A candid confession

Today's offering is a tiny tale about how a lack of opportunity and resources can compel a man to take matters into his own hands. It might be considered by many to be in poor taste; nevertheless, it has found its way into at least two of the most celebrated Sanskrit anthologies of all time, as an example of humor (yes, it was regarded as art):

• as verse no. 2216 of the Subhaashitaavali (सुभाषितावलि) compiled by Vallabhadeva (वल्लभदेव) in 10th century Kashmir (see this post), and
• as one of the couplets in the chapter on comedy in the Subhaashita Sudhaanidhi (सुभाषितसुधानिधि), "a repository of the nectar of good sayings", ascribed to Saayana (सायण), the famed scholar of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century.

Quite disappointingly, the author is unknown. All we can say with any degree of certainty about this composition is that it is at least a thousand years old. 

Devanagari text:

रण्डाः पाषण्डिभिर्व्याप्ता भर्तृभिः कुलयोषितः|
वेश्या द्रविणमिच्छन्ति वयं करपरायणाः||¹

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

raNDAH pASaNDibhirvyAptA bhartRbhiH kulayoSitaH|
vezyA draviNamicchanti vayaM karaparAyaNAH||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: Licentious women² are surrounded by scoundrels, wives of respectable families are protected by their husbands, prostitutes want money – hence, I am loyal to my hand.³

1 The second half of the version quoted in the Subhaashitaavali reads वेश्या धनिनमिच्छन्ति च्छात्राः करपरायणाः (vezyA dhaninamicchanti cchAtrAH karaparAyaNAH), which translates to "prostitutes desire rich men, (male) students are loyal to their hands.^↩

2 The poet uses the word रण्डा (raNDA) which, as Monier Williams notes, is "a term of abuse in addressing women, a slut", and is cognate with swearwords applied in many modern Indic languages to (female) prostitutes, promiscuous women, and widows. In Sanskrit, it was usually not used for a sex worker because prostitution was a legitimate profession (although perhaps not a respected one) in many principalities, but referred to other women engaging in what would be deemed sexual misconduct.^↩

3 The original reads "we are hand-loyal"; however, the plural form of the first-person pronoun was (and is) sometimes used by a poet to refer to himself or herself only.^↩