English
Such practice became a settled cus- tom when the Hindus ceased to be living nation. Courtesans of great beauty and accomplishments received in ancient India, as in ancient Greece, a higher regard, and lived, in spite of their immoral profession,. a more intellectual and elevated life than their degraded sisters of modern times. Ambapali who vied with Lichchavi lords in pomp and pride, and who invited the holy Gautama Buddha to her house, reminds one of Aspasia receiving Socrates in her house. Similarly, Vasantasena, the heroine of the Mrichchhakati, lived in great pomp and splendour; she received the gay young men of Ujjayint in a public court furnished with a gaming table, books, pictures and other means of recreation ; she employed skilled artisans and jellewers in her house; she relieved the needy and the unfortu- nate; and in spite of her trade was > “ OF courteous manners and unrivalled beauty; The pride of all Ujjain!” Weison. CHAP. XIV.] EARLY PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 465 In the same way we learn ftom the Katha Sarit Ségara (Chap. 38), that the courtesan Madanamala of Pratishthina, the capital of Southern India, lived in a mansion “that resembled the palace of a king,” and had guards and soldiers, horses and elephants; and she honoured king Vikramaditya (who had come in disguise) with baths, flowers, perfumes, garments, ornaments and rich viands. And again from Chap. 124 of the same work we learn that Devadatt&, a courtesan of Ujjayint lived in her “palace worthy of aking.” Ujjayini, we need hardly say, was the proudest town _ in India in the days of which we are speaking. Genius, and beauty, wealth and royal power combined to shed a rare lustre on this ancient city in the sixth century. A.D, Good reasons had the Yaksha in the Meghadita to ask the cloud not to pass by without a visit. to Ujjayint ; or else, “Dark are thy days, and thou in vain hast been.” > . os 7 ‘Not daring te ee high injunction, we paid @ visit to the classic tewn five years ago. Its. ancient glory is gone, the very memories of the past dwell not in its precincts, But nevertheless as we strolled through " its rough paved stony streets, looked at the quaint old houses darkening the lanes, saw the crowd of simple _ hearted people in their native joyousness, and visited the -ancient temple of Mahdkdla, probably the very temple alluded to by Kalidésa in Meghadita, we felt that it was possible, feebly and faintly,. to revive the past RCD, A,L—il, | 30 466 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. in one’s imagination, and to form some conception of what this town was in olden days. And certainly the exceptionally realastic account of the town given in the Mrichchhakati helps one’s imagination not a little. That play will be our. guide in our aurinpt to delineate the past. ‘Under the shadow of. the royal power. dwelt the peaceful merchants and bankers in the Exchange or Merchants’ quarters, Sreshthi-chatvara as the poet calls it. “Quiet and unostentatious as Hindu merchants always are, these banker merchants probably had their branch firms in the great towns all over Northern India, carried on he, operations in silks, jewels and valuable poads, and concealed in their dark vaults in crowded and narrow lanes, enormous treasures and money which kings and emperors did not disdain to borrow in times of need. Ostentatious only in their charity and religious works, they no doubt beautified the town with many a graceful temple, fed and supported priests and Brahmans, and earned a name among their fellow citizens by their good works. To the present day the Setts and merchants of Northern India are respected for their wealth and their pious acts, and build many a holy temple where Jaina and Hindu worship’ is performed day by day. Jewellers and artists flocked in the vicinity of mer- chants. In the words of the. poet, “skilful artists ex- amine pearls, topazes, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, the CHAP, XIV] EARLY PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 467 lapis lazuli, coral and other jewels ; some set rubies in gold, some work gold ornaments on colored thteads, some string pearls, some grind the lapis lazuli, some pierce shells, and some cut coral. Perfumers dry the saffron bags, shake the musk bags, express the sandal juice, and compound essences.” - These artists found a | market all through the known world, and the products of their skill were appreciated" in the court of Haran-ar- Rashid in Bagdad, and astonished the great Charlemagne} and his rude barons, who as an English poet has pu it, raised their visors and looked with wonder on the silks and brocades and jewellery which fad come from “the lar East to the' infant trading marts of Europe. Humbler traders filled other streets and displayed their cloths and garments and sweetmeats and various other commodities. A stream of joyous and simple hearted people filled the busy streets all i the live long day. But the, markets and bazars were not-the only places of public resort ; there were others of 4 more question- able character. Gambling houses: were established under the king’s orders,—as is still the case in the con- tinent of Europe,+the master of the table was appoint- ed by the king to maintain order, and was entitled according to the Agni Purana to one-fifth or one-tenth of the winnings, as the king's dues. The money which. a gambler loses at a gambling table in the Mrich. chhakati is reckoned as ten Suvarnas ; and a Suvamna 468 : PAURANIK PERIOD. - [BOOK v. was undoubtedly a golden coin which Dr. Wilson estimates at Rs. 8-14, We know from Sakuntala that there were grog shops which were frequented by the very lowest castes ; while among the courtiers cf a luxurious court, and among the profligate and the gay, drinking was not unknown. Bhéravi has a canto on the joys of drinking, and Kalidasa too often speaks of ladies whose mouths were scented with the perfumes of liquor! NAgAnanda has an amusing passage relating to an intoxicated courtier in search for his mistress,—~a slave girl. Drinking was almost universal in royal courts and the ladies of the royal household did not refuse their share! The Katha Sarit Sagara (Chap. 110), thus describes the drinking hall of king Naravahana Datta. “It was full of goblets, made of various jewels, which looked like so many expanded lotuses, and strewn with many flowers, so -that it resembled a lotus bed in a garden ; and it was crowded with ladies with jugs full of intoxi- cating liquor who made it flash like the nectar appears ing in the arms of Garuda, There they drank-wine that snaps those fetters of shame that bind the ladies of the royal househald,—wine the essence of love’s life, the ally of merriment!” -The mass of the middle classes. and of the cultivating classes of Hindus ab- stained from drink as they do to this day. Other vices of large towns were not unknown tn Ujjayini. “Aé this time of evening,” says Maitreya in CHAP. XIV.] EARLY PAURANIK CIVILIZATION. 469 Mirchchhakati, “the royal road is crowded with loose persons, with cui-throats, courtiers and courtesans ;” and elsewhere in the same play we have a rather elaborate account ofa theft performed in Charudatta’s house, and the footsteps of the night watch were heard, (as is often the case with the police of the present day), just after the thief had finished his job, and retired with the booty ! In another place in the same play we are told, - ' “The road is solitary, save where the watch _ Performs his wonted round : the silent night, Fit season only for dishonest acts, Shoald fied ys not abroad.” Wilson. ‘Wealthy ‘citizens rejoiced in a large number of re- tainers, in spacious courts and in unquestioning hospi- tality. We have in Mrichchhakati a somewhat exag- gerated account of a wealthy house, from which we can form some conception of wealthy houses generally. ‘The outer door is pretty, the threshold is colored and. well swept and watered, flowers and garlands are hung , ‘over the gate, and the doorway isa lefty arch, On entering the first court is seen a line of white buildings, the walls covered with stucco, the steps made of various stones, and the crystal windows looking down on the streets of the city. - Inside the second court are carriages ‘oxen and horses and elephants, fed by their sahouts with rice and ghee! In the third court is the assembly ~ halt where the visitors are received ; in the fourth there 479 PAURANIK PERIOD. — [BOOK v. is music with dancing, and in the fifth is the kitchen. In the. sixth court live artists and jewellers employed in the house, and in the seventh is an aviary. In the eighth court lives the owner of the house. It is not likely that. any but the most wealthy indulged in such profuse magnificence j—-but the account gives us some idea of pompous Hinde households. Behind the house is a lovely garden such as was the delight of Hindu ladies of olden days. -Sakuntal& was fond of watering her plants herself, and the Yaksha’s wife used to sitin her garden and think of her absent lord. Besides such extensive residences inside the town, wealthy men had their garden houses and villas in the suburbs, “far beyond the city,” and a taste for such rural villas continues to the present day. Among the possessions of wealthy mem, slaves were reckoned as a very important item. Domestic slaves were bought and sold in ancient India as in every ancient country, and probably most domestic servants in ancient times were slaves. In Mrichchha- kati a ruined gambler proposes fe sell himself in order to pay his debt. Still more remarkable is another passage in which the paramour of a female slave asks her what money will procure her manumission from her jnistress.