3. Works on Kāmasāhitya (b): Kalāvilāsa

Kalāvilāsa of Kṣemendra is a poem in ten sargas related to Kāmaśāstra. The topics in each sargas constitute description of pride (Dambhākhyāna), description of covetousness (Lobhavarṇana), description of Kāma (Kāmavarṇana), narration of courtesans (Veśyāvṛtta), description of accountant (Kāyasthacarita), description of haughtiness (Madavarṇana), description of musicians (Gāyanavarṇana), description of gold smith (Suvarṇakārotpatti), description of different kinds of spendthrifts (Nānādhūrttavarṇana) and the description of all arts (Sakalakalānirūpaṇa).

A salesman Hiraṇyagupta brings his son Candragupta to a man named Mūladeva who is an expert in all kinds of cheating, wicked arts, trickeries and cunningness. The teachings of Mūladeva, consisting of all sorts of cheating forms are the main subject matter of this work. The religious hypocrites have been specially subjected to description and the modes of their cheating are described. People of different professions, for instance, astrologers, traders, physicians, goldsmiths, actors, singers etc. have been dealt with and their misconduct is seen justified. With extraordinary faithfulness, the tricks of courtesans with their life and various cunning arts learned by them are also described in Kalāvilāsa. This work is not a direct treatise on prostitution or Kāmaśāstra, but it helps to understand how the prostitutes and other officials satisfied their wicked ambition, and the state of society under which they worked (Narendranath Bhattacharyya, 1975: 101).