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CHAPTER 1
1.1 The nature of the text
The SattasaT is a compilation of 700 (saptaśata) Gāthās, or āryā-verses, in Prākrit. Their content is erotic, depicting, for instance, lovers' attempts to meet, various ways of sexual intercourse, unfaithfulness, lovers' quarrels and their reconciliation. The situations in the majority of the Gathās are set in the country-side, descriptions of city and court-life being conspicuously absent. The people depicted are those inhabiting the country-side such as farmers, hunters, tribals and warleaders charged with the protection of the villages. The Gathās are monologues, mostly spoken by, or describing, these peoples' women. The compilation of the text is traditionally attributed to a certain king, named Hāla, to whom I shall return later. This and the fact that the Gathās are composed in a language which, but for its Middle Indic appearance, is basically a form of Sanskrit, and in a style which is highly literary or Kāvya-like, suggests that the text was intended for a cultured audience of 'connoisseurs'. This conclusion, which is amply borne out by internal evidence, for which see below, raises the question what interest this audience could have had in a text which basically describes life and in particular love and sex in an environment so completely different from that of their own. Most scholars in fact seem to recognize in the Gathās a kind of romantic attitude on the part of the poets and the audience towards life in the country-side. Thus, according to Weber the text was the product of 'feingebildeter, wo nicht überfeinter, Dichter aus der Stadt, die ihrerseits das Landleben, wie die Poesie der Natur, die Liebe speciell, verherrlichen' (Ed., p. X). Keith maintains that 'the prevailing tone is gentle and pleasing, describing simple loves set among simple scenes, fostered by the seasons, for even winter brings lovers together, just as a rain-storm drives them to shelter with each other' (Keith, 1928: 223). Compare, finally, Warder according to whom the life in the villages depicted in the Gathās 'was full of hardships, but not without compensating pleasures, especially those of love' (Warder, 1:974: 182). As I will show below these views are widely off the mark. For instance, the people in the villages are almost throughout depicted
