Courtesan

Published on 17th February, 2023, in Economic Times. Chanakya's Arthashastra talks about appointing a superintendent for the ganika, variously translated as pleasure women, prostitutes or courtesans. This is done in a matter-of-fact way. No morality is attached. Ganikas were valuable sources of pleasure, income and information for the state. These were not prostitutes, who have no agency. Contemporary Bollywood films romanticise the courtesan and the brothel often as tragic figures in films such as Pakeezah, Amar Prem, Umrao Jaan and Devdas. This is a male gaze that refuses to acknowledge these women who once were independent women with power and wealth who chose not to ..

Published on 3rd October, 2021, in Mid-day. In Mohenjo-daro, archaeologists found a tiny bronze statue of a young naked girl, with bangles in her left hand, standing erect with an attitude, right arm on a hip. Despite no evidence, they declared her to be a ‘dancing girl’ and the name stuck. For the archaeologists in 1926, such a confident stance of a girl, despite being naked, could only indicate an arrogant woman lacking modesty—a courtesan! Indian history has very few stories about strong, assertive women. We are told about queens like Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, or Rani Abbakka of Ullal. They ..

Published on 6th April, 2019, in Economic Times. In ancient Indian scriptures, we find a description of three kinds of women. Women who were chaste and devoted to a single man (even if the man had many wives). The second were women who kept away from men and lived as nuns. The third kind were women who had multiple lovers and were attached to no single man. In later times, such women were considered the wives of a temple deity or a devdasi, who saw their god in all their lovers. This last kind of women has often been described in modern literature as ancient ..