productions of Emile Zola, and other writers of the realistic school of today. Although a great deal
has been written on the subject of the courtesan, nowhere will be found a better description of
her, of her belongings, of her ideas, and of the working of her mind, than is contained in the
following pages. The details of the domestic and social life of the early Hindus would not be
complete without mention of the courtesan, and this Part is entirely devoted to this subject. The
Hindus have ever had the good sense to recognize courtesans as a part and portion of human
society, and so long as they behaved themselves with decency and propriety they were regarded
with a certain respect. Anyhow, they have never been treated in the East with that brutality and
contempt so common in the West, while their education has always been of a superior kind to
that bestowed upon the rest of womankind in Oriental countries. In the earlier days the welleducated
Hindu dancing girl and courtesan doubtless resembled the Hetera of the Greeks, and,
being educated and amusing, were far more acceptable as companions than the generality of the
married or unmarried women of that period. At all times and in all countries, there has ever been
a little rivalry between the chaste and the unchaste. But while some women are born courtesans,
and follow the instincts of their nature in every class of society, it has been truly said by some
authors that every woman has got an inkling of the profession in her nature, and does her best,
as a general rule, to make herself agreeable to the male sex. The subtlety of women, their
wonderful perceptive powers, their knowledge, and their intuitive appreciation of men and things
are all shown in the following pages, which may be looked upon as a concentrated essence that
has been since worked up into detail by many writers in every quarter of the globe.
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