Gaṇikā or ganika (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

: गणिका) were women entertainers in early

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Their origin can be traced to the

Vedic period The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betw ...

. Dancers of

Ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

known as ganikas were prominent in city life. In early India, the word "ganika" referred to a courtesan or public dancer, though the word was occasionally also used for prostitutes. Ganikas were trained in fine arts like dance and music in order to entertain

kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

princes A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in some Euro ...

, and other wealthy patrons on religious and social occasions. A woman would earn the title of "Ganika" if, alongside being seen as beautiful, she became versed in the 64 parts of

Kalā Kalā means performing art in Sanskrit. In Hindu scripture, Shiva is the master of Kalā. 64 Arts The mastery of over 64 kinds of skills is called ''chatushashti Kalas''. They are: # ''Geeta vidya'': singing. # ''Vadya vidya'': playing on music ...

. This title also granted a seat of honour in an assemblage of men.When a Ganika lives with her lover, she maintains the relationship like a wife.

References

Culture of India Indian courtesans Obsolete occupations Courtesans by type {{India-culture-stub