Page:The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana.djvu/41

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of Vatsyayana
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  1. Mental exercises, such as completing stanzas or verses on receiving a part of them; or supplying one, two or three lines when the remaining lines are given indiscriminately from different verses, so as to make the whole an entire verse with regard to its meaning; or arranging the words of a verse written irregularly by separating the vowels from the consonants, or leaving them out altogether; or putting into verse or prose sentences represented by signs or symbols. There are many other such exercises.
  2. Composing poems.
  3. Knowledge of dictionaries and vocabularies.
  4. Knowledge of ways of changing and disguising the appearance of persons.
  5. Knowledge of the art of changing the appearance of things, such as making cotton to appear as silk, coarse and common things to appear as fine and good.
  6. Various ways of gambling.
  7. Art of obtaining possession of the property of others by means of muntras or incantations.
  8. Skill in youthful sports.
  9. Knowledge of the rules of society, and of how to pay respects and compliments to others.
  10. Knowledge of the art of war, of arms, armies, etc.
  11. Knowledge of gymnastics.
  12. Art of knowing the character of a man from his features.
  13. Knowledge of scanning or constructing verses.
  14. Arithmetical recreations.
  15. Making artificial flowers.
  16. Making figures and images in clay.

A public woman, endowed with a good disposition, beauty, and other winning qualities, and also versed in the above arts, obtains the name of a Ganika, or public woman of high quality, and receives a seat of honor in an assemblage of men. She is, moreover, always respected by the king, and praised by learned men, and her favor sought for by all, she becomes an object of universal regard. The daughter of a king, too, as well as the daughter of a minister, being learned in the above arts can make their husbands favorable to them, even though these may have thousands of other wives besides themselves. And in the same manner, if a wife becomes separated from her husband, and falls into distress, she can support herself easily, even in a foreign country, by means