The Ananga Ranga
Chapter IV - Description of the General Qualities, Characteristics, Temperaments, etc., of Women
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The following are the signs by which the wise know that a woman is amorous:
She rubs and repeatedly smoothes her hair (so that it may look well).
She scratches her head (that notice may be drawn to it).
She strokes her own cheeks (so as to entice her husband).
She draws her dress over her bosom, apparently to readjust it, but leaves her breasts partly exposed.
She bites her lower lip, chewing it, as it were.
At times she looks ashamed without a cause (the result of her own warm fancies),
and she sits quietly in the corner (engrossed, by concupiscence).
She embraces her female friends, laughing loudly and speaking sweet words, with jokes and jests,
to which she desires a return in kind.
She kisses and hugs young children, especially boys.
She smiles with one cheek, loiters in her gait, and unnecessarily stretches herself under some pretence or other.
At times she looks at her shoulders and under her arms.
She stammers, and does not speak clearly and distinctly.
She sighs and sobs without reason and she yawns whenever she wants tobacco, food, or sleep.
She even throws herself in her husband's way and will not readily get out of his path.
The following are the eight signs of indifference to be noted in womankind:
When worldly passion begins to subside, the wife does not look straight between her husband's eyes.
If anything be asked of her, she shows unwillingness to reply.
If the man draw near her, and look happy, she feels pained.
If he departs from her she shows symptoms of satisfaction.
When seated upon the bedstead, she avoids amatory blandishments and lies down quietly to sleep.
When kissed or toyed with she jerks away her face or her form.
She cherishes malicious feelings towards her husband's friends;
and finally, she has no respect nor reverence for his family.
When these signs are seen, let it be known that the wife is already weaned from conjugal desires.
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The following are the fifteen principal causes which make women unhappy:
1. The parsimony of parents and husbands, because the young are naturally generous.
2. Receiving too much respect or reverence when they are lighthearted; also being kept in awe by those with whom they would be familiar, and a too strict restraint as regards orderly and guarded deportment.
3. Trouble of disease and sickness.
4. Separation from the husband and the want of natural enjoyment.
5. Being made to work too hard.
6. Violence, inhumanity, and cruelty, such as beating.
7. Rough language and abuse.
8. Suspicion that they are inclined to evil.
9. Intimidation and threats of punishment for going astray.
10. Calumny, accusing of ill deeds, and using evil words about them.
11. Want of cleanliness in person or dress.
12. Poverty.
13. Grief and sorrow.
14. Impotence of the husband.
15. Disregard of time and place in the act of love.
The following are the twelve periods when women have the greatest desire for congress,
and at the same time are most easily satisfied:
1. When tired by walking and exhausted with bodily exercise.
2. After a long want of intercourse with the husband, such as in the case of the Virahini.
3. When a month after childbirth has elapsed.
4. During the earlier stages of pregnancy.
5. When dull, idle and sleepy.
6. If recently cured of fever.
7. When showing signs of wantonness or bashfulness.
8. When feeling unusually merry and happy.
9. The Ritusnata, 4 immediately before and after the monthly ailment.
10. Maidens enjoyed for the first time.
11. Throughout the spring season.
12. During thunder, lightning and rain.
At such times women are easily subjected to men.
And furthermore, learn that there are four kinds of the Priti, or love-tie connecting men and women:
1. Naisargiki-priti is that natural affection by which husband and wife cleave to each other like the links
of an iron chain. It is a friendship amongst the good of both sexes.
2. Vishaya-priti is the fondness born in the woman, and increased by means of gifts,
such as sweetmeats and delicacies, flowers, perfumery, and preparations of sandalwood, musk, saffron, and so forth.
It partakes, therefore, of gluttony, sensuality and luxury.
3. Sama-priti is also so far sensual, as it arises from the equally urgent desires of both husband and wife.
4. Abhyasiki-priti is the habitual love bred by mutual society:
it is shown by walking in fields, gardens and similar places;
by attending together at worship, penances and self-imposed religious observances;
and by frequenting sportive assemblies, plays and dances, where music and similar arts are practised.
And, moreover, let it be noted, that the desires of the woman being colder,
and slower to rouse than those of the man, she is not easily satisfied by a single act of congress;
her slower powers of excitement demand prolonged embraces, and if these be denied her, she feels aggrieved.
At the second act, however, her passions being thoroughly aroused, she finds the orgasm more violent,
and then she is thoroughly contented.
This state of things is clean reversed in the case of the man, who approaches the first act burning with love heat,
which cools during the second, and which leaves him languid and disinclined for a third.
But the wise do not argue therefrom, that the desires of the woman, as long as she is young and strong,
are not at the full as real and urgent as those of the man.
The custom of society and the shame of the sex may compel her to conceal them and even to boast that they do not exist;
yet the man who has studied the Art of Love is never deceived by this cunning.
And here it is necessary to offer some description of the Yoni; it being of four kinds.
1. That which is soft inside as the filaments of the lotus-flower; this is the best.
2. That whose surface is studded with tender flesh-knots and similar rises.
3. That which abounds in rolls, wrinkles, and corrugations; and
4. That which is rough as the cow's tongue; this is the worst.
Moreover, in the Yoni there is an artery called Saspanda; which corresponds with that of the Linga,
and which, when excited by the presence and energetic action of the latter, causes Kama-salila to flow.
It is inside and towards the navel, and it is attached to certain roughnesses (thorns),
which are peculiarly liable to induce the paroxysm when subjected to friction.
The Madana-chatra (the clitoris), in the upper part of the Yoni,
is that portion which projects like the plantain-shoot sprouting from the ground;
it is connected with the Mada-vahi (sperm-flowing) artery, and causes the latter to overflow.
Finally, there is an artery, termed Purna-chandra, which is full of the Kama-salila,
and to this the learned men of old attribute the monthly ailment.
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