~PART 6: ABOUT COURTESANS~
Chapter 5: Occasional Profits [Lābha Vishesha]
1. Sleeping with different individuals, her daily earnings come from various persons, since she does not settle on a single one.
2. Considering the country, the period, her own condition, her qualities and chances, her advantages, whether greater or lesser than those of the others, she establishes her price for the night.
3. She uses a messenger for her amorous relations. If he encounters difficulties, she gives up the enterprise.
4. If by chance, she manages to obtain from a single customer the price of two or three or four nights, she stays with him, behaving like a wife.
5. According to the masters of old, when two customers present themselves to enjoy her and propose the same fee, she must clearly go with the one from whom she can obtain an extra.
6. According to Vātsyāyana, anything may be obtained by giving something in exchange: the coin is the basis of every transaction.
7. They are, as the case may be objects of gold or silver; copper, bronze, or iron utensils. hangings; shawls; garments; perfumes; spices; accessories; ghee; oil; wheat; cattle.
8. When two candidates are similar, if she likes them both equally and they are equally rich, she refuses or accepts to sleep with one them according to the advice of her household.
9. According to the masters of the old, she should prefer the one that pays well rather than a passionate lover, because it is to her advantage.
10. She must be capable of leaving a lover for someone who pays.
11 “He who is in love parts easily with his money, even if he is mean; but one who wants to go away cannot be recovered.”
12. According to the masters of the old, between a rich man and one who is not rich, it is the rich man who is interesting, and between one who spends willingly and one who tries to render services, the useful one is often preferable.
13.”He who renders services and acts immediately is useful in enterprise, while the spender will end by going away,” says Vātsyāyana.
14. There too, of the two of them, one must consider whose absence will cause the most inconvenience.
15. According to the masters, between a serious, faithful man [kritajna] and a fickle man, it is advisable to favor the fickle one.
16. The past attentions of the fickle man [tyāgī] who has been courting her for a long time, even if he once behaved badly and has betrayed her with other courtesans, must be taken into consideration.
17. Fickle people are often impulsive, changeable, distant.
18. He who is faithful is conscious of what he has acquired and will not let himself be easily seduced. Careful in his behavior, he does not commit the offense of deceiving her, Vātsyāyana explains.
19. Here too, it is the yield that counts.
20. She must follow her assistants’ advice in sleeping with the one from whom she will obtain the most money She must always prefer a relationship that pays, say the masters.
21. According to Vātsyāyana, if she chooses to sleep with one for a matter of money, without following the counsel of her assistants, they will make difficulties.
22. She may not neglect her assistants’ advice.
23. In such a case, she summons the assistant who organizes her work, saying, “Tomorrow I will do what you advice, and you will recoup the money for my transgression.”
24. According to the masters, when there are several possibilities, the collection of money is always preferred by prudent persons.
25. According to Vātsyāyana, earnings may be meager, but if no money is produced by what one does, one will not know what to live on.
26. There is also a difference to establish between the fat and the thin.
27. When one fears that money may be lacking, the different levels concerning the lack of money must be considered.
28. Having temples and reservoirs built, setting up altars or raised platforms for Agni, the fire god, giving Brahmans herds of cows and covered vessels, arranging pūjās and offerings to the gods, bearing the expenses involved with the money they earn, this is the concern of high-ranking courtesans who reap large profits.
29. Covering all her limbs with jewels and carefully decorating her home with priceless vases, utilizing her servants to polish all the openings of her house, those who live on their charms succeed in improving their status.
30. A slave water carrier who wishes to make considerable gains must always wear spotless clothes and feed well, always have scented betel, and wear silver-gilt ornaments.
13. According to the masters, prostitutes of middle and low class also make considerable profits.
32. Vātsyāyana explains that the profits and remuneration given are determined according ti place, times, living standards, ability, eroticism, and customs.
33. A courtesan may even accept to have intercourse for very little money, if it is a question of taking another girl’s lover, preventing him from setting up house with her, stealing the permanent lover of another or appropriating another’s profits, separating her from a potential lover by appropriating him, widening her relations through her amorous contacts, or else, to have his assistance in the spiteful actions she has in mind, to induce another’s steady lover to behave badly: considering everything her has done for her in the past, the courtesan willingly accepts him for a small sum.
34. Her protector has no money, but is expecting considerable funds. To safeguard the future, she takes nothing from him.
35. On leaving this man, I shall find another with whom I can have a serious attachment; going back to his wife, that man will leave me in poverty; another is under the thumb of his master, or father, etc; or his position is threatened; or he is unstable: in all of these cases, she must take in advance the remuneration given on account.
36. He is certain to receive considerable goods from the king, or he will be given an important post. He will soon be able to enjoy his revenues. His ship is about to come in. The revenue from his estates and houses is due. He does not forget what has gone by. He knows that she desires a constant income. without arguments. This is why she decides to stay attached to him.
37. “She must stay away from anyone from whom she can only just obtain her livelihood or from anyone who performs dirty work in the king’s service, even if she can make a profit thereby.”
39. The rich man, who gives without counting and is satisfied with little, is a magnificent character. She must go with him to assure her expense.
Chapter 6: Profits and Losses: Reflections on Doubts Concerning the Advantages and Disadvantages of Relations [Artha-anartha Anubandha Vichāra]
1. It can happen that in pursuing profit, one ends with a loss. A relationship must therefore be considered prudently.
2. They can be due to lack of intelligence, to excessive love, to vanity, dishonesty, cupidity, excessive trust, anger, pride, brutality, belief in luck.
3. The results of such defects are that, once the relationship is established, the promise of money as an income from the sexual relation does not materialize. Her earnings do not cover her expenses. He leaves her for another. The sexual relationship is a brutal one, injuring her body. He tears out her hair, throws her to the ground, breaks her limbs. These are the possible risks.
4. In order to avoid such risks, even if she could obtain a lot of money, she must give it up.
5. Money, virtue, and love are the three goals to be attained.
6. Lack of money, lack of virtue, and hate are the three sources of sorrow.
7. In practice, the other kinds of misfortune depend on these.
8. If the expected profit is not certain to be obtained without difficulty, it is proper to have some hesitation.
9. It is difficult to foresee the outcome right at the start.
10. It is only in practice that one or other of these eventualities may occur.
11. A relationship may also have a multiple outcome, of which examples will be given.
12. The form of the three kinds of success has been contemplated. Their opposites are the three kinds of failure.
13. Having had an excellent sexual relationship with someone, she expects that her monetary earnings, when she receives them, will show a tidy profit. If it is not so, it is a failure connected with money.
14. If she sleeps with just anyone solely for gain, the relationship is a purely commercial one.
15. By accepting money from someone else, she risks losing the affection of her faithful lover, who will cut off her allowance, so that there will be a money loss. Furthermore, she incurs everybody’s contempt. Or else, by sleeping with men of lowly status, she risks losing his esteem. In this case, the gain is accompanied by a loss.
16. Wishing to acquire notoriety by frequenting famous men or ministers at her own expense, sleeping with them will win her nothing, since her outlay is exaggerated. Although her lack of earnings is considerable, she gains in security. This is because there is a relation between advantages and disadvantages.
17. A girl who, believing herself to be very beautiful, is authoritarian, vain, or else very keen on sex, receives her lovers at her own expense, gaining nothing thereby. The absence of profit is not considered as a loss.
18. If she is courted by an upper civil servant with a particularly cruel characters who, after being generously welcomed by her, leaves her with threats, without giviner her anything, in this case, inconveniences are piled upon inconveniences.
19. From now on, the questions will be connected with virtue and pleasure.
20. Besides simple contrasts, there are also complex contrasts.
21. Even if he is satisfied, one does not know whether he will pay or not. The profit is doubtful [artha sanshaya].
22. Having squeezed his money from him without violence, she throws him out, seeking only her own advantage, and does not consider that it is unethical: her morality is doubtful [dharma sanshaya].
23. Having found someone she likes, she makes inquiries, through one of her assistant or some other low person, to find out whether or not he makes love well. This is erotic doubt [kāma sanshaya]
24. Because he comes of a good family, she believes he will not behave like a good-for-nothing. This is doubt concerning risks [anartha sanshaya]
25. Having found someone she likes, she makes inquiries, through one of her assistants or some other low person, to find out whether or not he makes love well. This is erotic doubt [kāma sanshaya].
26. She has made declarations of love to someone she likes and, not having got him, she wonders whether he lacks temperament or is hostile to her. This is the doubt of enmity [dvesha sanshaya].
27. Now for complex doubts.
28. Someone whose character is unknown presents himself while an interesting lover is staying with her, or when an important personage is present. Is it reasonable or risky to receive him? This is the doubt.
29. A priest, a chaste student, an initiate, a wandering monk, a Buddhist monk [lingi], etc., having seen her, fall desperately in love with her; or someone else, according to his friends, wants to commit suicide for the same reasons. Sleeping with them is a charitable duty [dharma], yet contrary to their moral law [adharma]. There is doubt between duty and prohibition [dharma-adharma].
30. Having formed an idea of someone’s merits, according to public opinion, she goes with him without having verified his qualities. The doubt is as to whether there will be love or enmity [kāma-dvesha].
31. If one’s feelings are uncertain, the one as compared to the other, this causes complex doubts [sankirna sanshaya].
32. If she goes with another for money while living with her steady lover, she gains on both sides.
33. When she has intercourse at her own expense without earning anything, and her regular lover in fury stops her allowance, , she loses on both sides.
34. When there is some doubt since she does not know whether, in sleeping with another man, she will obtain money, nor whether her steady lover will give her something for living with her, a financial doubt exists in both cases.
35. She does not know whether her former lover, who kept her, being angry, has become hostile to her and will cause her trouble. Neither does she know whether the new one to whom she has attached herself will lose patience and stop paying her. On both sides there is a doubt about money. Such, according to Uddālaka, is the description of a double relationship.
36. Here follows the opinion on the Bābhravyas.
37. By sleeping with another, she earns money as well as receiving some from her steady lover, even without intercourse. She gains doubly.
38. When she sleeps with a man without profit, and the one who gives her a pension stops her allowance, she undergoes a loss in both cases.
39. When she goes with someone without first fixing her rate, not knowing whether he will give her anything and whether her steady lover, even without sleeping with her, will pay her remuneration, there is a doubt as to her gain in both cases.
40. She is put to the expense of sleeping with someone but, since he is under the influence of his steady mistress, she does not know whether he will pay her. Moreover, she does not know whether her steady lover, with whom she does not sleep, will cut her allowance out of anger. In both cases she risks a loss.
41. In her relations with her two lovers, she must contemplate: the gain on one side, the losses on the other; the gain on one side, uncertain profits on the other; the gain on one side, the risk of losses on the other, to which six cases of complex problems are added.
42. By reflecting with the aid of these remarks and considering her assured profits, doubtful gains, and avoiding any great risk, she must decide how to behave.
43. Having determined the relation between duty [dharma] and pleasure [kāma], their relative importance must be considered before establishing relations.
44. When several profligates gather together to possess a woman, it is called group possession [goshthi parigraha].
45. Uniting with them, she takes money from each for sexual relations.
46. For the spring festival and on other similar occasions, the mother sends messages stipulating that the first to copulate with her daughter will be the one who sends her certain gifts.
47. When they argue about sleeping with the girl, she arranges matters to her advantage.
48. At these collective unions, she can earn from one or earn from all, lose with one or lose with all, earn from half and lose with half.
49. Even in the case of uncertainty about her profit and about her losses, relations can be performed by taking into account questions concerning ethics or pleasure.
These are the reflections with regard to doubts concerning profits and risks in sexual relations.
50. The various kinds of prostitue are: the water carrier [kumbhadāsī], the servant ]parichārikā], the corrupt woman [kulata], the lesbian [svairinī], the dancer [natī], the worker [shilpakārikā], the divorcee or widow [prakāshavinashtā], the harlot who lives on her charms [rupājīvā], and the courtesan [ganikā].
51. Reflections on prostitution include all these categories, comprising those who sleep with them, their servants, those who are enamored of them, the ways of making love for money, of breaking off, of resuming, special profits, doubts about gains, and the risks of relationships.
52. In this connection, a quotation: “Men look for love and women too look for love.” The main goal of the treatise is the way to have intercourse with women.
53. Some women look for pleasure, others seek money. The pleasure deriving from amorous relations with prostitutes has been described in connection with prostitution.