
with acting, and courtesans are compared with actresses or stage managers. And so, courte-
sans, like actresses exhibit affection to gain money and pretend affection, love, anger, etc..
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 15

strategy for accomplishing this task was to delegate the professional and
financial parts of the courtesan's life to her mother. The courtesan could
then maintain her amorous relationship with her man as if it was based on
love, altogether untouched by money: "Let [the courtesan] not argue about
money, and let her do nothing without her mother."*' This terse piece of
advice from the Kdmastra makes it clear that the courtesan must not touch
the issue of money even as she is expected to let her patron know that she was
in no position to disobey her mother: "Let her be dependent on a mother
who is of cruel character and who is after money alone; in the absence
of a mother, upon someone who is like a mother. Let her [the mother],
however, not be too fond of the lover, and let her try to take her daughter
away [from him] by force. Let the woman [ndyikd] express displeasure,
shame, embarrassment, and fear [at her mother's behavior], though she
ought not to defy [her mother's] command."^" The relationship between
the courtesan and her patron, then, was not a matter of a simple exchange
of money for sexual favors. Sex is important, of course, but it must come
as a moment in the unfolding narrative of love, kma in both its meanings
of "pleasure" and "love." This narrative, the core of which is starkly visible,
sets up perfectly a theater of erotic love: a greedy and cruel mother and the
long-suffering and helpless daughter madly in love with a man who now
must step in periodically with money to keep the evil mother at bay and
enjoy the company of his beloved. It is very clear here how theater is being
born out of the process of the courtesan trying to reconcile the two deeply
confiicting, indeed irreconcilable, sides of her existence. What seems like a
piece of theater is nonetheless indistinguishable from the courtesan's life:
life itself has been transformed into theater. Theater, in other words, was
the mode of being of the courtesan.
For the courtesan, appearance is reality, or, to be more precise, the
duality between appearance and reality is turned into the source of a new
kind of life. It could be said that the duality is not really abolished; erotics
assumes this duality and puts it to productive use. Any attempt to abolish
it altogether would end up in the courtesan either becoming a wife to her
patron or losing her patron altogether as a lover. After all, theater would
not be theater if it did not assume its difference from the real. Yet, at the
same time, theater must also create the appearance of reality. The self of the
courtesan is nothing but an appearance like that of an actor constructed
for the stage, effective only as long as she can make her patron take this
appearance for reality. This is at the origin of the courtesan's skills in acting.
She was playing a role, putting on an identity.

or use theatrical postures, or, since they have been trained on the stage, change their voices,
or act like stage-managers. Both courtesans and actors are also known to cause disorder"
(Ganik-vrtta-samgrahah, 14:5).
*' Shastri, Kmastra., 6:2:60-61.
* Ibid., 6:2:3-8.
16 SANJAY K. GAUTAM

Did tbe courtesan bave no real self tben.' As a courtesan, sbe lived her
life outside tbe circle of identity tbat formed tbe subject matter of tbe
Mdnava Dharmas'dstra's vision of a caste-based society, wbere a woman
was notbing more tban a means to procreate sons and perpetuate a man's
family and caste. Not surprisingly, the Mdnava Dharmas'dstra has hardly
anything to say about tbe courtesan, focused as it is on tbe preservation and
perpetuation of caste and family identity.^^ In tbis regard, it is significant
tbat sddhdrani (general woman) and sdmdnyd (common woman) were
two generic terms designating courtesans tbrougbout ancient and early
medieval India.^^ Tbe designations "general" and "common" reflect tbe
fact that the courtesan did not belong to anyone in particular; she was a
woman witbout a busband and a familya woman witbout any specific-
ity and identity. At tbe same time, bowever, it was precisely because tbe
courtesan was a woman without an identity that she could take on any
identity and feel at home in it. It was for tbis reason tbat courtesans were
often recruited by tbe state in ancient India as spies.^'

THE COURTESAN AS WIEE IN THE FIELD OF EROTICS AS THEATER

Tbe logic of tbe tbeater that characterized tbe life of the courtesan and tbe
domain of erotics is pushed to its limit in tbe Kdmastra, wbere it culmi-
nates in tbe invention of a new form of existence tbat could only be called
a parallel or virtual mode of existence. Tbis limit is reached in tbe figure of
tbe ekacdrini{countsiLn as wife). Tbe word ekacdrini means "wife," but
in tbe book on courtesans, it means tbe courtesan who stays witb one pa-
tron for a variable but significant period of time, often running into years,
like a devoted wife. In tbis instance, tbe courtesan takes on tbe role of tbe
wife for ber own pleasure and for tbe pleasure of ber patron-busband; sbe
assumes tbe subjectivity of tbe wife. In this transformation, even married
life is turned into a stage. As I have discussed above, tbe figure tbat comes
closest to occupying tbe opposite end of tbe social spectrum to tbe wife
is tbe courtesan. Yet, as an ekacrin, tbe courtesan might become a wife.
Indeed, in tbe Kdmastra pleasure found its most complete expression in
tbe figure of tbe courtesan-wife. In tbe relationsbip between tbe courtesan-
wife and ber patron-busband, sex occurred as the culmination and fulfillment
of tbe narrative of love. Every care was taken by tbe courtesan to give the
relationsbip tbe form and fiare of a love affair. Tbe Kdmastra's advice to
tbe potential courtesan-wife makes it clear tbat money in excbange for sex
was not to be tbe most important tbing on ber mind: "Even tbougb invited
[by a patron] sbe should not agree in baste, because men despise wbat is

Ludo Rocher, "The Kmastra: Vtsyyana's Attitude toward Dharma and

Dharmasstra,'' Journal of the American Oriental Society 105, no. 3 (1985): 526.
" Bhattacharji, "Prostitution in Ancient India," 33.
" Sternbach, "Legal Position of Prostitutes," 54-56.
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erodca 17

easily acquired."^* This advice goes against the usual image of a courtesan
as someone for whom money alone matters. The courtesan is expected
to be looking for a relationship, not just money, in exchange for sexual
favors. The courtesan is also advised not to rush into a relationship. The
wish, it is apparent, was to win the love of her patron and to not allow
herself to be used merely as an object of sexual gratification; she wants,
in other words, to be treated as a beloved.
The Kmastra instruets the eourtesan to inidate a carefully orchestrated
process made to appear as a series of coincidences to seduce the patron into a
long, erode affair. She is told to hire an elaborate staff, including a masseur,
singer, dancer, jester, barber, launderer, beggar, liberdne, and pander, to help
her in this purpose. Before inidating the affair, the courtesan is encouraged
to find out the true nature of her future patron: "In order to find out the
state of his feelings [bhvajijns], let her appoint her servant, masseur,
singer, and jester; or in their absence let her send the libertine, etc. From
them let her find out his [sense of what is] pure [and what is] impure, his
passions and aversions, his [emodonal] attachments and nonattachments,
and his generosity or lack thereof. [After determining] the possibility [of a
reladonship], let her plan love [pritim yojayet] under the guidance of the
pander."" The last sentence is revealing: it clearly indicates the deliber-
ately constructed nature of love between the courtesan and her patron. In
this regard the term bhvajijns (the wish to know the man's bhava) is
also significant. Bhava, though often translated as "nature," is one of the
most important categories in the Ntyas'stra (Treadse on theater)the
foundadonal text on theater in Indian cultureand, roughly translated,
it means "emodon," such as love, fear, and anger."* What the courtesan
was instructed to find out about her potendal patron, therefore, was his
emotional makeup or profile. It was as if the patron was audidoning for a
role in a dramadc narradve of love crafted for him by the courtesan.
After her initial invesdgation, the courtesan sets up a series of moves
to establish contact with her potential patron so as to inidate a carefully
calibrated process of seducdon:
Let the liberdne bring the man to her house, under the pretext of
witnessing the fights of quails, cocks, or rams, or of headng a parrot
or a mynah talk, or of watching a play, or some other art; or he may
bring her to his house. At the arrival of the man to her house, let the
woman give him something capable of arousing his love and curiosity,
some present as a token of her love, telling him that it was [meant]

* Shastri, Kmastra, 6:1:21.

" I b i d . , 6:1:22-24.
" Ntyas'stra. See vol. 1, chaps. 6 and 7. M. Ghosh, ed.. The Ntyaistra, ascribed to
Bharata Muni, Sanskrit text, vol. 1 (Calcutta: Manisha Granthalaya, 1967); Ghosh, ed.. The
Ntyas'stra, ascribed to Bharata Muni, Sanskrit text, vol. 2 (Calcutta: Bibliotheca Indica
272 A, 1956).
 18 SANJAY K. GAUTAM

exclusively for his enjoyment. [Then] wherever it pleases him, let her
call a party and entertain him there.^^
What is remarkable is that the initiative seems to always be in the hands
of the courtesan. To extend the theater analogy, in this play the courtesan
is the playwright, director, and actor all at the same time. Having been
seduced into a relationship, the patron finds himself slowly growing into a
role scripted for him by the courtesan. It brings him pleasure because it was
designed with his likes and dislikes in mind. Equally as important is that this
narrative was meant to help the courtesan realize her own fantasies of love.
Once the courtesan has successfully won her patron's love, she is in-
structed to settle into the role of a wife.*" She constructs for herself the
identity of a wife in relation to her patron-husband. She does not wear
any makeup and jewelry when he is away.^' She offers prayers to the gods
and performs many rituals as a token of her gratitude at the return of her
patron-husband.**" She tells him she would have died had he not come
back." She trains herself into identifying with him so closely and deeply
that the ebb and flow of her own emotions mimic those of her man. The
Kmastra says: "She should hate those he hates, and like those he likes.
. . . She should become happy when he is happy and sad when he is sad.""
In her the man should be able to confide the tales of his woes and triumphs
with the assurance that it will find attentive ears and an empathetic heart.
Such emotional attunement on the part of the courtesan as wife would
come across to the man as a sign of her deep and abiding love.
The role of a wife, however, was not complete without a child, especially
a son, because, in the period in which the Kmastrawzs written, a married
couple without a child was not yet a family The Kmastra, not surpris-
ingly, therefore, tells the courtesan-wife to say to her patron-husband that
"she wants to have a son with him and does not want her life to be longer
than his."*' Yet even as she was instructed to express this wish, she knew
that her patron-husband was unlikely ever to acknowledge publicly that
he had a child with her. It is well known that the children of courtesans in
ancient and early medieval India were also persons without identity. This
was particularly true of sons, because daughters were almost invariably
trained to follow in the footsteps of their mothers.** Sons ofi:en drifred
" Shastri, Kmastra, 6:1:25-29.
*'Ibid., 6:2:1.
" Ibid., 6:2:63.
'"Ibid., 6:2:67-71.
" Ibid., 6:2:72.
" Ibid., 6:2:22.
" Ibid., 6:2:44.
Even though others did join the ranks of ganik, it was preferable to have the daughters
of ganikas carry on the legacy. According to the Arthas'stra, the laws of inheritance in the
case of ganikas followed the maternal line. The ganik's daughter, sister, or mother, not her
son, inherited her property at her death. In this regard, a statement from the Kuppanimata,
 The Courtesan and the Birth ofArs Erotica 19

away fiom their mothers in the absence of any defined role for them in
the household.*" Given this historical reality, the courtesan's wish to have
a child with the man did not carry any real meaning except as a gesture; it
showed how much she loved him and her willingness to provide a complete
family for him, virtual though it was.
In the display of her fidelity and love to her beloved patron-husband,
the courtesan-wife was not afiaid to embrace death itselfthe highest test
of true love: "If her mother takes her elsewhere by force, then she yearns
for poison, fasting to death, a dagger [to kill herself], or a rope [to hang
herself]."** This tale about her evil mother forcing her to go with another
man and thus provoking her into threatening suicide is made to appear all
the more authentic by having one of the courtesan's hangers-on bring the
news to the man instead of her enacdng it in front of him: "Let her con-
vince the man [nyaka] of this [suicidal state of mind] through her secret
agents."*^ She means to create the impression that her love for him was not
just a show, it was authentic. This tale is designed to serve two conflicting
purposes. It demonstrates to the man that she loves him desperately and
that she is ready to end her life if she is forced to lose him. But it also helps
serve nodce to the man that if he really wants to keep her, he cannot afford
to forget her mother; he must keep her happy. In one stroke this litde piece
of theater accomplishes brilliandy two seemingly conflicting and irreconcil-
able goals: it brings more attention to the daughter and more money to
the mother without letting the two get entangled; it thereby scrupulously
maintains the narrative of pure love on the part of the daughter. It was as
an actress that the courtesan became a wife, and it was as an actor that the
patron became a husband. They lived their lives as if they were characters in
a work of ficdon or literature onstage. If the ICmastra ends up elaborating
a mode of life that is lived as if onstage, then that is because kma as both
love and pleasure is located beyond the discourse and practice of idendt)'.
According to Foucault, in ars erodca the notion of the self operates under
the sovereignty of pleasure; identity is nothing more than an instrument that
serves the need of pleasurears erotica requires the construcdon of new
subjectivides and idendties in the pursuit of pleasure. This was precisely how
the notion and practices of the self fijncdoned in the Kmastra. The real

a much later text dealing with the lives of courtesans, is very revealing: "Only daughters are
praiseworthy; shame upon those who rejoice in the birth of a son." This shows just how
different the status of daughters was among courtesans, in contrast to the rest of society,
where sons were seen as the anchors of the family. See also Sternbach, "Legal Position of
Prostitutes," 31, 40.
""^ According to Bhattacharji, even as some of these sons "without any social identity"
might have received training as musicians and actors for the stage, others not so fortunate
"lived in a brothel until they could eke out a livelihood for themselves. . . . [They] were
looked upon as waste products, like slag in a factory" ("Prostitution in Ancient India," 45).
" Shastri, Kmastra, 6:2:58.
"Ibid., 6:2:59.
20 SANJAY K. GAUTAM

scandal of the Kdmastra, therefore, lies not in its unassuming frankness

about matters of sex but in its audacity to offer a discourse that toyed with
the notion of self as if it was nothing more than a technology of kma, or
pleasure-love. It was from the imperative to invent new subjectivities and
identities that the pursuit of pleasure-love in the Kdmastra morphed into
a form of theater, a form of artars erotica, properly defined, with the
courtesan as its historical face.
In the Kdmastra., however, it is also recognized that kma or pleasure
was only one of the multiple, often competing and conflicting, pursuits of
human life: dharma (morality and law), artha (power), and moksa (spiri-
tual liberation). Even as it elaborated a system of ars erotica as a theater of
love-pleasure, the Kdmastra conceded that not all of life could be turned
into a stage: the wife could not help but be a wife, and the courtesan could
never be a wife. Indeed, it was only in its difference from a world based
on multiple purusrthas, or the ultimate human ends, that the theater of
erotics held much of its promise and allure. In the process, the Kdmastra
could not help but appear as a scandal and its dramatis personae as an as-
sortment of scoundrels, but that was the inevitable price it had to pay in a
world of multiple ontologies at odds with each other.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SANJAY K . GAUTAM is an assistant professor of history at the Uni-

versit^' of Colorado at Boulder, where he teaches South Asian history.
He has recently completed a book manuscript titled "Foucault and the
Kdmastra: The Courtesan, the Dandy, and the Birth o Ars Erotiea as
Theater in Ancient India."
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