Srngaramanjari Katha

SR No.: 002914
Original Sutra Author: Bhojdev
Author: Kalpalata K Munshi
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 312
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 21 MB

Page 109

ŚṚNGARAMANJARIKATHA
veśavanita, veśavilāsini, paṇyaramani, veśapramada, panyangana, dārikā, sadharani, ganikā, veśayuvati-all of them referring to the gaṇikā.
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The position of the courtesan in society was superior to the other common women because she was like the eraipa of Athens and the hetera of Greece,-the privileged woman in society who was the companion of kings and wealthy merchant-princes.
It is difficult to trace the historical origin of the institution of courtesans in India as is done with regard to the Erapi or the Geisha Guild.42 But it seems to have been gradually developed. As far back as the time of Kautilya the institution of courtesan was fairly established. The Arthasästra has a whole chapter dealing with the Superintendence of the ganikas. Ganika was not necessarily hereditary,43 which reminds us of the Geisha guilds of Japan of the present day.
The Arthaśästra tells us that the profession of ganika was not necessarily hereditary,44 and the ganikas were trained entertainers, holding highly paid posts in the king's court. They were also employed in the temples.45 A courtesan was not a free woman, but was under strict official control, ever liable to suffer penalty for breach of regulations. The registration and regulation of the ganikās that we read about in the Arthasästra was more for the safety of the state than for any other reason. And it was better than the Roman tradition where registration and the minor regulations such as the dyeing of hair and other disabilities were enforced for separat. ing the ganikas for public reprobation and penalizing them for their profession.46
Bhoja describes the gaṇikā as:
Hemacandra
41. Vide Fergusson, W. S., Hellenistic Athens, London, 1911, p. 71 ff; also Wodehouse, Greek Prostitution in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. X, p. 404 ff.
42. Wallace, Irving, The Geisha Guild, in Tricolour', Vol. III, September 1945, pp. 30, 31.
43. Book II, Chapter 27.
44. गणिकाध्यक्षो गणिकान्वयामगणिकान्वयां वा रूपयौवनशिल्पसंपन्नां सहस्रेण गणिकां कारयेत् । 45. Cf. Lavanyasundari (8th tale). Sh ewas called arghya-vittika conveying the sense that her fortune was in offering arghya to gods and propitiating them by dancing. Penzer in his note on 'Sacred Prostitution' (Appendix IV, The Ocean of Story, Vol. I) has thoroughly treated this subject by pointing out its origin and comparing similar practices existent in Babylonia, Syria, Phoenicia, Canaan and West Africa.
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कलाचतुःषष्टिविद्. 4
46. Hogarth, D. G. 'Graeco-Roman Hierodouloi', Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VI, p. 671 f.
47. SKA, p. 498.