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Kamashastra Discourse (Life in Ancient India)

by Nidheesh Kannan B. | 2018 | 52,434 words

This page relates ‘Works on Kamasahitya (a): Kuttanimata� of the study on Kamashastra representing the discipline of Kama (i.e., ‘sensual pleasure�). The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana from the 4th century is one of the most authoratitive Sanskrit texts belonging this genre. This study focusses on the vision of life of ancient India reflected in Kamashastra.

3. Works on Kāmasāhitya (a): ṭṭīٲ

ṭṭīٲ is a poem in more than thousand verses in Ā metre which come under the genre of nītikāvyas in Sanskrit literature. The authorship of the poem is attributed to Dāmodaragupta who was the minister of King īḍa of Kashmir.

By validating the references from the poem and allied historical records, Ajaya Mitra Shastri places Dāmodaragupta between the latter half of 8th century and the beginning of 9th century CE. (Ajay Mitra Shastri, 1995: 16).

ṭṭīٲ is an instructive poem in 屹ⲹ style in which a prostitute named ī is instructed by a procuress as to how she should feign true love for a rich young man and employ all the arts of erotic without giving him the least hint that all these are done only for extracting wealth from him. The various cunning arts for ruining feeble-minded and innocent young men are described in a realistic way and the social sense of the poet indeed deserves unreserved praise. The story of ṭa and ѲñᲹī contains descriptions of love-sports by which the dancing girl ruins him. The ṭṭīٲ may therefore be described as a sort of manual for the guidance of the hetaerae� (Narendranath Bhattacharyya, 1975: 98).

ṭṭīٲ boldly divulges drab realities of Indian society, especially of the life of courtesans. The author’s deep knowledge in ٲⲹԲ’s 峾ūٰ reflects throughout in ṭṭīٲ, particularly in employing technical terms used in 峾ūٰ. The entire framework of ṭṭīٲ is more or less adopted in the light of ղś첹 [ś첹]—the sixth chapter of 峾ūٰ which is about the conduct of courtesans. Most of the technical terms quoted in ṭṭīٲ were from Vātsyayana’s text.

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