In the Business of Kāma: Prostitution in Classical Sanskrit Literature from the Seventh to the Thirteenth Centuries

Abstract

In analysing prostitution, represented in classical Sanskrit literature, this article critiques the image of the prostitute as the perfidious whore whose sexuality threatened patriarchal structure as well as afeminist counter-discourse portraying her merely as a victim of patriarchal oppression. The case is made for treating prostitutes as social agents with relative autonomy, within patriarchy's parameters, to a large extent based on their conscious commodification of kāma to gain complete control over both artha and dharma, the other two ends of human life. It also takes into account the space for love and pleasure in the work of the prostitute.