The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana: Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding RemarksVatsyayana
Philosophy
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana: Translated From the Sanscrit in Seven Parts With Preface, Introduction and Concluding Remarks
Vatsyayana
Love; Sex
The female attendants in the harem (called severally Kanchukiyas,[54]
Mahallarikas,[55] and Mahallikas,[56]) should bring flowers, ointments
and clothes from the King's wives to the King, and he having received
these things should give them as presents to the servants, along with
the things worn by him the previous day. In the afternoon the King,
having dressed and put on his ornaments, should interview the women of
the harem, who should also be dressed and decorated with jewels. Then
having given to each of them such a place and such respect as may suit
the occasion and as they may deserve, he should carry on with them a
cheerful conversation. After that he should see such of his wives as may
be virgin widows re-married, and after them the concubines and dancing
girls. All of these should be visited in their own private rooms.
When the King rises from his noonday sleep, the woman whose duty it is
to inform the King regarding the wife who is to spend the night with him
should come to him accompanied by the female attendants of that wife
whose turn may have arrived in the regular course, and of her who may
have been accidentally passed over as her turn arrived, and of her who
may have been unwell at the time of her turn. These attendants should
place before the King the ointments and unguents sent by each of these
wives, marked with the seal of her ring, and their names and their
reasons for sending the ointments should be told to the King. After this
the King accepts the ointment of one of them, who then is informed that
her ointment has been accepted, and that her day has been settled.[57]
At festivals, singing parties and exhibitions, all the wives of the King
should be treated with respect and served with drinks.
But the women of the harem should not be allowed to go out alone,
neither should any women outside the harem be allowed to enter it except
those whose character is well known. And lastly the work which the
King's wives have to do should not be too fatiguing.
Thus ends the conduct of the King towards the women of the harem, and of
their own conduct.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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