courtesan Vasantasena is sought by all
the men of the city because of her beauty,
wealth, and mastery of the sixty-four
aesthetic arts. This picture is doubtless
idealized and was probably realistic for
only a tiny fraction of the women plying
the sex trade, however.
The existence of prostitution also
appears in relation to a group of women
connected to certain temples. Called
servants of the deity(devadasis), these
women were not allowed to marry.
Instead, they were considered to be
married to the god, for whom they
would sing, dance, and perform various
rites, just as any Hindu wife would for
her husband. These women could hold
property and resources of their own, but
their status was clearly unusual, and it
was not uncommon for them to develop
long-term liaisons with local men for
mutual enjoyment. In some cases this
degenerated into prostitution—through
which such women became a source of
income for the temple—but in other
instances they were successful in retain-
ing some autonomy. Since Indian inde-
pendence in 1947 there has been a
prohibition on initiating devadasis, but
some older women remain who were
initiated before that time. In 1995, a
furor developed when the Jagannath
temple management committee began
to explore the possibility of new initia-
tions. For further information see
Vatsyayana (tr. Alain Daniélou),Kama
Sutra of Vatsyayana; and Frederique
Apffel Marglin, Wives of the God-King,
- See also Yellamma.
Prthivi
The most common name for the Earth,
which, in addition to its material form, is
conceived of as a goddess. This particu-
lar name for the Earth goddess comes
from a mythic story connecting her to
the righteous king Prthu.
Prthu
In Hindu mythology, an ancient king
who rules over all the Earth, and whose
reign is considered a golden age. Prthu is
magically born from the right hand of
king Vena, a man so wicked that he has
prohibited all sacrifices to the gods.
After Prthu’s birth the people in his king-
dom suffer famine, since the Earth has
refused to produce food in protest
against Vena’s wickedness. Prthu chases
the Earth, who has taken the form of a
cow. She finally agrees that, if Prthu will
spare her life, she will produce food
again. It is in memory of this deed that
the Earth is given the name Prthivi
(“related to Prthu”).Puja
(“homage”) The most common word for
worshipin modern Hinduism. The root
of the word carries the sense of rever-
ence or respect, but puja is primarily
focused on actions, particularly offer-
ingsto the deity, who is treated as an
honored guest. Although, according to
one list, there are sixteen such offerings
(upacharas), in practice the worship
performed in any particular setting is
subject to wide variation—based on
regional or local custom, individual
inclination, and the person’s social sta-
tus and learning. At the heart of puja,
however, is a series of transactions
between the deity and devotee (bhakta).
One such transaction comes in darshan,
the exchange of glances between
an image of the deity and a devotee,
which initiates the relationship between
the two. The other transactions come
from offerings given by the devotee, to
which the deity responds by giving
prasad sanctified by divine contact,
most often food or drink for the devotee
to consume.
Aside from the transactions, the
other most common feature of most
puja is the emphasis on purity, both of
worshiper and of context. The only
exception to this arises in certain forms
of tantra, a secret, ritually based reli-
gious practice in which the performer
deliberately inverts normal ideas of
purity and impurity (ashaucha) as a way
of symbolically destroying all duality.Puja