Eternal India Encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

Eternal India encyclopedia

tial arts are accessible to women. 55. Art of wearing clothes in a way that the privy parts remain properly covered in spite of violent movements of the body; 56. Games of chance, dice, chess etc. 57. Playing with balls and dolls like chil- dren; 58. Various kinds of exercises and physi- cal culture; 59. Training in politics; 60. Knowledge of military strategy; 61. Art of judging character from facial features; 62. Making of artificial flowers; 63. Making of figures and images in clay; 64. Arithmetical games.

Study of 64 arts indicates that all The 64 arts for a perfect wife : Vat- syayana in his Kamasutra prescribes knowledge of 64 arts as necessary for a girl to succeed in love. He says that courte- sans, princesses, daughters of ministers, bankers and businessmen should be well versed in the science of love. Married women should learn the science with the consent of their husbands. It can be learnt from 1. The married daughter of one's wet nurse. 2. An intimate and trustworthy woman friend. 3. A mother's sister of the same age. 4. An old maid servant. 5. A mendicant woman capable of being taken into confidence. 6. An elder sister. The 64 3. Dancing; 4. Painting; 5. Decoration of the forehead; 6. Floor decoration with multi-colours; 7. Giving the bed a beautiful effect with flowers; 8. Colouring and dyeing the teeth, gar- ments, hair, nails and the body; 9. Floor decoration with coloured stones and gems; 10. Spreading out carpets and cushions for reclining; 11. Swimming and other aquatic sports; 12. Practising spells to subdue oppo- nents. 13. Stringing flowers into garlands and ornaments for decorating the body; 14. Making floral crowns and chaplets, 15. Art of dressing oneself and making costumes for different occasions — theatrical or private performances; 16. Designing and wearing earrings of aesthetic taste; 17. Making of scents and other perfumery articles; 18. Making of jewellery and renovation of old ornaments; 19. Playing magical tricks for the amuse- ment and entertainment of guests; 20. Making of toilet and other beautifying agents; knowledge of make-up; 21. Sleight of hand; 22. Efficiency in the art of cooking; 23. Knowledge of preparing beverages, other drinks sweet or acid, alcoholic drinks with strong flavour and colour, chatneys etc.; 24. Sewing, darning, needle-work of vari- ous kinds and embroidery; 25. Making parrots, flowers, tassels, bunches, knobs etc. out of yam and thread; arts of love are : 1. Vocal music; 2. Instrumental music;

spheres of learning from music to ma 26. Mimicking the sounds of guitar and tabor ( damru ); 27. Setting of riddles, puzzles, and the art of solving them; 28. Practising repartee in extempore verse (this means one person reciting a verse and another person catching up the last quarter of his verse and thereon composing a recitation of his own); 29. Making of sentences of words difficult to interpret and not easy to pronounce; 30. Reading of classics tunefully and mel- odiously; 31. Witnessing dramas and making a criti- cal study of them; 32. Extempore filling up the missing line in a verse; 33. Making articles of furniture and mats from cane and reed; 34. Wood-carving; 35. Carpentry and building engineering; 36. Assaying of gold and silver articles, and gems; 37. Knowledge of chemistry and metal- lurgy; 38. Tinting crystals and various precious metals; 39. Gardening; 40. Training rams, birds like cocks, par- tridges and pheasants for mock fights; 41. Taming parrots and starlings and teaching them how to talk and sending messages through them; 42. Skill in rubbing and massaging the body and shampooing and dressing the hair; 43. Understanding finger signals to ex- change messages; 44. Deciphering coded messages; 45. Knowledge of the languages and dia- lects of various countries; 46. Decoration of horses, elephants, carts and carriages with flowers and bun- ting; 47. Understanding omens and auguries; 48. Knowledge of apparatus and machin- ery of various kinds; 49. Training of memory; 50. Going through books in a special man- ner along with others; 51. Composing poetry in various lan- guages; 52. Compilation of dictionaries and ency- clopedias; 53. Knowledge of rhetoric and prosody; 54. Art of tasteful illusion, such as disguising cotton as silk and making rough and cheap clothes appear delicate and beautiful.

Advice to Shakuntala Honour thy betters; ever be respectful To those above thee : Should thy wedded lord Treat thee with harshness, thou must never be Harsh in return, but patient and submissive. Be to thy menials courteous; and to all Placed under thee, considerate and kind. Be never self-indulgent, but avoid Excess in pleasure; and when fortune smiles, Be not puffed up. Thus to thy husband's house Wilt thou a blessing prove, and not a curse.