conquest, purchase, deposit, or inheritance from his ancestors, should become a householder,
and pass the life of a citizen. He should take a house in a city, or large village, or in the vicinity of
good men, or in a place which is the resort of many persons. This abode should be situated near
some water, and divided into different compartments for different purposes. It should be
surrounded by a garden, and also contain two rooms, an outer and an inner one. The inner room
should be occupied by the females, while the outer room, balmy with rich perfumes, should
contain a bed, soft, agreeable to the sight, covered with a clean white cloth, low in the middle
part, having garlands and bunches of flowers upon it, and a canopy above it, and two pillows, one
at the top, another at the bottom. There should be also a sort of couch besides, and at the head
of this a sort of stool, on which should be placed the fragrant ointments for the night, as well as
flowers, pots containing some fragrant substances, things used for perfuming the mouth, and the
bark of the common citron tree. Near the couch, on the ground, there should be a pot for spitting,
a box containing ornaments, and also a lute hanging from a peg made of the tooth of an elephant,
a board for drawing, a pot containing perfume, some books, and some garlands of the yellow
fragrant flowers. Not far from the couch, and on the ground, there should be a round seat, a toy
cart, and a board for playing with dice; outside the outer room there should be cages of birds, and
a separate place for spinning, carving and such like diversions. In the garden there should be a
whirling swing and a common swing, as also a bower of creepers covered with flowers, in which a
raised parterre should be made for sitting.
Now the householder, having got up in the morning and performed his necessary duties, should
wash his teeth, apply a limited quantity of ointments and perfumes to his body, put some
ornaments on his person and collyrium on his eyelids and below his eyes, and look at himself in
the glass. Having then eaten something that give fragrance to the mouth, he should perform his
usual business. He should bathe daily, anoint his body with oil every other day, apply a lathering
substance to his body every three days, if he shaves his head then it should be shaved every
four days and the other parts of his body every five or ten days. All these things should be done
without fail, and the sweat of the armpits should also be removed. Meals should be taken in the
forenoon, in the afternoon, and again at night, After breakfast, parrots and other birds should be
taught to speak, and the fighting of cocks, quails, and rams should follow. A limited time should
be devoted to diversions with some comedies, and then should be taken the midday sleep. After
this the householder, having put on his clothes and ornaments, should, during the afternoon,
converse with his friends. In the evening there should be singing, these things should of course
be done after doing one’s duties as a earner of livelihood and after that the householder, along
with his friend, should await in his room, previously decorated and perfumed, the arrival of the
woman that may be attached to him, or he may send a female messenger for her, or go for her
himself. After her arrival at his house, he and his friend should welcome her, and entertain her
with a loving and agreeable conversation. Thus end the duties of the day.
The following are the things to be done occasionally as diversions or amusements:
Holding festivals in honor of different Deities
Social gatherings of both sexes
Drinking parties
Picnics
Other social diversions
Festivals
On some particular auspicious day, an assembly of citizens should be convened in the temple of
Saraswati (Goddess of knowledge) substitute it with something that teaches you something.
There the skill of singers, and of others who may have come recently to the town, should be
tested, and on the following day they should always be given some rewards. After that they may
either be retained or dismissed, according as their performances are liked or not by the assembly.
The members of the assembly should act in concert, both in times of distress as well as in times
of prosperity, and it is also the duty of these citizens to show hospitality to strangers who may
have come to the assembly. What is said above should be understood to apply to all the other
festivals which may be held in honour of the different Deities, according to the present rules.
Social Gatherings
When men of the same age, disposition and talents, fond of the same diversions and with the
same degree of education, sit together in company with public women, or in an assembly of
citizens, or at the abode of one among themselves, and engage in agreeable discourse with each
other, such is called a Sitting in company or a social gathering. The subjects of discourse are to
be the completion of verses half composed by others( basically meaning in general that in an
association meeting, one should strive to learn something new), and the testing the knowledge of
one another in the various arts. The women who may be the most beautiful, who may like the
same things that the men like, and who may have power to attract the minds of others, are here
done homage to.
Drinking Parties
Men and women should drink in one another's houses. And here the men should cause the public
women to drink, and should then drink themselves, liquors such as the whisky, tequila, which are
of bitter and sour taste; also drinks concocted from the barks of various trees, wild fruits and
leaves. Going to Gardens or Picnics In the forenoon, men having dressed themselves should go
to gardens, accompanied by public women and followed by servants. And having done there all
the duties of the day, and passed the time in various agreeable diversions, such as the fighting of
quails, cocks and rams, and other spectacles, they should return home in the afternoon in the
same manner, bringing with them bunches of flowers, etc. The same also applies to bathing in
summer in water from which wicked or dangerous animals have previously been taken out, and
which has been built in on all sides.
Other Social Diversions
Spending nights playing with dice.
Going out on moonlight nights.
Keeping the festive day in honour of spring.
Plucking the sprouts and fruits of the mango trees.
Eating the fibres of lotuses.
Eating the tender ears of corn.
Picnicking in the forests when the trees get their new foliage.
The Sporting in the water.
Decorating each other with the flowers of some trees.
Pelting each other with the flowers ,
and many other sports which may either be known to the whole country, or may be peculiar to
particular parts of it.
These and similar other amusements should always be carried on by citizens. The above
amusements should be followed by a person who diverts himself alone in company with a
courtesan, as well as by a courtesan who can do the same in company with her maid servants or
with citizens.
A man without wealth, alone in the world, whose only property consists of some lathering
substance and a red cloth, who comes from a good country, and who is skilled in all the arts; and
by teaching these arts is received in the company of citizens, and in the abode of public women.
A common man is a man who has enjoyed the pleasures of fortune, who is a compatriot of
the citizens with whom he associates, who is possessed of the qualities of a householder, who
has his wife with him, and who is honoured in the assembly of citizens and in the abodes of public
women, and lives on their means and on them.
A comedian (i.e. one who provokes laughter) is a person only acquainted with some of the arts,
who is a jester, and who is trusted by all. These persons are employed in matters of quarrels and
reconciliations between citizens and public women.
This remark applies also to female beggars, to women with their heads shaved, to adulterous
women, and to public women skilled in all the various arts.
Thus a citizen living in his town or village, respected by all, should call on the persons of his own
caste who may be worth knowing. He should converse in company and gratify his friends by his
society, and obliging others by his assistance in various matters, he should cause them to assist
one another in the same way. There are some verses on this subject as follows:
The wise should not resort to a society disliked by the public, governed by no rules, and intent on
the destruction of others. But a learned man living in a society which acts according to the wishes
of the people, and which has pleasure for its only object is highly respected in this world.'
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