The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana - Vatsyayana

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or the art of building.

      36 Knowledge about gold and silver coins, and jewels and gems.

      37 Chemistry and mineralogy.

      38 Colouring jewels, gems and beads.

      39 Knowledge of mines and quarries.

      40 Gardening; knowledge of treating the diseases of trees and plants, of nourishing them, and determining their ages.

      41 Art of cock fighting, quail fighting and ram fighting.

      42 Art of teaching parrots and starlings to speak.

      43 Art of applying perfumed ointments to the body, and of dressing the hair with unguents and perfumes and braiding it.

      44 The art of understanding writing in cypher, and the writing of words in a peculiar way.

      45 The art of speaking by changing the forms of words. It is of various kinds. Some speak by changing the beginning and end of words, others by adding unnecessary letters between every syllable of a word, and so on.

      46 Knowledge of language and of the vernacular dialects.

      47 Art of making flower carriages.

      48 Art of framing mystical diagrams, of addressing spells and charms, and binding armlets.

      49 Mental exercises, such as completing stanzas or verses on receiving a part of them; or supplying one, two or three lines when the remaining lines are given indiscriminately from different verses, so as to make the whole an entire verse with regard to its meaning; or arranging the words of a verse written irregularly by separating the vowels from the consonants, or leaving them out altogether; or putting into verse or prose sentences represented by signs or symbols. There are many other such exercises.

      50 Composing poems.

      51 Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies.

      52 Knowledge of ways of changing and disguising the appearance of persons.

      53 Knowledge of the art of changing the appearance of things, such as making cotton to appear as silk, coarse and common things to appear as fine and good.

      54 Various ways of gambling.

      55 Art of obtaining possession of the property of others by means of muntras or incantations.

      56 Skill in youthful sports.

      57 Knowledge of the rules of society, and of how to pay respects and compliments to others.

      58 Knowledge of the art of war, of arms, of armies, &c.

      59 Knowledge of gymnastics.

      60 Art of knowing the character of a man from his features.

      61 Knowledge of scanning or constructing verses.

      62 Arithmetical recreations.

      63 Making artificial flowers.

      64 Making figures and images in clay.

      A public woman, endowed with a good disposition, beauty and other winning qualities, and also versed in the above arts, obtains the name of a Ganika, or public woman of high quality, and receives a seat of honour in an assemblage of men. She is, moreover, always respected by the king, and praised by learned men, and her favour being sought for by all, she becomes an object of universal regard. The daughter of a king too, as well as the daughter of a minister, being learned in the above arts, can make their husbands favourable to them, even though these may have thousands of other wives besides themselves. And in the same manner, if a wife becomes separated from her husband, and falls into distress, she can support herself easily, even in a foreign country, by means of her knowledge of these arts. Even the bare knowledge of them gives attractiveness to a woman, though the practice of them may be only possible or otherwise according to the circumstances of each case. A man who is versed in these arts, who is loquacious and acquainted with the arts of gallantry, gains very soon the hearts of women, even though he is only acquainted with them for a short time.

       Table of Contents

       Table of Contents

      Having thus acquired learning, a man, with the wealth that he may have gained by gift, conquest, purchase, deposit,[14] or inheritance from his ancestors, should become a householder, and pass the life of a citizen. He should take a house in a city, or large village, or in the vicinity of good men, or in a place which is the resort of many persons. This abode should be situated near some water, and divided into different compartments for different purposes. It should be surrounded by a garden, and also contain two rooms, an outer and an inner one. The inner room should be occupied by the females, while the outer room, balmy with rich perfumes, should contain a bed, soft, agreeable to the sight covered with a clean white cloth, low in the middle part, having garlands and bunches of flowers[15] upon it, and a canopy above it, and two pillows, one at the top, another at the bottom. There should be also a sort of couch besides, and at the head of this a sort of stool, on which should be placed the fragrant ointments for the night, as well as flowers, pots containing collyrium and other fragrant substances, things used for perfuming the mouth, and the bark of the common citron tree. Near the couch, on the ground, there should be a pot for spitting, a box containing ornaments, and also a lute hanging from a peg made of the tooth of an elephant, a board for drawing, a pot containing perfume, some books, and some garlands of the yellow amaranth flowers. Not far from the couch, and on the ground, there should be a round seat, a toy cart, and a board for playing with dice; outside the outer room there should be cages of birds,[16] and a separate place for spinning, carving, and such like diversions. In the garden there should be a whirling swing and a common swing, as also a bower of creepers covered with flowers, in which a raised parterre should be made for sitting.

      Now the householder having got up in the morning and performed his necessary duties,[17] should wash his teeth, apply a limited quantity of ointments and perfumes to his body, put some ornaments on his person and collyrium on his eyelids and below his eyes, colour his lips with alacktaka,[18] and look at himself in the glass. Having then eaten betel leaves, with other things that give fragrance to the mouth, he should perform his usual business. He should bathe daily, anoint his body with oil every other day, apply a lathering[19] substance to his body every three days, get his head (including face) shaved every four days, and the other parts of his body every five or ten days.[20] All these things should be done without fail, and the sweat of the armpits should also be removed. Meals should be taken in the forenoon, in the afternoon, and again at night, according to Charayana. After breakfast, parrots and other birds should be taught to speak, and the fighting of cocks, quails, and rams should follow. A limited time should be devoted to diversions with Pithamardas, Vitas, and Vidushakas,[21] and then should be taken the midday sleep.[22] After this the householder, having put on his clothes and ornaments, should, during the afternoon, converse with his friends. In the evening there should be singing, and after that the householder, along with his friend, should await in his room, previously decorated and perfumed, the arrival of the woman that may be attached to him, or he may send a female messenger for her, or go for her himself. After her arrival at his house, he and his friend should welcome her, and entertain her with a loving and agreeable conversation. Thus end the duties of the day.

      The following are the things to be done occasionally as diversions or amusements.

      1 Holding festivals[23] in honour of different Deities.

      2 Social gatherings of both sexes.

      3 Drinking parties.

      4 Picnics.

      5 Other social diversions.

      Festivals.

      On some particular auspicious day, an assembly of citizens should be convened in

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