Public Stages, Privy Chambers: Theatricality and Dual Performativity of Gaṇikā-Kulastrī Dynamics in Early Medieval Sanskrit Kāvyas (4 to 8 century CE)

Abstract

The paper situates the kāvyas’ portrayal of courtesans’ (gaṇikās) skillsets via the trope of choreographedtheatrical format in nāgarakā assemblies (goṣṭhīs), operetta of sorts (saṁgītaka), and musical parties (prekṣanakas), using the kāvyā efflorescence from 4th- 8th century CE as source. Mālavikāgnimitram, Mṛcchakaṭikā, Daśakumāracarita, Kuttanīmatam, Chaturbhāṇī etc. provide an intellectual context to courtesans’ formal training in branches of erotic science and acting (aṅgavidyānāṃ sāṅgānāṃ, saśṛṅgāraṃnātyaṃ), writing and logical conversation (lipigyānavacanakauśala), 64 arts (vaiśikatanra), and informal training by her procuress (kuṭṭanī). The historical figures of the courtesan, equipped with an onstage entourage led by the dandy-guru (viṭa), the spectator dandy as her patron-consort (vaiśika) as per Nātyaśāstra’s ars theatrica norms can be placed in discursive continuity with courtesans’ internalized performance in inner chambers (veśāvasah) in order to please their nāgaraka clients via Kāmasūtra’s ars erotica norms. This study further juxtaposes the aura of Sanskrit eloquence that male textuality lends the courtesan with the performativity allocated to the stereotyped pativratā nāyikā i.e.the Prakrit-speaking high-born chaste woman (kulastrī) confined to her sanctum sanctorum antaḥpura space, thus mapping out the grey terrains in kāvyas that place women’s deviance and compliance with gender roles within the dominant framework, beyond the gaṇikā–kulastrī dichotomy.