The different types of Entertainers

The actor (nata), dancer (nataka), drummer (kumbha-thunika), woman fortune-teller (ikkha-nika), magician (sokajjayika), courtesan (ganika) common prostitute (vesi) are the chief entertainers. The first four of the entertainers showed their arts mainly at fairs (samaja),^[1] but also at other times and places as well.^[2]

A low caste entertainer (Candala Vamsika) and his assistant (antevasi),^[3] apparently acrobats of a different type, seem to be poorer and socially more inferior. In a literal sense, the term means born of the candala lineage and if anything indicates extremely low ritual status.

The courtesan (ganika) does not seem to be despised. They could become nuns.^[4] An ex-courtesan (purana ganika) does not find great difficulty in getting her daughter married. In the marriage negotiations, she is addressed by her affines a term used for a respectable woman.^[5]

The common prostitute (vesi) is an unsophisticated woman and straight-forward in her activities. She refuses to go to men in case she does not know what sort of men they are.

In the ritual context, the fortune-teller (ikkhanika) is the most despised woman in Buddhist society. The texts suggest that she will go to hell because of her odious and despicable practices.^[6]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Cf. Vinaya.II.107, 150; IV;.267; see also Digha Nikaya.I.6.

[2]:

For example, the big cities are known for their varied interests in dancing, signing and instrumental musical performances; see Digha Nikaya.II.147; Samyutta Nikaya.V.369.

[3]:

Samyutta Nikaya.V.168

[4]:

Addhakasi, a courtesan, wishes to become a nun and could not be so because others prevented her, not the samgha. See Vinaya.II. 276.

[5]:

Vinaya.II. 136.

[6]:

Ibid., p. 107.