I’ve been collecting anecdotes about India lately, perhaps sub-consciously giving thanks for not having to go there to work with a particularly unreliable client. (Long story!) And I’ve discovered tales of thrashings galore…

First up, Devdutt Pattanaik’s “The man who was a woman and other queer tales of Hindu lore”, discussing an ancient Hindu text:

Manusmriti lays down punishments for women having sex with other women, which indicates that lesbianism did exist in ancient India and was perceived as a problem by male law makers.

According to the law-giver Manu (believed to be the first man and the harbinger of civilisation in orthodox traditons), if a woman was caught having sex with a maiden, the maiden would be fined and whipped.

Next, Judith Lynne Hanna’s “Dance, sex, and gender”:

In Jatkas (tales of previous births of the Buddha), unmarried women who offered sexual services were respected. Occasionally, they enjoyed a position of noble character and wealth.

At the court of Chandragupta, they were subject to strict rules and penalized for breaching them (e.g. a ganika, the most honorable of the nine classes of prostitutes, who refused her services to anyone the king might choose received one thousand lashes or else had to pay a high fine).

And then there’s Pringle Kennedy’s “A history of the great Moghuls” discusses Jahander Shah, a Moghul emperor from the early eighteenth century:

His short reign, which continued a little more than a year, seems to have been one in which debauchery gained universal sway in the Emperor’s Court. A Courtesan, Lal Kuar, obtained absolute ascendancy over him. Along with her, he was accustomed to make expeditions into the town of Delhi and get drunk there… Such conduct naturally disgusted the officers of the Great Court.

This woman put on the airs of a great grandee and her servants… were ont to be most offensive towards all whom they might meet. On one occasion her retinue met those of Chin Killich Khan… the future ruler of the Deccan. They roughly ordered this general’s men to get out of the way. This the general directed his men to do, but when the woman coming up on her elephant took to abusing him herself, Chin Killich Khan lost his temper and ordered to attack her servants. She herself was also soundly whipped by order of the great grandee.

On second thoughts, maybe it’s a shame that my trip didn’t happen. I’d have loved to browse a few bookstores for more interesting historical anecdotes!