The Kama Sutra - Page 20/585

Or thus:-(_h_). This woman loves me ardently, and knows all my weak points, if therefore, I am unwilling to be united with her, she will make my faults public, and thus tarnish my character and reputation. Or she will bring some gross accusation against me, of which it may be hard to clear myself, and I shall be ruined. Or perhaps she will detach from me her husband, who is powerful, and yet under her control, and will unite him to my enemy, or will herself join the latter.

Or thus:-(_i_). The husband of this woman has violated the chastity of my wives, I shall therefore return that injury by seducing his wives.

Or thus:-(_j_). By the help of this woman I shall kill an enemy of the king, who has taken shelter with her, and whom I am ordered by the king to destroy.

Or thus: (_k_). The woman whom I love is under the control of this woman. I shall, through the influence of the latter, be able to get at the former.

Or thus:-(_l_). This woman will bring to me a maid, who possesses wealth and beauty, but who is hard to get at, and under the control of another.

Or, lastly, thus:-(_m_). My enemy is a friend of this woman's husband, I shall therefore cause her to join him, and will thus create an enmity between her husband and him.

For these and similar other reasons the wives of other men may be resorted to, but it must be distinctly understood that is only allowed for special reasons, and not for mere carnal desire.

Charayana thinks that under these circumstances there is also a fifth kind of Nayika, viz., a woman who is kept by a minister, and who repairs to him occasionally; or a widow who accomplishes the purpose of a man with the person to whom she resorts.

Suvarnanabha adds that a woman who passes the life of an ascetic and in the condition of a widow may be considered as a sixth kind of Nayika.

Ghotakamukha says that the daughter of a public woman, and a female servant, who are still virgins, form a seventh kind of Nayika.

Gonardiya puts forth his doctrine that any woman born of good family, after she has come of age, is an eighth kind of Nayika.

But these four latter kinds of Nayikas do not differ much from the first four kinds of them, as there is no separate object in resorting to them. Therefore Vatsyayana is of opinion that there are only four kinds of Nayikas, _i.e._, the maid, the twice married woman, the public woman, and the woman resorted to for a special purpose.