period, as occasional reference to it is made in the epic literature.^18
Interestingly, however, even in the conservative Laws of Manuwhere the
widow’s lot is described, there is no suggestion that she should cast herself
on her husband’s funeral pyre. Around the start of the common era, one
does find “hero stones” erected for fallen warriors or hunters and one could
occasionally find a stone for the dead wife there.^19 The first identifiable
inscription of a satı ̄having occurred is on a memorial stone dated 510 CE.^20
In any case, in certain orthoprax and royal families in the medieval period
- most notably the Ra ̄jputs who sought to maintain a “heroic” image – widows
were, in some cases, expected to immolate themselves on the funeral pyres
of their dead husbands.
A third “model” of the woman in this urban period was that of the courte-
san. The courtesan was an auspicious figure (as described in the Ka ̄masu ̄ tra)
not only because of her sexual power, but also because she had access to the
highest circles of the court. She could appear and dispute in public settings;
she had access to many of the “arts,” and not only those which might be
considered “feminine.” Rather, she could be a mathematician, engineer,
and virtually any other of the occupations and avocations of her time.
Frescoes of the Gupta period depict courtesans favorably, accompanied by
attendants. It is conceivable that the role of courtesan coupled with that of
wife/mother provided some impetus for the depiction of goddesses who are
described in the classical literature of the period.
A variation of the court mistress was that of temple courtesan. The earliest
inscriptional reference to “religious prostitution” was in Ramgarh, Central
India, in the second century BCE.^21 Insofar as the deity in a temple was
perceived to have all the accouterments of royalty, by the fourth century in
many parts of India, a harem was considered an appropriate part of the
deity’s entourage.^22 Known as devada ̄sı ̄s(female servant of god) in the south,
and usually the daughter of a woman who had served in a similar capacity,
she would have been given for a lifetime of service to a temple, where she
could be available to serve those whom the deity “favored.” Often she became
proficient in the arts, not least the sacred dances associated with worship.
By the eleventh century, large temples were known to have significant “staffs”
ofdevada ̄sı ̄s– some 500 in the temple of So ̄mnath in Gujarat, for example,^23
and 400 in the Co ̄l
̄
a temple to Br.hadis ́vara in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu.^24 These
women have been known by various terms over the centuries by Indian or
colonialist interpreters: sacred artists who emulated the dancing of the
heavenly dancers (apsaras); dancing “virgins” and/or sexual slaves.^25
A fourth “model” may be evident in this period as well. Illustrated by the
women who joined the Buddhist monastic settings or entered forested circles
of seekers: she was the woman who eschewed the expected social con-
ventions and opted to have direct access to the way of truth or to a life of
The Urban Period 65