Historical Elements in the Matsya Purana
by Chaitali Kadia | 2021 | 91,183 words
This page relates ‘Prostitution in the Matsya Purana� of the study on the historical elements of the Matsya-purana: one of the eighteen Mahapuranas which are Sanskrit texts that have preserved the cultural heritage, philosophy, religion, geography, etc of ancient India. This Matsyapurana was originally written in 20,000 verses and deals with topics such as architecture, ancient history, polity, religion and philosophy.
Go directly to: Footnotes.
Prostitution in the Matsya ʳܰṇa
When describing the society, after describing the family, husband-wife, children, women etc. if the prostitute race is not described, it remains incomplete. Prostitutes were the fallen women from society. Prostitutes have existed from that Vedic age to the present time. Even though they were fallen from society, they were a special part. Although their lives were dark, they were the light of many men. However, some prostitutes have their heads held high in the society. For example, Basantasenā, the protagonist of the Śudraka’s drama, �ṛc첹پ첹 �. She was a wealthy prostitute. Even though they were prostitute, they had the right to participate in various religious ceremonies in the society. Prostitutes had their own separate place in the society since Vedic times. Some descriptions of prostitutes are found in the Matsya ʳܰṇa .
There is a description in Matsya ʳܰṇa of a prostitute named Anangavatī, performing վܳپ屹岹śī vows and worshiping her god Hṛṣikeśa.[1] That in the next birth of Kamadeva’s wife 鲹ī’s co-wife ʰīپ, who was worshiped by all the gods.[2] Another prostitute, ī屹ī, worshiped her adorable god Ś and on the 䲹ٳܰ岹śī岹 gave her guru the salinity with golden trees.[3] The Matsya ʳܰṇa describes how the wives of Lord ṛṣṇa were abducted by robbers and apostatized. Once upon a time the daughters of Agni were bathing in ԲDZ . At that time 岹 comes. But the daughters did not bow down to him and asked how they could become ⲹṇa’s wife. 岹 told them the right way but also cursed them to separate from ṛṣṇa for not bowing down to him. In the same way when those Agni’s daughters were in the form of wives of Lord ṛṣṇa realized everything and cursed them to destroy their religion. In this way the curse of 岹 became also fruitful.[4] The wives of the monsters, demons and ṣa who died after ٱܰ’s struggle were abducted by other demons. Then ٱ𱹲Ჹ Indra free them and ordered them to live their life as a prostitute as a way to get rid of from their grief.[5]
Prostitutes lived in a special place in society. And they were righteous enough. They obeyed the Բ and donated cows, land and gold.[6] Originally Anangadāna vows were special for prostitutes. However, in some cases other vows were also observed. It has been seen earlier that Anangavatī is observing վܳپ屹岹śī vows and Lītāvatī is observing ṇācԲ vows. Prostitutes were also rich enough. Evidence of this is found when Anangavatī donates three hundred gold coins to each poor person[7] and also donates land.[8] ī屹ī gives a golden tree to her idol.[9] Indra on the otherhand, advises the demon wives to provide land, cows and gold.[10] All these signs prove that their lives were rich enough.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 100/18
[2]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 100/32
[3]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 92/23
[4]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 70/20�25
[5]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter70/26, 27
[6]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 70/31
[7]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 100/22
[8]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 100/27
[9]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 92/23
[10]:
Matsya ʳܰṇa–Chapter 70/31