Gaṇikā (Devanagari: गणिका) is the Sanskrit term for a courtesan in Ancient India, with earliest reference in the Vedic period. In the Kamasutra, ganikas are dubbed "courtesans de luxe", distinguishing them from other prostitutes such as vesyas. According to Indian historian Moti Chandra, gaṇikā occupied the highest place in the hierarchy of courtesans.
According to the Kamasutra, to become recognized as a ganika, a woman had to master the sixty-four arts of Kalā, which include musical, performing, visual arts, writing, architecture, clairvoyance, and chemistry.Srinivasan, Doris M. "Royalty's Courtesans and God's Mortal Wives: Keepers of Culture in Precolonial India." The Courtesan's Arts, edited by Martha Feldman and Bonnie Gordon, Oxford University Press, 2006, 162-163. After earning the title of ganika, she was revered as the most virtuous, beautiful, and luxurious of all courtesans. She would use these arts to entertain rulers, princes, and other wealthy patrons on religious and social occasions.
Terminology Gaṇikā refers more to a courtesan who is cultured, educated, and skilled in the arts, distinct from a prostitute. Indian tradition has categorized and clearly distinguished between the two. Nagarvadhu was a royal courtesan, known as the "bride of the city", chosen only by the most beautiful and most skilled courtesan in dance. Rajnartaki refers to a female court dancer. Roopjiva or Roopajeeva refers to a woman who performs for the general public; she is a courtesan and an actress. Devadasi are dancers and musicians dedicated to temples, who care for the temples and perform during ceremonies. Vesya refers to a prostitute who engages in prostitution in society. Rupajiva refers to a prostitute who provides sexual services to the military.
Due to many historical interpretations, the original meaning of the term ganika has become obscured, and is thus subjective. The mid-20th-century Indologist Ludwik Sternbach extensively researched and detailed courtesans mentioned in all Sanskrit literature; however, he does not clearly distinguish between different types of courtesans, or at least between veshyas and ganikas. This is possibly due to the difficulty of translating Sanskrit, as well as the lack of information to really differentiate the two.
Religious contexts Gaṇikās are mentioned in Sanskrit literature in the context of Hinduism, which focuses on the puruṣārthass (four goals of human life), as well as in texts of Buddhism and Jainism.
Hinduism
Kamasutra Vātsyāyana dedicated Book Six of the Kamasutra to discussing courtesans. Below are the following chapters in which they appear:
+Book Six: Courtesans Chapter Title Page numbers 1 Deciding on a Friend, Eligible Lover and Ineligible Lover, and How to Get a Lover pp. 131–136 2 How to Give a Beloved What He Wants pp. 137–142 3 Ways to Get Money from A Man, Signs That His Passion is Dying and How to Get Rid of Him pp. 142–147 4 How to Get Back Together with an Ex-lover pp. 147–151 5 How to Weight Different Kinds of Profits pp. 151–155 6 Ways to Calculate Gains, Losses, Consequences and Doubts, and Types of Courtesans pp. 155–160 In the final chapter of Book Six, ganikas are specifically mentioned in a list, "The servant woman who carries water, the servant girl, the promiscuous woman, the loose woman, the dancer, the artist, the openly ruined woman, the woman who lives on her beauty, and the courtesan de luxe: those are the types of courtesans." However, when a ganika lives with her lover, she maintains the relationship like a wife.
Dharmasastra
Written by Yajñavalkya, the Dharmasastra is a compilation or handbook focused on the laws and conducts which govern individuals' social and ethical behaviour in society. However, unlike the other texts, as far as we know, the Dharmasastra sheds light on the differences between the classes of courtesans and more or less has divided them into distinctive groups, such as: Vesyas, public women who openly entertain people and do not earn a lot of income Dasi (slave women) and Savarini (fallen women), who can be taken as concubines and live in a man's house Gaṇikās, courtesans who are handsomely paid for their skills
Arthasastra Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, devoted a chapter in Book II of the Arthasastra to discuss the duties of gaṇikādhyaka—the supreme courtesan and a supervisor who enforces the rules regarding courtesans. It was vitally important for shastras (manuals) to discuss gaṇikās, because gaṇikās were not for sexual pleasure but were state-recognised and appointed institutionalised positions of the court in the Gupta Empire.
According to Kautilya, gaṇikās earned around 1,000 Karshapana and their duties mostly consisted of attending to the king's every need, such as fanning him or fetching water for him. Should the king wish her to entertain men, she must do so; if not, this would result in a punishment of either whips or a heavy fine. Furthermore, gaṇikās earned part of their income from taxpayers or the king's treasury.
The presence of gaṇikās in the Arthasastra suggests that, although courtesans were highly prized and well compensated, they were restricted to specific duties and could not freely pursue their own paths. All trade and transactions were strictly regulated.Although ganikas were respected in the past, women were not allowed to be both entertainers and housewives at the same time; women with public lives were considered "baazaru of the market". Even if she remained a performer, she did not engage in prostitution.
Āgamas Leslie Orr, a scholar of the religious and social history of medieval Tamil Nadu and of women in pre-colonial South Asia, opened new possibilities for understanding how gaṇikās may have been involved in these texts. She studied and collected several passages and Sanskrit texts that indicate women were involved in temple work.
Rudrakanyas or Rudraganikas, meaning "daughters of Rudra" or "the female ganas of Rudra", were an ancient female religious order related to Shaivism that included formal spiritual initiation (diksha) and were at the high end of the religious hierarchy of temples. The confusion of their names with the generic term gaṇikā, which came to colloquially refer to courtesans, led to their persecution during colonial times.
The Buddhist text Therīgāthā illuminates another potential identity for these women. It includes poems of nuns who were previously courtesans, suggesting that women did leave courtesan professions to become renunciates. Meill describes them as women "whose life circumstances and longings lead them onto a path away from the secular world toward freedom and enlightenment."
Kavyamimamsa This work and compilation by the Sanskrit poet Rajashekhara suggests that ganikas and princesses were excellent poets. Both mastered the 64 arts of Kala, distinguishing them from vesyas and non-courtesans. Contrary to the stereotypical and contemporary view of courtesans, this suggests that ganikas were more refined and skilled in many arts, not just sex.
Nāṭyaśāstra Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra is a second-century BCE work in which gaṇikās are described as heroes or idealized women. They "should have the qualities of light-heartedness, exaltedness and expertise in dance, music and other arts." This idealized view of a gaṇikā's skills in the theatrics was circulated throughout ancient India. This resulted in courtesans being the stars of many Sanskrit plays, such as Meghadūta, The Farce of the Pious Courtesan, King Vikramaditya and the Courtesan, and The Ocean of Story.
Mṛcchakaṭikam
The Mṛcchakaṭikam, also known as The Little Clay Cart, is a famous Sanskrit play written by Śūdraka, possibly in the 5th century CE. In this play, the youthful, rich, famous courtesan known as Vasantasenā is pursued by Cārudatta, a married man and a father.Her role as a gaṇikā is dramatized and introduced into a medium different than traditional treatises. Additionally, there is a narrative aim to turn the gaṇikā into a kulavadhü (wife); this transformation is further complicated by Cārudatta's son refusing to acknowledge Vasantasenā because she didn't wear his mother's jewelry.
In this play, gaṇikās are not simply courtesans and are restricted to this role after taking it. Yet Vasantasenā shifts roles, from courtesan to wife, and takes on the role of stepmother. This nuanced portrayal of a gaṇikā is interesting because treatises had so far only identified the roles of gaṇikās within patriarchal society. Also, as scholar Shalini Shah states, Vasantasenā herself goes through a psychological and symbolical change because she forsakes her jewels (and therefore her pride as a courtesan) to Cārudatta's son, by placing them in his toy clay cart, hence the name.
Buddhism
Jātaka The Jataka tales are Indian stories about the births and rebirths of the Buddha. However, scholars such as Monika Saxena argue that gaṇikās appear in the texts under terms such as nagarasobhani (town beauty) or nagaramandana (ornament of the city), and that, like the necklaces and earrings they wear, gaṇikās helped beautify the world.
Citizens of the Gupta period were proud of gaṇikās for their mastery of arts, and many women who followed the path of a courtesan emulated the gaṇikā as the "ideal". Although the Jatakas focused on the Buddha, these texts make numerous references to the types of beautiful women and their skills, as these were important to royals.
Mulasarvastivada The Mulasarvastivada is an early text that highlights and offers insight into the reasons for the prestige of gaṇikās. The word gaṇikā derives from the term gana, meaning 'to be in a group' and 'to associate with', and the feminine suffix 'ika'. The text further highlights this through a narrative of Amrapali who tried to understand how gana works in gaṇikā.
Amrapali is famous because she was more than just a gaṇikā—she is celebrated and given the title of nagarvadhu (royal courtesan). This was because during an assembly of nobles, princes, and the King, they all decided that she was too good of a woman to belong to one man, and so she earned the title Striratna (jewel of woman), basically suggesting that she was the crème de la crème and that she was to be enjoyed by the gana.
Jainism
In the Jain literature, ganikas are well known and are extremely respected by the kings. They are known as 'the jewel of the city' and almost every large city had its own ganika. Similar to the texts in Hinduism, ganikas are paid handsomely for their skills, which distinguish them from veshyas. Both ganikas and veshyas are women who are open to all members of gana, and accessible to men for a fee. In a sense, ganikas are valued based on how much they charge. Whilst veshyas also sell their physical charms, they remain unmastered in cultural and intellectual skills. History Gupta Period
Social Ganikas were mostly famous during the Gupta Empire, a golden age during which ideas of the court and courtliness, as well as the position of courtesan, were established. They also existed around the time of the earlier Mauryan Empire.
So far there has been no recording of the first ganika in any source or scholarly work. Their rich history is based on Sanskrit texts that have been translated and studied by scholars. A ganika is clearly recognized for her professionalism and identity in the working class, but her standing in the working class is unknown and unclear. She was also vital to the state and remunerated for her services to the king. The scholar Nitin Bora suggested that a ganika social position could vary widely, from being lower than a doorkeeper to being the most powerful person in the state or city.