The ''Visha Kanya'' (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

; en, Poison girl) were young women reportedly used as

assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. Assassin may also refer to: Origin of term * Someone belonging to the medieval Persian Ismaili order of Assassins Animals and insects * Assassin bugs, a genus in the family ''Reduviida ...

, often against powerful enemies, during the times 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 ...

. Their blood and bodily fluids were purportedly poisonous to other humans, as was mentioned in the ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, ''

Arthashastra The ''Arthashastra'' ( sa, अर्थशास्त्रम्, ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is ...

'', written by

Chanakya Chanakya (Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya o ...

, an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BCE).

In literature

However, in time, "poison damsel" passed into

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, became an

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...

explored by many writers, resulting in a popular

literary character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in ...

that appears in many works, including classical

texts such as '' Sukasaptati''.

History

The Poison Damsel (Sanskrit Viṣakanyā) is a literary figure that appears in Sanskrit literature as a type of assassin used by kings to destroy enemies. The story goes that young girls were raised on a carefully crafted diet of

poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

and antidote from a very young age, a practice referred to as

mithridatism Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word is derived from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small dos ...

. Although many would not survive, those that did were immune to other poisons and their

body fluid Body fluids, bodily fluids, or biofluids, sometimes body liquids, are liquids within the human body. In lean healthy adult men, the total body water is about 60% (60–67%) of the total Human body weight, body weight; it is usually slightly lower ...

s would be poisonous to others; sexual contact would thus be lethal to other humans. There also exists a myth that says a Visha Kanya can cause instant death with just a touch. According to Kaushik Roy, Visha Kanyas would kill their targets by seducing them and giving them poisoned alcohol. Some Sanskrit sources narrate that a ''Visha Kanya'' was sent by

Nanda Nanda may refer to: Indian history and religion * Nanda Empire, ruled by the Nanda dynasty, an Indian royal dynasty ruling Magadha in the 4th century BCE ** Mahapadma Nanda, first Emperor of the Nanda Empire ** Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), last ...

's minister Amatyarakshasa to kill

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an empi ...

and Chanakya diverted them to kill Parvatak. According to the Indian Historical sources Visha kanya was used by

Nanda Dynasty The Nanda dynasty ruled in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent during the fourth century BCE, and possibly during the fifth century BCE. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty in the Magadha region of eastern India, and expanded ...

founder

Mahapadma Nanda Mahapadma Nanda (IAST: ''Mahāpadmānanda''; c. mid 4th century BCE), according to the Puranas, was the first Emperor of the Nanda Empire of ancient India. The Puranas describe him as a son of the last Shaishunaga king Mahanandin and a Shudra w ...

to kill the last ruler of

Shishunaga Dynasty The Shaishunaga dynasty (IAST: Śaiśunāga, literally "of Shishunaga") is the fourth ruling dynasty of Magadha, an empire of ancient India. According to the Hindu ''Puranas'', this dynasty was the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, succeeding N ...

Kalashoka Kalashoka or Kakavarna was the son and successor of Shishunaga. He divided his kingdom between his ten sons and crowned his ninth son, Nandivardhana as the king of Magadha. Reign Shishunaga had transferred the capital of Magadha to Vaishali. K ...

both of which belonged to mighty

Magadha Kingdom Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

Contemporary treatments of the theme

''Visha Kanya'' has been a popular theme in

Indian literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were o ...

and

, and apart from appearing in classical

texts, it has appeared repeatedly in various works like ''Vishkanya'' by

Shivani ''Gaura Pant'' (17 October 1923 – 21 March 2003), better known as Shivani, was a Hindi writer of the 20th century and a pioneer in writing Indian women-centric fiction. She was awarded the Padma Shri for her contribution to Hindi literature ...

and ''Ek Aur Vish Kanya?'' by Om Prakash Sharma, who use ''Visha Kanya'' as an

in their stories—a beautiful girl who kills when she comes too close. More recently, the archetype has taken a new hue in the HIV/AIDS era, for example in ''Vishkanya'', a 2007 novel, based on the

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

epidemic in society. ''Vishakanya''s have also been depicted as important characters in the book ''

Chanakya's Chant ''Chanakya's Chant'' (2010) is a novel written by Indian author Ashwin Sanghi. It was written two years after his first novel '' The Rozabal Line'' (2008) was released in India. ''Chanakya's Chant'' was released on 26 January 2011 and entered ...

''. In 2009, Vibha Rahi has written an autobiography 'Vishkanya: Untold Secrets' in Marathi, in which she portrays how upper caste women make intimate relationships with lower caste people of high profile and destroy their families and social relationships. Over the years, many Hindi films have been made on the subject. The first film, ''Visha Kanya'', was made in 1943, starring

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

, and more recently, ''Vishkanya'' (1991), starring

Pooja Bedi Pooja Bedi (born 11 May 1970) is an Indian actress, television talk show host and newspaper columnist. She is the daughter of Indian actors Kabir Bedi and Protima Bedi. She participated in the reality television shows ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'', '' ...

in the lead role.Vishkanya (1991)

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Vishkanya Ek Anokhi Prem Kahani ''Vishkanya Ek Anokhi Prem Kahani'' or simply ''Vishkanya'' (''lit.'' venomous girl) is a soap set in the old neighbourhood of the city of Kolkata. The show is about supernatural love story of fictional characters Aparajita Ghosh and Malay Mitt ...

is a

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

TV series which aired on

Zee TV Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 2 October 1992, as the first privately owned TV channel in the country. It is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Zee TV also ...

; it starred

Aishwarya Khare Aishwarya Khare is an Indian television actress, who works in Hindi serials. She is best known for her role as Mahima Srinivasan in '' Yeh Hai Chahatein'' and Lakshmi Bajwa in '' Bhagya Lakshmi''. Early life Aishwarya Khare hails from Bhopal, Ma ...

as Aparajita Ghosh, a Visha Kanya, in the main role. In the story ''Beeshkanya'',

Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was an Indian Bengali-language writer. He was actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. The creator of the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, Sharadindu compos ...

wrote about a girl who was supposed to be a Vishkanya and was sent to

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

in order to assassinate the members of

Shaishunaga dynasty The Shaishunaga dynasty ( IAST: Śaiśunāga, literally "of Shishunaga") is the fourth ruling dynasty of Magadha, an empire of ancient India. According to the Hindu '' Puranas'', this dynasty was the second ruling dynasty of Magadha, succeeding ...

. In ''The Real Life of Sebastian Knight'' the author

Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...

treats his affair with Irina Guadanini through allusions to the myth of the poison damsel. In the 2015 novel, ''The Entropy of Bones'' by Ayize Jama-Everett, the main character fights a group of ''Visha Kanya''. The trope also appears in a set of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories.

In literature

History

Contemporary treatments of the theme

See also

References

Further reading